The Day Spring Rolls in. #poetry

Spring greets us in the morning

With bright sun and singing birds at 50 degrees.

It rolls into our left open doors calmly,

Then screams it’s arrival at warm noon,

Though Spring never comes too soon,

With reminders of a lost love

Or childhood games in a state far away,

Of clover and grass once again green,

Of sunburn and beaches and fish in the cooler to clean

Time outdoors, with family , with friends, and steak on the grill

Or music in the air at a festival park

While the sun changes shades many times before dark.

When the sun slowly slips away,

We are still warmed by the hum of that day.

Photo by David Bartus on Pexels.com

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Weekend Coffee Share, Hello Women’s History Month!

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. In honor of the start of Women’s History Month, I’d like to share some of my sentiments, now that I am a maturing woman.

Top-this year. Bottom-age 23.

A smart, classy woman never… Runs out of Advil or lip gloss.  💋 Runs out of red wine. Runs out of vodka .  Eats two meats without greens. Let’s a man get her red in the face. Hollers back at an angry superior. Begs a man to stay. Let’s a man treat her like dirt. Never, ever gives up on her loved ones.

She always–Wounds her enemies with kindness and sugar-dripping sarcasm. Appreciates being called passive aggressive. It indicates one has wit. Tempers her panic with poise (yes, it’s possible). Requires as much honesty as she gives. Is honest about her quirks and short-comings, seeks to improve them, dusts herself off and continues without shame. Seeks comfort over fashion, and remembers her moisturizer and eyebrows. 🌺

Made of Cast Iron

The ‘cast iron plant’–25 years and counting

You were once a wee one

How you needed me, needed love

I nurtured you the best I could

Encouraged you to grow into your own

You were an active little boy

Who loved mud and chasing birds

How those legs would move!

Then one day, they grew long,

You seemed awkward, but kept growing

It grew as well, with our moves,

Your ‘birth’ day cast iron plant,

Through the adjustments and changes.

Still, what remained the same

Was the hearts that were your home.

Your offshoot didn’t flourish when we gave it away,

So it just goes to show,

One flourishes when they know where is home…

We all need a welcoming place called home

To nurture, encourage, and help us grow.

You can always return to home.

Slow Down and Grow!

You may be thankful

For your large family,

Your time to eat and shop and watch football

You may move so quickly through the holiday that you stomp over me

But I have roots throughout this yard.

Some stop to smell the roses

Some crouch and marvel at the mushroom in a peaceful, silent moment

Gazing on its existence as a tiny, respectful, stubborn act of glorious, harmless rebellion–

It cannot be boxed in.

Be amazed that such a tiny thing exists, for whatever purpose it serves

Let it serve its purpose and grow wild…popping up where it wishes,

I cannot be boxed in.

Weekend Coffee Share, Growth.

(c) 2020

When life suddenly

Becomes a field of thorns

Sticks to your barefooted soul

And pricks your composure,

Look for the wildflower.

Nourish it, feed it, focus on it,

And thank it for the experience.

Nurture the growing wildflowers in your life and in your heart. Don’t focus on the thorns; let them serve their purpose. Weekend Coffee Share, 11/22/20

Tired but still kicking. Looking for the positives wbile removing the thorns, to bring forth gratitude.This is all I can give today. I hope it inspires you. Have a great week and a happy Thanksgiving my friends!

#WeekendCoffeeShare. Flowers and Mud.

My canine spirit animal will accompany us as we sip our morning beverage.

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclecti Ali. It is a coffee day for me, though three days a week it is Matcha green tea. And my coffee today is half-caff. I believe this is better for my health and ability to sleep, and the Florida weather is very sweat-producing lately, which disagrees with my age. 🙂 Half-caff seems to be all I need, though I am pretty tired in the evenings now. We’ll see how that goes when we have less daylight.

My focus is all over the place. I brought home work to do last night and still have some to do this morning. Tomorrow there’s a drive through Trunk or Treat in the afternoon at church and I’m taking pictures. It should be fun.

Focus being as it is, let me just pick a word and ponder on it. Random Word Generator says: Heal. Gosh, if that isn’t the word of the year for me, then I don’t know if words even exist. Take a gander at what I’ll call a free-flow poem:

Mudflower, by Pamela Schloesser Canepa (c) 2020

If you heal, you are a flower growing out of the mud. What matters is not that you were in the mud, but that you are a flower. Should one forget the mud? It was a cool, nurturing place for you. Maybe forget the bugs. Mud grew you into a flower, and not just any flower. You may be a tiger lily or a wildflower but with thorns along its side. You are not easily plucked, friend to the bees, protecting itself, yet opening to flourish and receive the sunshine. Do not feel ashamed, but empowered. What matters is that you are a flower.

True story. My life. I think I’ll try these sorts of poems more often. After all, I grew tired of griping about my health, the state of politics or education budgets, or my temporary writer’s block. This could start a prolific trend…dare I hope? Virtual hugs, my friends. Have a great week!

Goodbye! A meditation in verse

Sending it Away, by Pamela Schloesser Canepa (c) 2020.

 

Put your stuff on the boat,

and send it off gently,

the baggage that only

held you back.

 

See them go,

you don’t need them,

and they won’t counter-attack.

 

Pain, shame, anger, fear,

low self-regard, loathing, and resentment

can’t fit your search

for an enlightened life.

 

What you held onto

has distracted and limited you.

For, baggage does its duty.

Now just send it away,

with a genuine, Goodbye.

 

The monster you created

out of negativity

is no longer your friend.

Put it on the boat,

with a tear-free Goodbye.

 

Photo by Levent Simsek on Pexels.com

Weekend Coffee Share, Processing as I Go

 

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclecti Ali.

My online course is winding down!  Work keeps me busy as ever, but I missed a day and a half this last week due to sinus/allergy problems or a cold.  I needed the rest, but it seems many of my students missed me, which makes me feel good!

My son is becoming an adult, working steadily and learning new things, and I have no one to take care of but…myself.  Last night, he said, “I sometimes wish I was on my own, but you all (his grandma and I) keep me out of trouble.”  What a wonderful acknowledgment!  So I am taking care of myself now, per the request of my brain and body.  I’m going to pilates this morning and having a massage this afternoon.  It takes a village to keep my mind/body straight and work out my knots.  I am willing to accept help and have sought it. I also have a friend meeting me at pilates, so there may be a coffee chat for us afterward as well, since I only had half of a half-caff (can you do the Math? 🙂

I finally finished editing and processing my physical therapy journey and what I’ve learned and still am learning on pain’s connection to the brain.  You can read it here:    Pain, Growth, and Making a Truce with My Brain  Let me know if you are not able to read it all.  It is a different blogging site for me, as I am branching out.  However, hardly anyone knows me there.

I am also considering a new post in a series I used to do called “My Exercise Evolution.” I may be able to get a post out this coming week.  Then, within two weeks, I will be a novelist again, editing and proofing the Malachi manuscript!  Woohoo!  it is like a mother who misses her grown child.  At least I see the light at the end of the tunnel…

I hope the weather is nice where you are; I know I have enjoyed having dog snuggles the last few nights, as it was in the thirties last night.  *shivers*

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you have a great weekend!

Waking up.#writephoto

Waking Up (c)2020, by Pamela Schloesser Canepa

 

We were pushed out of our homes.

pushed into the night

a sudden awakening

where there had been no light.

Triggered, incited

forced to move on.

It seemed I breathed fresh air

for the first time ever.

Everyone looked on me in scorn

as I rolled down the window

saying Goodbye forever.

I was what they said I should be

But I’m now my own version of me

Grateful for change when they only

saw catastrophe.