Final Poem of April

The chain is broken
Last link gone
The days are slipping
On and on

Picture by: thepioneerwoman.com

Soon the summer
Will be here
The trees once green
Turn brown and sere

I'll say good-bye
To life once sweet
And make amends
With regret replete.

Light the lantern
Guiding me home
For I have tasks
And far to roam.

If I have harmed you
I am sorry
I do not wish to
Cause you worry.

Let me right
My many wrongs,
Do my duties
Sing my songs

Help me be the one
I was meant to be
Before the last leaf
Leaves the tree.

This poem was inspired by a dream I had Friday. I dreamed that I was dying of lung cancer and had only twelve weeks to live. I must say it really shook me. Part of me wants to live my life like it's true--abandon everything which isn't something I'd do in twelve short weeks. The other part jeers and says it's only a dream.

Maybe there's a middle road in which I don't abandon everything, but live as perfectly as possible. To that end, I made my piece with an acquaintance today. Previously I've let her annoy me. Today I tried to look at her through Christ's eyes. She's trying.

Let's see if I can do this.

Drawing to a Close

Day 27--

"Ack!" she said.

"I cannot feel my brain.

It is gone."

Day 28--

Fear

Fear will kill you

As dead as any mountain lion

Or fall from a cliff.  

Kick your fear in the face and

Show it you will not be 

Its slave.

Fear's Master

Day 29--

Carry On

Carry on my weary child

The journey isn't yet complete.

Someday your wand'ring will be o'er

And you will rest your aching feet.

Cease your plaints and climb the hill

From here you see what you could not

Just beyond this serried range

There, the new home we have wrought.

Cease your weeping little one

I know the journey has been long

Rich rewards shall be your lot

When once you sing a grateful song.

Cocoon

Day 26--

Cocoon

photography-dawn2breeze.blogspot.com

I, like a cocoon, 
Small  and weak

Wrap't away from 
The world

Shall rise to meet

The morning sun

And feel the warmth 
Upon my soul.

The wings I never 
Knew I had

Rise about me in 

Brilliant fanfare.

Watch me fly

Up to greet

The day.

Snow Poem

its.caltech.edu

Day 25-- 

Snow

Soft as a feather

Sharp as a knife

Silent as time flying

It'll take your life.

Wrap you in ice blankets

Chill you to death

Breathtakingly beautiful

Steals your breath.

Interview with Jewel Adams

Meet my wonderful friend Jewel Adams, President-elect of URWA and writer of umpteen wonderful romantic gems.

What got you writing, Jewel?

I started writing about 20 years ago. I've always loved romance novels, but it was hard to find clean ones at the time. I wanted to read books that I could pass on to my daughter and know they were clean, so I started doing clean romance.

How can we get to these lovely stories?

They are available on Amazon.com, B&N.com and my website, JewelAdams.com

What or who inspires you?

Wow, that would be my husband. I've always told people my heroes in my stories have all of his attributes. They are just younger, have more muscle, and more hair:-)

What do you like to do when you aren't slaving away at the keyboard?

I love to read. You could put me on a deserted island with no TV but plenty of books, water and food, and I would be content:-) I also like to travel, shop, and eat Italian food.

If there was one principle you had to make a stand on--one do-or-die idea, what would it be?

It would probably be anything I could do to help women love themselves regardless of race, background or waist size. To help women know that we all have a purpose in this life, that we can achieve anything we want to, that our presence helps to make the world a better place, and we are treasured more than we know

In what direction do you see yourself heading in the future?

I hope I will still be writing and very successful. I will forever be a work in process, but I long to live my life in a way that will make my family proud, and make me worthy of them.

If you had to switch genres, which one would you choose and why?

Hmmm. that would be hard. Every genre I write (with the exception of my middle grade readers) is romance, from the contemporary to YA to fantasy. There is always romance. If I had to completely switch to middle grade readers, I'm sure I would fit romance in there somehow:-)

Do you have a favorite munchy or music genre you like to listen to while you write?

Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Lara Fabian, Marc Anthony. And I must have orange Tic Tacs! My family calls orange Tic Tacs my drug of choice because I'm not a happy camper when I run out:-)

I'm so impressed with the way you handle your craft. Where did you get your ideas for marketing and what is your favorite tip?

After going the traditional route with two published books and seeing no success with them, I decided to self-publish, and I've never regretted it. As far as my writing career goes, it was the best decision I have ever made.
I'm always looking for new ways to market and I have come across some great ones. But the marketing I've had the most success with is a little company called Wattpad.com. And it really isn't a little company, it's a massive online social network for both published as aspiring authors and readers. I've gotten to know people from all over the world simply by posting my stories as free reads. With millions of readers logging on daily, I have been blessed to garner a large fan base, and most of my sales come from those fans.

If you can think of a great question I've missed, let me have it...:o)

Thanks so much Heidi. I really appreciate you asking me:-)

Jewel's titles include:

by J. Adams

eKindle Edition
Published April 1, 201
by Jewel of the West (2)
ASIN: B007QTE6OY
Book Source: J. Adams

5 stars


Book Description
Free-spirited Capri Harris has always embraced life to the fullest, but a major health trial brings unexpected changes and her outlook shifts, leaving her with doubts of her worth to any man.
Like the force of a hurricane, Jagger Colby enters Capri's life, weakening her resolve and shaking the walls of self-preservation she has tried so hard to build around her heart.
But Capri knows that once Jagger discovers the truth about her, he will walk away and never look back.
When words mean everything, say what you need to say.
Mary's Review
  Capri, a pretty part American Indian, part Jamacan 20 year old has just found out she has ovarian cancer and has to have a hysterectomy.  Because of this she doesn't feel any man will love her because she cannot have children.  She begins to doubt her self-worth as a woman and doesn't understand unconditional love.
    Seth is Capri's older brother and loves Capri to the point that Capri refers to him as a mother hen.  He also introduces Jagger to Capri.
     Ahhh, then there's the handsome Jagger Colby-grey eyes, dark wavy hair, muscular, 30 years old.  The kind of man any woman would be crazy not to fall for.  Those grey eyes seem to be only for Capri.
     Then to make it interesting and humuorous we have the mischievous set of twins, a drunk cow, and adults playing pranks.
     I love this new novellett by J. Adams.  It is full of clean romance, fun and a story of unconditional love.  It is true what they say "The true experience of love comes from within the self".   This is what Capri has to learn.  Will she?
     I recommend this book for young adults and older.

About the Author
     J. (Jewel) Adams stays crazy busy with her family and writing. She has written several books in different genres and is also a motivational speaker to both youth and adult audiences. She home schools her four kids that are still at home, and between that and conjuring up new ideas for her books, her brain is completely fried most of the time. She and her husband Sean are the parents of eight children, which means they are both losing hair, but hey, that's what Rogaine is for, right?  In her spare time (when she has any) she likes to curl up with a good book and a healthy stash of orange Tic Tacs. She and her family reside in Utah.
     Jewel loves hearing from her fans, so if you would like to contact her to tell her how much you love her books or give her sympathy for the fried brain, or suggestions for the hair loss problem (for her husband, of course) contact her atjewela40@gmail.com

Website: JewelAdams.com
Blog: jewelsbestgems.blogspot.com

Other books by J. Adams/Jewel Adams
Available in paperback and ebook
The Legacy
The Wishing Hour
Guardian of My Heart-A Challissian Novelette
Tears of Heaven
Place In This World
The Journey
Against the Odds
Still His Woman-An Against the Odds Novelette
Mercedes' Mountain
Forbidden Portals: The Quicksilver Project
Novelette Ebooks
Sweet 21 Birthday Ball
That Kind of Love
Elise's Heart (PDF only)
The Passionate Hearts Novelette Series
The Shelter of His Arms
What the Heart Sees
The Sound of Love

All Books Are Also Available in Kindle and Nook Versions (Elise's Heart and Mercedes' Mountain excluded)

For reviews of Jewel's books, go to:

http://flsongbyrd.blogspot.com

Thanks, Jewel, for doing this interview. I have to say that I've enjoyed hearing from you since I first joined the ff list. I think you are a pioneer and doing a great job at it.

Day 24--Freeform Poem

Want

Want--

A loaded word.

"I want you."

Worlds apart from

"I want."

The pettiness of

"I want a Ferrari,"

Stacked up against

"I want a meal this week."

So splintered, 

Small,

Those four little letters.

And yet you

Throw me a 

Lifesaving rope with,

"I want to help you."

Want

Day 24--3-5-3 Poems

Summer Haze

weatherwizkids.com

Fan clicking
As it wafts me
Back to life.

Summer heat

Wilting 'til the rain

Lets me breathe.

Monsoons here

Sizz'ling drops of joy

Clear the air.

Day 23--Free-for-all Poem

Prom Date
My prom date sits here all tuxedoed
His cummerbund matches his slacks
He's here on my couch
With his stance in a crouch
While my father holds forth with the ax.

I cannot believe these, my parents
They've embarrassed me almost to death
Mom shoots snap after snap
Dad's sword in his lap
And the only thing worse is bad breath.

I think when I go to get married
I'll go off to a far-away place
I won't take my peeps
As they give me the creeps
I'll elope and avoid the red face

Deathday Party

Day 22--Diamond Poem

I wrote this for a friend whose brother is dying. I wanted her to know how I see his journey back--only sad for those left behind, and only if the bereaved haven't done all they could to ease his journey and celebrate his life. Otherwise, it's just a brief moment in time--a spark and then you'll see him again, whole and happy.

Deathday party

Sweet one

Be happy for me

Don't weep for me now

I merely carry the banner on

Returning to the One who made me

Help me go; loose the bands which keep me

Gird me in my robes of pristine white

I go forward to the next place

Smile for me, little one.

I'll always love you.

My heart

This one is how I would feel at the end of my life, if it came now, when I feel unprepared:

Regret

At the end 

Of my time here

The days and hours,

Like coins,

Falling through

My fingers.

For what

Have I spent

Such precious currency?

Have I done

Enough?

No.

Never.

There'll always be

Another act of 

Random kindness

Another bid for salvation

On which to spend 

This precious hoard.

I must give coin 

With love

Knowing it will 

Come back to me

In incredible

Abundance

From the One

From whom all

Such coin

Proceeds.

More Poetry Deliciousness!

I think I'm running ahead of the wave. Ah well. When you have a good wave, you stand up on your board and shoot the tube.

Day 20--AABB Poem

Fences

A fence a good neighbor makes

They are better than cookies or cakes

But building a wall

Can be not good at all

Day 21-Random Poem

Feet

Look at my feet--they're amazing

They take me wherever I go

They climb and they skip

They dance and they flip

It is painful when stubbing my toe.

Bone structure's amazing and intricate 

The ligaments work like a charm

They make my foot bend

And retract without end

They carry me out of all harm.

But sometimes the elements don't work well

Bones break or the ligaments tear
Plantar fasciitis  

Gout or bursitis

Can reduce one to using a chair.

Take care of your feet to be comfy

Make sure they are kept clean and dry

Get rid of foot fungus

So it doesn't spread 'mong us

Or they'll fail you and cause you to cry.
Picture by: sockloverpb1  

Mash-ups I Can Love

I was reading an article on Storyfix by Art Holcomb about Mash-ups and it tickled my imagination. A whole host of new book ideas popped into my fertile brain-bed. Previously I didn't mess with them a whole lot because people are always telling me bookstores don't know where to put such books.

But then I see books like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I think to myself, "Self, they who say genres don't mix are blowing smoke." Since I'm a cram-that-square-peg-in-there-willy-nilly type of girl, mash-ups appeal to me.

So here are a few ideas:

How about a doctor for aliens? He could bring his family with him. Why can't there be families in space? (Lost in Space did it for years.) I mean it makes not a lick of sense to marry someone and then leave them home while you go off gallivanting all over the universe. Because you know darn well your whole family will be generations gone by the time you make it back to Earth. I think it's Elizabeth Moon who deals with this "lost family" scenario.

How about a self-help book for aliens? You know they can't have everything about life figured out (just look what happened to the poor sods in Area 51).

I think fairy soap operas have been done to death by the Disney Fairy books. But what about fairy horror?

How about alternative histories? One series which did well with this was Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series. I loved that one. He pulled it off quite well. There's still scope for What Ifs out there. What if Queen Elizabeth 1 had gotten married to her Robin? What if Napoleon hadn't lost at Waterloo? What if the Hundred Years War had taken three hundred years to end and France had won it? The book, Da Vinci Code explores the idea: What if Christ had a family line which survived to modern times?

Endless book fodder!

I'm adding a couple of these to the huge queue of my book backlog list.

Poetry Month Cont'd.

Day 17--Nature Personified Poem

 Stones

Polished smooth

Sculpted by wind's relentless soughing

 Water licks away sharp edges

Grinding inexorably at roughnesses

At last proud stone has felt the hand

Of the One who formed it

In the first place

Picture from: nickdicolandrea.wordpress.com

Day 18--Holiday Poem

Scare Factor

Skeletons dancing don't scare me

Witches and black cats too.

Bed sheet ghosts are corny

All they can say is, "Boo."

The thing most deliciously scary

That frisson of fear, and I'm hot.

The situation ordinary

Gone suddenly, eerily, NOT.

That moment when I cannot figure

If that shadow was there just before.

Did it move? It gives me the willies!

Then it jumps and I run out the door.

Day 19--
The Climber 

I see the changes you have made

The things nobody sees
The climbing up to look out o'er
The ranks and ranks of trees

You climb to rid yourself of pain
I see it in your eyes
But please always remember
You are the one so wise

So lift yourself above the pain                                     

Forgetting not at all

That pain will always be there

You must rise each time you fall.
Picture by: topextrem.com

April Poetry Bonanza Cont'd

Day the 14th- Free-form Poem

Ode to Meat

I pity the man who cannot eat meat.

It was put here on Earth for the people to eat.

The juices run down and they drip from my chin

As I take a large bite of this burger of sin.

Let there be chicken so lusciously crunchy

To go with potatoes all steaming and bunchy.

Or turkey so crackly and golden of crust

A scrumptious veal cutlet--a connoisseurs must.

Bring on the steak, the kabobs, or the goulash,

And how 'bout some bacon to make you feel full-ish.

Fish is so lovely, it melts in your mouth

I'd even eat possum that comes from the South.

But even the foreigners do meat quite well

Make my eyes bug out and my stomach to swell. 

Rattlesnake, schnitzel, potstickers, and quail

I'd even eat tentacles, frankfurters, and snail.

Just don't get all crazy while eating your meat

There are vegetables, fruits and good grains left to eat.

The veggies can be just as filling as flesh

Especially if picked from the home garden fresh!

Manga! (How come this either looks like Japanese cartoons or what pets get if you don't take care of them--instead of what Italians say when they want you to dig in?)

Day 15-What If Poem
Flying Fish Friends

What if whales got magic and flew through the air

They might eat my sandwich, drop crumbs in my hair

What if their friends the giant squid came to band

Their hickies would look sick on my neck or my hand

What if 'lectric eels moved into my locker

Could I save my best friend from a jolt--could I block her? 

The minnows would tickle, remora they'd clean

And the jellyfish stingers, uncomfortably mean.

Day 16-Monorhyme Poem

A Day at the Air Show

Waiting impatiently am I

We listen to the announcer guy

Up the jets go, high, so high

Painting smoke pictures in the sky

I barely follow them with my eye

They rumble or screech as they zip by

Over on their bellies they do lie

Were they racing--it's a tie 

To be the best, the Thunderbirds vie

Sometimes azure or crimson their dye

Barrel rolls, barrel rolls, my-oh-my 

We're hoping nothing goes a-rye

If I stay too long my skin will fry

And if you touch it I will cry

But I'll remember having pie

 While watching airplanes paint the sky

Waiting for next year brings me a sigh.

I love to watch those airplanes fly!

In honor of National Poetry Month, I've been doing a daily poem. Today it's more of a song in answer to a currently popular song (the name of which I won't mention). This is my answer to that song. It's not as angry as it sounds...;o)

You pray to a god you don't believe in

And then you expect that plan to fly

You're lonely and your heart is restless

But you don't even think to try.

You dare God to make it all better

When you bleed and the love is gone

And you howl that life is a lock-out

But you continue to do what is wrong.

Chorus:

Raise your eyes and look beyond you

Find meaning in something new

For when life gets dark and painful

God's a friend and a savior true.

Pull your head out of the gutter

Fix your mind on a paradigm shift

Look up instead of always downward

Do what you must to mend the rift

For life is a test and a duck-shoot

You can win big or desperately fail

It's mostly in how you look at it

Whether you sink in dejection or sail.

Chorus

Sack Lunches and Stinging Nettles

Can I just say that I really love deviled eggs? Which is weird since I really hate egg salad sandwiches. 

Mom used to make our lunches (what a dedicated mom!) every day. She put the most horrendous things in them sometimes. I could never get into pimento loaf (might as well be blood sausage or tongue for all I cared) or meatloaf sandwiches. A plain old PB&J would have done every day for me. But mom liked to change it up.

I suppose I should have been happy that she didn't jam some of the naturalist bleah in there that she tried to make us swill down at dinner. There would have been nothing to keep me from heartlessly abandoning a stinging nettle salad in my locker along with all the nasty sandwiches. Cattail pancakes wouldn't have made it past the neighbor's trashcan.

I never wanted to simply dump my lunch because my dad was a teacher at my school. He wouldn't have appreciated my wasting food. 

Or so I thought. 

The night my mom mashed turnips like mashed potatoes I learned just how far Dad would tolerate the stuff. We all got huge dollops of "potatoes". When Dad tasted them, he said, "D. if you ever do that again..." and then he schlopped it all back into the bowl. My sibs and I grinned at each other and followed suit. That was the only Get-out-of-jail-free card we ever got at dinnertime that I can remember.

We ate peach pits (for cancer prevention), various kinds of mushrooms they'd found in the woods, dandelion greens, various roots, and KM (some kind of tonic which tasted the way I would think horse urine would taste) to mention a few.

Somehow we managed to make it to adulthood intact. I don't even think any of us sustained major brain damage from it. I DID have a fairly smelly locker until the dude who had his locker above me stopped dropping his books on my head long enough to protest the stench. My master plan (make the guy move out of that locker through stench warfare) ended in failure when he complained to the janitor.

I think I pulled 53 lunches out of there. Unfortunately Mom was complaining that she never had lunch containers anymore, so I had to go through and remove the containers and take them home to be detoxed. I probably could have done mold studies on the hairy little things.

Huh. I think I'm hungry for a couple of deviled eggs.

And Back to Your Previously Scheduled

New poetry in the April Poetry Bonanza post! Check it out!

Bottle Minister

A sizable chunk of my time today was spent as a bottle minister. I bring lonely bottles together and marry them. Can't have those empty singles over-populating the fridge or bathroom shelf, can we? We have a shampoo mixer in the shower and voilà, two become one. 

What I can't figure out is why I'm the only minister around. Why are there always hosts of bottles with smidgens of this or dollops of that ghosting around the fridge making bad puns and spilling things on other nice, full bottles? 

Surely someday I'll open the fridge to find that the nearly empty ketchup bottle will have gotten busy with the two month old petrified potato and begun a new civilization of rather virulent phage-carrying mutants. They'll be joined by the black, fuzzy-hatted goop in the mason jar which always hangs out in the back on the middle shelf where it foments plans to take over the fridge with the green- scabbed swiss cheese.

Someday these rebels will ooze from the fridge and take up positions around the house (having become quite sentient). They'll arm themselves with button-launchers made with paper clips and wait for us as we come in. There will be nothing we can do as they hold all the cards: phage, weapons, the high ground, and, of course surprise.

And all because I'm the only one who thinks to round up those lonely smidgen-bottles and marry them to the slightly fuller ones.

At the Virgin's Doorstep Review

Well, David, you warned me. There were a few points of reader indigestion as I read this. At the Virgin's Doorstep wasn't my favorite of your works by any means. I am, however, also warped to a degree, and could appreciate a few of your subtle sillinesses.

A unicorn infestation and having the trap be a virgin tickles my fancy. I giggled over a few of the ways you had of getting rid of them. It reminded me of a show I watched some time back about the toad infestation in Australia. Often the point of view in that show was from the toad's point of view and was blackly humorous.

I think you got lost in the woods somewhere between something that could have been a rollicking laugh and a piece tarnished with crassness. I think you agree, or you wouldn't have added the warning. Maybe you can retrieve this from the back-burner pile and make it what it cries out to be--hilarious.

Polar Shift Review

I just finished E. M. Tippetts' book Polar Shift. I really liked it, being a sci fi connoisseur. The idea of having a couple of kids save the day for the older folks was a fun idea. I did wonder why in some cases the heroine was woefully unschooled but in others, brilliant--more-so than any of the adults with her. I could tell that Em wanted to say that every member of the team was valuable, both old and young. This book is appealing to the Tween set.

 

Reading this book was like digging into my favorite kind of ice cream only to find that I was scraping the bottom and licking the sides way too soon. I enjoyed the story, but I wanted MORE.

I realize this was just a short story, but I had questions which could only have been nicely answered by a novel length. Em, write the rest of it!

Someone Else's Fairytale Review

I truly enjoyed this offering. Emily has a way of putting you right into the character's head so you can look out of her eyes and see her gorgeous movie star's piercing blue eyes gazing back. The story was fast-paced and kept me reading until way too late last night.

Spoiler alert...:o)

I've noticed several similarities to Stephanie Myers' Twilight series. We have a hunky, rich, sought-after hero (Jason, a movie star) and a 'wounded' heroine (Chloe) from the wrong side of the tracks. There is an alternative love interest (Matthew) who is discarded (sort of discards himself actually). Chloe has a quixotic, overly childish mother and a zero father. Jason's family welcomes Chloe into their midst, lovingly providing what she's never had--a family.

Jason has to hide who he is to have any semblance of a normal life. Chloe has to deal with someone trying to kill her. Against all odds Jason finds gold in the broken Chloe and, after some difficult roadblocks mostly dealing with sexual expectations, whisks her off to a life of unimaginable (and unappreciated) luxury.

I was hoping for a little more spaghetti from Matthew. It seemed like he gave up way to easily--like he didn't have enough invested in their friendship. When he met Chloe after he'd broken up with his other girl, why didn't he kick it in gear again so we could really have a difficult choice? We're only left with the Bella-like fear of accepting gifts from her love interest. I think if Chloe had a real CHOICE between Matthew, the clean-cut best friend who came back for her, and Jason who could possibly go the way of so many other Hollywood hunks and ditch her, we'd have a pretty decent rumble going.

This is totally Twilight in another less sparkling (and bloody) outfit. Which is not a bad thing. I happened to enjoy the Twilight series despite flaws. The reason it was so horrendously popular is because it ENTERTAINS us, which is what Someone Else's Fairytale did for me.

I'm going to read more from Ms. Tippetts in the future. In fact, MUCH more.

April Poetry Bonanza

It's April Poetry Month again. I'm getting all geared up to knock your Nikes off...;o)

Day 1- Couplet

  Spring!

Spring lopes through with breezy sneakers

Fuzzy brown coats bedeck the peekers. 

Halcyon breezes set wind bells chiming

Lovers and poets commence their rhyming.

All the world loves this season

When the air grows warm and we stop freezin'.

Day 2-Poetweet

(This is the full poem, which works much better but is too long. It has to be exactly 140 characters.)

My Rescuer

Up from dark places I creep
Towards the light
I do not, I will not
Accept my foul plight
A hand reaches forth
And takes hold of my hand
It pulls me to safety
I now understand.

Here's the fixed up poem (stupid spaces got me):

My Rescuer

From dark places I creep to the light.
I cannot accept my foul plight.

He reaches, takes hold of my hand,
pulls me to safety. I understand

Day 3-Fractured Nursery Rhyme

Original:
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Mine:

How come the woodchuck chucks that wood? Could a woodchuck chuck something softer?
Or:

Old King Cole was a merry old soul

A merry old soul was he.

He called for his ipod

He called for his gameboy

And he called for his Playstation 3.

Day 4- If You Were Poem

Sand
If you were ocean,
Then I'd be the sand,
Circling you round
And holding your hand.

and another:

Luna Moth. Image: Paphio [Flickr]

Moth

If you were a candle,

A moth I would be

Fluttering closer

And closer to thee.

You're flicker would draw me

Whatever the cost

Closer and closer

Until I was lost.

Day 5- If I Were Poem

If I were a cowpie
I'd be juicy and sweet
I'd grace your green pastures
I'd be a fun treat
I'd be...unwanted!

Day 6- Easter Poem

Oh

Oh that I could walk out on the waves

And feel Him drawing me near

To have been at His feet

For those fishes and loaves

As He spoke to his children so dear.

Oh to have watched as He stilled the sea

And felt the storm calm at His word

To have listened while He

Told the Pharisees

They had seen but they had not heard.

Oh that I might have provided a meal

To the guttering candle's glow

To have listened to Him

Telling stories of things

His Father once taught Him to know.

Oh that I could have bound up His hurts

And taken a bit of His pain

To have looked at the wounds in His hands 

And His feet

Full knowing I'd see Him again. 

                                                                                                                                                        

Day 7--Joust!

Hooves pounding

Manes whipping

Drool slinging

Sand spewing

 Lances couching

Charger flying

 Wood Shattering

Splinters spinning

Opponent falling

Banners whipping

Crowd cheering

Jouster Sighing

Aspirin seething

Day 8--Couplet

Master of the Hall

Bring the torch and raise the call

The master's home, there's food for all

The hunt was good; a hearty buck

Let's be thankful for our luck.

Lay the table, bring the salt

Call the peasants, lame and halt

Bid the mummers come to play

It has been a wondrous day!

Day 9--This is Me Poem

Heidi
creative, intrepid, wacky, intelligent
Sibling of J, L, J, J, and C
Lover of L
Who fears not being prepared
Who needs support
Who gives service
Who would like to see Christ
Resident of the desert
Murphy

Day 10--Easter Peeps Limerick
 

Those peepers sit there in my basket

All neon-y yellow and pink

They're sugar and spice

But they do not taste nice

I'll keep them around 'til they shrink

The chocolate's a whole other story

I'd eat it for breakfast and lunch

But the trouble with that

Is it makes me so fat

That I put it all back with the bunch.

(image by richardsonfarms.net)

Day 11--Winter Haiku

(Image by its.caltech.edu)

Lacy snowflake here

On my nose melting away

Crystal happiness


Day 12--Couplet Song
Today it's more of a song in answer to a currently popular song (the name of which I won't mention). This is my answer to that song. It's not as angry as it sounds...;o)

You pray to a god you don't believe in

And then you expect that plan to fly

You're lonely and your heart is restless

But you don't even think to try.

You dare God to make it all better

When you bleed and the love is gone

And you howl that life is a lock-out

But you continue to do what is wrong.

Chorus:

Raise your eyes and look beyond you

Find meaning in something new

For when life gets dark and painful

God's a friend and a savior true.

Pull your head out of the gutter

Fix your mind on a paradigm shift

Look up instead of always downward

Do what you must to mend the rift

For life is a test and a duck-shoot

You can win big or desperately fail

It's mostly in how you look at it

Whether you sink in dejection or sail.

Chorus

Day the 13th-Tanka Poem 

Baby

Birth of my baby

So long awaited now

He lies in my arms

looking up with old man eyes

He knows the answer to all