The Glory in Grace

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it."

~Helen Keller

MIdnight In the Kitchen of Good and Evil

Art by Jacek Yerka

Mind Fields- "Between Heaven and Hell"

Linking with Imaginary Gardens for "In Other Words" posted by Kerry 

The idea of this challenge is to substitute words of our own into the well-known titles of novels or movies.  My title is: Midnight in the Kitchen of Good and Evil....then write a poem to follow it.

Thou shouldst eat to live, not live to eat. ~Cicero

It is midnight and I have opened the fridge in search of something more to eat.

but I don't want an apple or carrots...what I WANT is something SWEET!

Don't make me eat a veggie salad, or low fat turkey on rye.

Let me have a desert with ice cream and apple pie!

I probably am not truly hungry, I just always want more in my gut!

If my stomach was a woman, it would be no lady but an evil slut.

I had breakfast lunch and dinner...heck I even had a snack, 

but I still want something later that is tasty, and full of fat!

I am not a glutton — I am an explorer of food. ~Erma Bombeck

This Used To Be My Playground....

 

Linking with Poet's United for the Mid Week Motif~ The Nineties posted by Susan

 

It may seem shallow, but one of the first things that came to my mind of the 90's was Madonna, so I shall write a poem consisting mainly the titles of her songs.  Wish me luck....and I promise there won't be erotica so papa don't preach! :-)

 

 

This used to be my play ground this place so far in the past....and like a prayer I hold on to the memories...for they are frozen in time within the confines of my heart....and when the music plays I'll remember once again how I was crazy for you.... cause you were my lucky star and I was your ray of light in a constant holiday that made me cherish what it feels like to be a girl now I live to tell each secret and all the confessions on a dance floor that those times whispered of that could never be a bedtime story...and I refuse to be sorry for it all was a stepping stone to where I am now like hard candy makes us brush our teeth....the wilds of life lead us to a settling place...now a material girl I never was...but on the borderline I stood so many times where my spirit would take a bow and my heart would jump just to justify my love...vulnerable raw and true was the love we shared...and like a virgin each time we touched was like the first time indeed....now looking back I know that nothing really matters if it does not hold love at the core.....and what we had was true blue....it survived the storms of time no rain nor drought could kill it.... now it is the past but it still proves to be the thief of hearts in my memory....so I turn the radio on again and again just to go back to that forbidden love and all the memories it holds....for it will and always be the place I go back to....cause you see this used to be my play ground.

 

 

Photo Credits

 

Bold Sailor

Photo Credit

Linking with Poet's United Midweek Motif ~Climate posted by Susan

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. ~Mark Twain

There has been a climate change in the center of my heart.

The polar ice caps are melting because love's light has left a mark.

No longer are there icebergs that could sink the grandest ship.

 Now flows a current that allows a vessel's course to enter in.

 Expansion of the heart is a pilgrimage that must endure a harsher cold.

For the only way to gain a deep love is to be a sailor that is bold.

Exploring Through Grace

Life is an adventure in forgiveness. ~Norman Cousins

Those Laser Beams

image credit

"A woman can say more in a sigh than a man can say in a sermon."

 ~Arnold Haultain

Gloria Swanson was born March 27, 1899 and passed away April 4, 1983.  She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era.


When I think of "silent film", I see  extravagant movement and expression that becomes almost a dance of sorts.  Life and relationships are so much about connecting and communicating.  Sometimes no words are truly needed, and there are times when words unspoken have broken homes.  Silence is like fire and the force of the ocean's wave.  It is both a useful necessity and something that can bring harm to someone within it's path.
Having the wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent is a hard lesson to learn.  A lesson that can be hard for a writer at times.   This week at Imaginary Gardens the prompt for "The Tuesday Platform" is Silence.  Below is my attempt at just that.








He barges in the house
with mud on his boots
 beer on his breath
and lots on his mind
oblivious to the fact
that she has flour on her hands
a child on her side
and the phone ringing in her ear.
He lost his job today
the 3rd on in 2 years.
He plops at the table
and spills more than his beer.
She turns around
and gives him
the look.
You know
the one.
The glare
that pierces through metal.




Here is another post I have to share about silence just click here to read.

In the Heart of Winter

Google Images


Linking with Imaginary Gardens for "The Tuesday Platform".
Hi beautiful Toads! ~ :)

Winter bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail. ~Montenegrin Proverb

Winter has a voice that is raspy
 like an old woman who has always smoked.

She sneers as you walk by
 and bad talks fall holding spring
by the throat.

  You see she is a bit of a bitch
 and has no desire to change a thing

 so keep your distance if you can
 or her cold heart will have its sting. 

But if you dare see her beauty
and venture closer to her deepest parts.

Beware, you may slip on the walkway
and break more than just your heart.

Google Images

Hope is Pushing Onward

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Linking with Poetry Jam for Mary's prompt "Journey"

 

 Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. ~Grandma Moses

 

 

You could say it has been a rough road,

and that would be the truth.
I have been stuck in the mud
and gotten mud upon my boots.
I have been stranded
on the wrong side of the road,
 and had to walk onward
 unable to get a tow.
Yet in the midst of hardship
there has always been a way.
I have made it forward
even on the hardest of days.
Kindness has appeared
from every walk of life.
It has reached out it's hand
to help in the day and the night.
So no matter what lies ahead
in my journey through the years,
I have the peace of knowing
that I need not hold to fear.
For no matter what goes wrong
hope and kindness are always here.




I know this poem sounds a bit trite, but in it's essence it is the utter truth.  I could get out a violin and tell of my heartaches like a country song, and I would have a grand and somber story to share, but truly there is so much hope, redemption, and true miracles along the path that the reality is it would be an inspirational uplifting story, not a tragedy.   So I guess I could sing :


"Some trails are happy ones
Others Are blue
It's the way you ride that trail that counts
Is a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you
Until we meet again
Happy trails to you
Keep smiling until then"

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Stars and Their Stripes

The Mag #245

Also linking with Imaginary Gardens for Kerry's prompt "Iconic people society"

From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.
~Samuel F. Smith, "America"

She waved her flag for freedom amidst a higher wind

hoping for contentment or just one truer friend

in a world that knows it's legends only by the stars

and the stripes that wave higher seem to have more scars

so hold your banner gently and keep it close in love with pride

for fulfillment cannot be reached for it is a flag that waves inside.

 

 





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My crown is called content, a crown that seldom kings enjoy.

~William Shakespeare

Can't Run Away From the Circus.

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"Her life was a circus.  So she decided to enjoy the ride."

~Queenisms

Life is a highway so I asked for a Porsche,

but I got a rough trail with a galloping horse.

Life is a gala so I asked for a gown

but I got overalls that were meant for a clown.

Life is an opera so I asked for a stage

but I got a parakeet that sings in a cage.

Life is a circus so I asked for a trapeze with a net

but I got a small yard with a tiny swing set.

Linking with Imaginary Gardens for Mama Zen's "words count"....come join the crowd it's the biggest show on earth. :-)

Pull the Trigger Slow

image credit: Dick Blick Art

The Mag 244

"Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways." ~Stephen Vincent Benét

Life is fragile like a flower in winter 

yet tough like a loaded gun

 in a world where war and hunger

in some way touches everyone

so hold on to this moment 

hard yet tender like a rose

for there are bullets in the chamber

but pull the trigger and they quickly go.

Big World

Photo Credit

Linking with dVerse for Claudia's prompt "The things we see".

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again. ~Elizabeth Lawrence


It's a big world in the eyes of a child where wonder lives up to its name.
Everything is a view from a mountain top
no two places are ever the same.
A raindrop is like a giggle and a slip an utter laugh
a hug is a vertical wrestle
and a kiss is an ocean splash.
Its a big world in the eyes of a child where wonder lives up to its name.
but as we grow up it shrinks like a tall lit candle
for like ears and noses complacency grows bigger with age.

N is for Night

Photo Credit

Linking with A B C Wednesdays



Mine is the night, with all her stars. ~Edward Young



I have settled my heart within her blanketed fold
where my gaze lingers on sparkling eyes
it is the comfort only she can provide
deep in my dreams that
rise up in her arms
at midnight
our dreams
become
one.