Tranquility

For a few hushed moments. I sat in solitude

Watching majestic mountains, Giving gratitude

The silence so refreshing, Quietening the mind

My soul nourishing, Answers I could find

In meditative Zenning, Perhaps a connection I did make
A spark of self healing, In a Divinely loving state

I liked that quiet moment, When serenity prevailed
Tranquility so potent, Renewal it entailed

But did it really happen, Did I reach that heavenly state
Was it something I imagined, Regardless I celebrate

~x~

Written for:

Midweek Motif - Tranquility (poem to be limited to 3-17 lines in any form)

With Real Toads - Celebrate something that never happened. In my poem the "never happened" is more a question of did it really happen or did I imagine it. 

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Serendipitous Seventh Heaven

Written for:
Poet's United Midweek Motif prompt: write a poem centred on Sevenths
Poetry Jam prompt: choose one word for 2015

Linking to:
Imaginary garden with real toads
Poetry Pantry #234

image source: google images

In wanderings in cosmic fields

I came upon an Earth

A serendipitous moment 

A promise of great mirth

In planetary lokas

A place that seemed like heaven

A place where Gods dreamed to walk

In that group of seven

How blessed am I to be here

Such beauty wild and rare

Upon the Earth I'll come again

To show some love and care

~x~

Lokas - Planetary systems in Vedic cosmology, The belief is that there are 14 lokas 7 upper and 7 lower. Earth resides within the Bhu-loka mandala which is the 7th of the 7 upper planetary systems where the first is highest and 7th is lowest.


My word for 2015 is Serendipity.

And the year has already begun Serendipitously as a featured poet on Poet's United - Thank you Sherry. And as a guest blogger on Carol Graham's blog Battered Hope that also has a poem inspired by my journey on the bus. Thank you Carol.

The word came to me as I walked around my garden on New Year's day and found these pretty pink flowers that are supposed to bloom in Spring and not Summer.

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The Pebble

image by markuso at http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

The pebble had a strange glow

She watched it for a while

Why only she saw it she didn't know

But it did make her smile

It was her special pebble

Seemed it was for her alone

While her friends played with beads and bauble

She played with her little stone

She washed it very carefully

And offered it fresh flowers

She sweetly sang some melodies

She lovingly gazed at it for hours

It's a matter of how you view

And what you perceive

A stone is just a stone for few

Or God if you so believe

~x~

Written for Poetry Jam - Pebbles
Linking to: Poetry Pantry #226


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Magic

The sunrise that heralds a new day

The wind that blows those cobwebs away

The birds that fly high and low

The flowers that blossom and trees that grow

The clouds that look like cotton wool

The thunderstorm, the rain so cool

The lightening that frightens some

A gloomy day that makes us glum

The butterfly, the moth, the bee

The rivers, and the sand and sea

The hills and mountains majestic and tall

The cliffs and tumbling waterfall

The multitude of animals that live in forests

The mirages and the shifting desserts

The wonders of Nature we take for granted

All of creation of which we are enchanted

Perhaps it's all illusion, the conjuring magic of our Creator

Yet man and his inventions often think that they are greater

~x~

Written for Poetry Jam
Linking to Poetry Pantry #221

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Friends

Written For: Real Toads picture prompt,   Poetry Jam - Friends
Linking to:    Poetry Pantry #202

River Kinzig  picture source: with real toads

I sit by the banks of the Kinzig

In quiet contemplation

My mind goes off meandering

To childhood reminiscence 

My friend we laughed at little things
Life carefree in the sun

So many songs we had to sing

Days filled with innocence and fun

The times we chattered whispering

While teacher's voice droned on

The scribbled notes and giggling

Cherished moments long gone

How did time go whizzing by

Our lives now half over

Long ago we wished time would fly

Now we wish it would go slower

I sit by the banks of the Kinzig

In quiet contemplation

I smile as my mind goes meandering

To childhood reminiscence 

~x~

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Sunset

Written for: Real Toads - Vignette   and   Poetry Jam - Sunset
Linking to:  Poetry Pantry #201

As the sun dipped over the horizon

It made one last spectacular attempt

To show off its magnificence

At bay the night it kept

With many hues of red and gold

The sky lit up in splendour

Each breath we drew as the patterns unfold

In silent awe and wonder.

A vignette is like a poem and personal narrative combined. it focuses on a particular moment, mood, aspect, setting, character or object. Writing a vignette can help you illustrate a certain moment for others to learn from or help you come to terms with professional or personal issues. It can also be used for character exploration. Similar to flash fiction, which is an explosive moment described with a great deal of impact squeezed into a few pages, a vignette does not need a lot of dramatic weight. It's an honest and very personal reflection of anything that comes to your mind or that you've experienced.

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Bolt From The Blue

Written for:  Verse First   Poetry Jam

taken on the way to the farmer's market

A bolt from the blue that changes perspectives

The world suddenly seems like a different place

An ordinary scene looks amazingly attractive

Long reaching branches of green look like lace

Each curve of the lush rolling hillside held me captive

The river seemed peaceful and so full of grace

This masterpiece, astounding, sheer magic, and oh it put a smile on my face

~x~

Verse First
Writer's often assume they must be in a particular place, using specific tools, with just the write atmosphere to write. I challenge that. Today, do not allow yourself to follow you own ritual and routine. Go to a place where you've never before written. Then write.  One poem. 7 lines in length. Make it perfect. 

Poetry Jam
So what does the image of Lightning bring to your mind?


This morning I went to the farmers market as I do each Saturday. And during the drive there I watch the scene go by without any thought or appreciation, but today suddenly for a short moment in time (like a bolt of lightening from the blue), the usual, everyday, ordinary scenery looked amazingly beautiful.

And so I wrote this poem imagining I was in that car this morning - a virtual drive - Never written a poem during a virtual drive nor of the drive to the market!

How uncanny that both prompts today at Verse First and Poetry Jam fit in perfectly with this morning's sudden moment of wonder.


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Running with me

Written for:

The Write Tribe: 
Pick one of the provided quotes from Ernest Hemingway and write on that quote. The quote I've chosen is:

You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another ~ from The Sun Also Rises

Poetry Jam:
Write about what you know for sure, what you don't know for sure, what you wish you knew for sure and use one of the provided quotes to write a poem. The quote I've chosen is:

If we cannot name our own, we are cut off at the root, our hold on our lives as fragile as seed in a wind

Verse First:

The body becomes the landscape

creation of Carl Warner

I can't get away from myself by moving from one place to another

My load I carry everywhere, that much I know
No matter where I run it's never going to be further
For with me I travel wherever I go

I don't know what you look like or from whence you came

But without you I would be lost, that much I know

What would my life be if your guidance you refrain

My life would be more ebb and less of the flow

Wherever I travel, I blend in with the landscape

For earth is my present home, that much I know

My travels with you, my soul, my life does reshape

And through my adventures you learn and you grow

I wish I knew the reason for this life's quest

But you know all lifetimes, that much I know

And each step that I take is a cause and effect

And of journeys you planned a long time ago.

~x~

This was a real challenge trying to combine all three prompts, but that I wanted to combine them was something I knew I needed to do - challenge myself a bit. I hope I managed to make some sense of what I wrote.

Linking to:
Poetry Pantry #175
dVerse Open Link Night #122

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An Ode To Places

Written for:  Verse First   and  Poetry Jam


Verse First - The Places I Love
Consider the places you love and all that they mean to you. Say their names aloud. Listen to their rhythm. Embrace the emotions they evoke, and then write an ode to those wondrous locales.

author's image taken from my lounge

In this life there are places I've seen

Wondrous, beautiful and so serene

The hills and mountains spiritual and grand

Valleys and plains all across the land

Woods and forests quiet and mysterious

But explore with care for they can be nefarious

Rivers and streams and babbling brooks

Crags and cliffs and caves and nooks

Meadows of flowers, shores and the sea

Any place where my spirit is free

These are the places in this world that I love

Breathtaking, amazing, and those I'm in awe of

~x~

Poetry Jam - Lost

Reflect on something "lost" and write about it.  Or a time you were lost.  Or a way you were lost.  Or perhaps think about what you would like to be able to lose?

image sources - google images and wikipedia

I am lost in my dreams

Of places unseen

The ones that my soul longs for

Where the Gods walked the Earth

To teach us our worth

And karma, dharma and more

I am lost in my dreams

Of places unseen

Or somewhere before have explored?

In a time long gone by
That I see in my mind's eye
Perhaps lifetimes that I came in before.

~x~

dharma = right thought, right speech, right action, duty

How strange that I recently took part in a blog festival via my blog Someday Somewhere and my chosen theme was 7 journeys I would love to take. I was truly lost in my dreams those 7 days.

Featuring poems
One of the things I learned through that festival was that it gave me great joy to pay it forward by featuring posts so will be doing that in future on all my posts. So here is one that I absolutely loved: Helen's Lost Youth.




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The Paper and The Tree

Written for the following prompts:
Verse First - Edit to elevate
One Single Impression - Farewell
Linking to:
Poetry Pantry #163

Verse First - Edit to elevate

Write a poem about something exceedingly ordinary, something completely mundane. Edit it to elevate it. Turn it into art. Choose your words carefully, using only those conveying your specific intent. Remove everything that doesn't serve you well. 

So here's my poem for the prompt. Please leave your thoughts on my poem in the comments. Suggestions to make it better are welcome. Thanks.

The Paper

They say someday you'll be extinct

When paperless offices blossom

But you quietly smile and wink

Knowing these thoughts are like flotsam

It's environmentally friendly 

Call the techno advocates

Paper and tree look on bemusedly

While air and landscape deteriorate

It's not the paper that's at fault

It's man's lack of caring

Tree and paper exist not apart

But enjoy each other's sharing

If man made paper from dying tree

Instead of destroying younglings

Our precious world would be fresh and free

And a friendly place for earthlings.

The circle of life applies to all

Not selectively; that's man's misunderstanding

Nature doesn't make us fall

It's our careless thought and handling

~x~

OSI - Farewell

and The Tree

The dying tree bade farewell

To the little ones around it

Use me, to man it cried out aloud

For I'm the one unfit

Don't leave me here to rot in pain

Set my spirit free to your benefit

Spare my young ones, let them grow

Dear Lord, let man that permit

~x~

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The Flower

Written for Verse First

This week's assignment: Read The Red Wheelbarrow, then write an eight line poem of your own whose simplicity is equally complex.

She held it delicately

the pretty pink flower

trying not to lose

tiny dewdrops

clinging to open petals

little transparent beads

touched by fingers

felt soft and wet

~x~

Also linking to:  Poetry Pantry #161   dVerse Open Link Night #108




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Close to the Source I Swoon.

Written for the following prompts:
One Single Impression - Swoon
The Verse First - Close to the source
Linking to: Poetry Pantry #160   dVerse Open Link Night #107


Verse First's - Close to the source:
Good writing takes the reader on location. Good writing doesn't "talk about," but emanates the warmth, light and life of the topic at hand.  A good poem feels vivid and visceral and close to the source. Today, become the experience. Write from the source. With detailed yet precise language, make us feel your meaning. 

So here is my attempt, please let me know if I achieved the goal above and let me know if there were any improvements I could make. Drop by and leave a comment with your thoughts. Thanks.

A haunting melody

Whispering through the forest mist

Tickling my senses

Like a magnet I am drawn

Earthy boots crunching on fallen leaves

Searching blindly for that sweet sound

Footsteps quickening 

Anticipation testing my patience

The gurgling sound of a rushing brook

Mesmerising sweet refrain, tantalizingly near

Feet running fast, heartbeats quickening

Eyes aching to behold that source

~x~

One Single Impression - Swoon

And having beheld that source ..

There you sit by the pretty gulmohar

Under the light of a silken moon

That mesmerising sweet refrain

My senses begin to swoon

Mind intoxicated by your presence

Heart a flutter dancing wildly

Senses swimming uncontrollably 

Eyes locked and loving blindly.

~x~

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The Long and Short of it

The prompt this week at Verse First is The Long and Short of it:

say what you must in the quickest and simplest way possible.

and that means a haiku

Nature's fury photo from TV one news video

Mother Earth angry 

She's warning us to behave

Worst storm in decades

The storm was scary

Thundering winds lashing rain

Carnage everywhere

(see my post on my photo blog for more details - worst storm in 45 years hits Wellington with winds upto 200kmph)

Garden of Dreams

image by Evgeni Dinev http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

A beautiful meadow surrounded by hills

A waterfall gentle and grand

A place in nature where I connect with Spirit

Where the answers I seek are found 

A place for poor children, safe and fun

Making their wishes come true

Down by the seaside surrounded with palm trees

Watching the ocean blue

This is the path that my soul wants to tread on

This is the way to my bliss

I sit in quiet meditation in my garden of dreams

Walking the road that is His

~x~

Written for  Verse First - An Authentic Life

Linking to  Poetry Pantry #149    dVerse Open Link Night #95

Moon of Eternity

The moon has always been linked to Romance.

  

So my poem today is being linked to GBE2's prompt - Romance

Also linking to dVerse Open Link Night

Perigee moon, Wellington, NZ

Oh moon of eternity

Silent witness of my timeless journey

Reflecting the soul of my beloved

Whose thousand faces I have beheld and loved

And captured in the depths of my heart.

Mobilise your silken moonbeams

To weave me back to that endless heaven

Where my spirit entwines with my immortal lover

And dances upon the wings of romance.

~x~