In A Wave. #RDP #poetry

Photo by Emiliano Arano on Pexels.com

Today is where we live,

but yesterday is a place we visit

quite often, as mental time-travelers

in a wave of nostalgia or memory

of a little child’s hand in yours,

or a wave of fear

of the threat heard in a voice,

or of screeching tires,

or the shared memory

of being wedged between two other cars.

A wave of nostalgia could bring

a memory of young love

that was new, or

of climbing trees

in springtime,

scraping our knees and

running onward anyway, no care

but for the present moment.

We travel to remember

Why we don’t go certain places,

if we can trust a certain person,

or in moments we need to feel

our life has meaning.

We can forgive in ten seconds

but remember years later;

Love, regret, and fear are automatic.

But, just like swimming through the waves,

living in the present must be learned.

~~~~~~~~

**These thoughts inspired by the music of Still Corners’ song, The Trip. Comforting, yet slightly haunting.

***You may visit today’s RagTag Community prompt and challenge at https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2021/10/02/rdp-saturday-wave/

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For My Son. #poetry

Advice to My Son

By Pamela Schloesser Canepa

 (c) 2020

 

Even when your world’s

turned upside down

There is soil to plant a flower.

 

Even when change is hard,

Inside you have the power.

 

And when times seem the darkest,

There’ll be sunshine within the hour.

Psychedelic. #RDP

Photo via Free Photo Library.

Poem (C) Pamela Schloesser Canepa, 2019

The sky covers me

With a psychedelic blanket

To cover my eyes

And warm me.

To soften the edges

Of today’s worries.

Colorful and soft,

Just like the old blanket

Grandma once made.

Grandma, with the long hair

And constant incense smell,

The tickles and hugs,

The outdoor lunches,

Afternoons with goats and dogs.

Grandma, an explosion of love

And acceptance,

A psychedelic canvas, blanket, shirt, or sky. Colors that smile.

Love.

*Visit http://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com for more entries, and follow to receive the daily prompt.

E is for Eighties, as in 1980s! #AtoZChallenge

  Here I am in TN at Hands Across America, 1984 or 1985, with my Olivia Newton- John hairstyle.  🙂  I forgot to wear sunglasses, so I’m squinting.

 

The 1980s, a Free Verse Reflection, (c) 2017

by Pamela Schloesser Canepa

Now I call them the days of my youth,

the moments of my folly,

as I binge watch Stranger Things.

Let us speak of the 1980s,

Of David Bowie, Prince,

Robin Williams, and Great White.

Let us dance in the Purple Rain,

With our waterproof fuchsia lipstick.

Let me dream of a college degree

while I try to look like Madonna

in crushed midnight eyeliner,

flirting with boys

who care to waste my time.

While Phil Collins is still young,

and the Cure’s just setting in,

let me marvel at this time,

before I wake up from this dream.

I’ll still channel my inner eighties girl at times (minus the fuchsia lipstick)!

 

**The AtoZ Challenge theme for my blog is “Who I am.” Yes, it’s wide open.  In April, I will blog from A to Z to include little tidbits about me, poems I’ll share, and stories. Each day I will write something based on the next letter in the alphabet.  It’s been fun so far!

Want to know more about the A-Z blog challenge?  Visit http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

#weekendcoffeeshare An Inspirational Songbird

Welcome to the #weekendcoffeeshare, hosted by http://www.nerdinthebrain.com.

If we were having coffee today, on March 25th, I’d be gushing nonstop about who I saw in concert just Thursday night:  Stevie Nicks!  I can’t help it, it is so much on my mind and I was really impressed by it!

Never mind that the Pretenders didn’t show because Chrissie Hynde was ill.  We were there on time and waited an hour as there was no other opening band.  That was alright, though, once Stevie showed up on the stage.  Was I impressed by her music?  You bet!  She sounded just as good as she did the first time I heard her when I was either twelve or thirteen, back in the early 80’s, which brings a serious wave of nostalgia washing over me.

I got my first radio when I was about twelve.  Her songs were some of the first that I heard on that radio.  I set my morning alarm to wake me with music.  “Landslide” and “Leather and Lace” were a few of her songs I remember most.  “Stop Draggin my Heart Around” was another, which, to my delight, she sang at her concert!  I recall being an awkward 12 or 13- year-old who felt unattractive with unwanted baby fat.  I remember Mom and Dad had been split up for about a year, and I didn’t feel too great about that.  Dad married someone else, and I saw him as a betrayer for a while.  Yet, I missed him.  I have to credit him with something important, though.  He bought me a set of classic books that Christmas, including Little Women and Great Expectations which I tore into right away.  The love of reading has been impressed upon me forever and encouraging me to read such classics was such a wise move.

I hadn’t thought about these books in a little while, but Stevie Nicks took me back in my head to that time of my life.  These classic books impressed upon me the selflessness of love.  Stevie Nick’s music impressed upon me the mystery of love.  “Leather and Lace,” in my opinion, was the perfect example of true love.  One more thing I remember from that time era was the long sweaters.  A few people actually wore such sweaters to the concert.  Someone even wore a cape in true Stevie Nicks’ style.  I love it, even though I am a slave to comfort and wore a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.  I enjoyed the crowd, though; it too was very nostalgic.  I’m sure people loved digging out their styles from 1980!

In between songs, Stevie gave us some back story to what inspired her to write them and what was going on in her life at the time.  She has a sense of humor and a way with words!  She played some songs for us that she calls part of “the sad, Gothic box of lost songs.”  I feel just the same about some of my poems and writing.  It was awesome to hear these songs!  We got to hear a little about the cape she was wearing, a 35-year-old piece of nostalgia itself.  Of course, she’d be dressed in her signature style. It was endearing to hear how Hurricane Katrina and even the second Twilight movie inspired her to write verse and then songs.  Hearing of her writing process was a treasure.  I respect this woman so much after seeing this show.  I had never seen her live before.  I’m so glad I did, and thankful to my boyfriend, Kenny for suggesting it.

After seeing her show, I feel so much more encouraged to write.  To know that not everything I write will sell or be cherished by others, but I may cherish it just the same.  To imagine myself someday telling stories about how it all started out.  I am inspired!

As far as the rest of my life, it’s still going! My first self-published book is now in an independent bookstore.  I am still blogging occasionally.  I’m working on several other writing projects, but not at any urgent pace.  I really need to get more focused.  This week I responded to a prompt on Sue Vincent’s #writephoto.  It is located here:  https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/in-the-deep-writephoto/   I’m trying to send stories to different publications to earn $100-$200 each.  It’s work, but I have to fund a concert-going lifestyle.  It has become evident that this is not the year to travel, with all that has happened in my life.  So, I’m going to invest in shorter, more frequent musical getaways.  We all need an escape!

Please visit Emily at http://www.nerdinthebrain.com/weekendcoffeeshare-the-one-where-not-much-happened-because-ive-been-sick/#comment-437 for her #weekendcoffeeshare, and to join in, leave your link in the link-up!