I Remember

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I Remember

I remember the man wiping
his face and tear filled eyes.

I remember his life-long work
for justice

and his work to ensure
we do not forget.

He’d want us to remember
how it started with an election.

Simon Wiesenthal,
we have not forgotten.

 

It is Father’s Day and I’m thinking of my dad and the flash backs he had about World War II. I was born a few years after the war ended. It is hard to know the energy that passes forward to a new born child, but I sense that echoes of energy do pass through generations. I know World War II had a great impact on all our lives, even if we weren’t yet born.

I’m also thinking today about another man horrifically touched by World War II. His name was Simon Wiesenthal. 

Encircled

Encircled

surprise in the pines
fruit and flowers cover the ground
surrounding Ganesh

Cedar Hill was a retreat center established by a couple of Catholic nuns in Dawsonville, Georgia.  The book club I belong to was started at Cedar Hill.

The first time I walked the trail through the woods there, I was surprised and delighted to see a statue of Ganesh with beautiful flowers and fruit covering the ground around it.

Some years later the nuns left for other places and work in the world.  Cedar Hill then became an education center dedicated to sustainable living, and is now closed.

Along with other people and places, I miss Cedar Hill.

Instinct

 

Instinct

bodies can bruise, stagger, 
and tilt with a breeze

psyches can hamper, crack,
and smile with an angle

but spirit-awakened instinct
cannot be lead astray

Written for The Sunday Whirl using the twelve words pictured above.  I do enjoy the creative challenge of writing a poem with random words.  Don’t forget to honor your instinct as you journey through your week.  Happy Sunday!

Wholly Human

there’s a spell called branding
that you alone decide to cast

not witches
although you’ve branded them too

and caused much pain
like the sting of a scorpion

turn your ear
but not a blind eye to branding

you don’t need a crystal ball
to know its heartbreak

hunt for and resurrect your personhood
leave branding to corporations

they brand everything
from dolls to werewolves

if you must brand yourself
brand yourself wholly human

I’m writing this morning for The Sunday Whirl.  The words this week are indeed a challenge. Words I would not have used and a poem I would not have written, otherwise.
And that is exactly why I enjoy The Whirl…it challenges my creativity!

I surprised myself by how long it has been since I posted a poem.  I’ve written poems, participated in creative challenges, and read poetry around town.  But I felt most of the poems I’d written through the winter and spring were too personal for the internet, at least for now.

Good Enough

she said
if short is good enough
for Rumi
it’s good enough
for me

 

Absorbed

long to be
wholly absorbed in
wholeheartedness

Download

 all a download                                                             

experiences you’ve had
voices you’ve heard
thoughts you’ve embraced
words you’ve spoken

encased in your vibration
now part of your DNA
even from generations back

the ugly and the beautiful
the joy and the sorrow
the pain and the forgiveness
the future and the past

render you whole and complete

 Fade by Nick Gentry
You can see more of his work at http://www.nickgentry.com/

Thank you dVerse Poets Pub for this inspiring prompt.

Hanging On

unlike bats in covered places
brown, dried leaves
desperately hang to branches
in a sprinkle of cold rain

 

Wrote this morning while waiting in the drive-thru at Starbucks.
Some leaves and people find it easy to release and let go; others
hang on through the winter storms.

Happy New Year to you!

 

 

 

 

 

Lost

in her life she allows
a door for fairies

she listens for their song
soft as frost on purple pansies

she sees them fly as low as the puff
of dark dust from a devil’s mushroom

and she sees their twinkle as brief
as the glow of lightning bugs

they are setting a tea party in the ferns
by the creek under the rhododendron

her camera catches them as orbs
lost in a fairy forest in Otto

Written for We Wordle 32 at Red Wolf Poems.  The words are fly, dust, song, puff, toy, frost, fairies, soft, door, lost, life.  I used all the words except toy.  Also, we were to mention a child’s game and mine is a tea party.

To The Point

Playing with Zentangle pens today.  Tree leaves are mainly on the ground and the sky is murky-gray.  Definitely a day to cozy with the cats, make soup, drink peppermint tea, and create in my own small way.

A few months ago I began to play on Pinterest (here), and now I find it the first site I turn to when I log on my computer each morning.  After some thought I’ve decided I like it because it is visual.  I work with numbers all day, read or write words in my free time, and Pinterest gives me a feast of visual.  Creating boards is an easy, quick fix for the part of me that longs for visual joy.

I’m also enjoying inspiration from the Facebook group The Daily Creative Practice.  I’m sharing my little Zentangle as my contribution to today’s posts. Let’s get visual!