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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Ode to Music

Written for Verse First - Difficulty
Linking to: Poetry Pantry #162

"More often than not in poetry I find difficulty to be gratuitous and show-offy and  camouflaging, experimental to a kind of insane degree--a difficulty which really ignores the possibility of having a sensible reader." Billy Collins

Your assignment should be clear. Write a poem, no more than three stanzas, that is completely free of "gratuitous, show-offy, camouflaging" text. 

image source: google images

Music soothes my heart

It brings me peace

It relaxes my mind

So my troubles can release

Music makes my spirit dance

It makes me smile

It fills me with joy

So I can dream awhile

Music makes my soul soar

It inspires and lifts

It brings me closer to Him

So I can receive His blessings and gifts

~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 Lesson

Today I have the privilege of being the host for The Writers' Post blog hop and my chosen prompt is "The Lesson".

My belief is that we all arrive into this world into this life so our souls may learn and grow.

So life presents us with situations to learn the lessons we are here to learn. And the situations present themselves over and over again until the lesson is learned.

If we look back at our lives, we can see a pattern emerge and from that we can establish the lesson(s) we are meant to learn. Steve Jobs put this quite nicely as "looking back to join the dots".

If the lesson evades us I believe that we carry it through from life to life until eventually we conquer and move on.

Over the years I have realised that there are a few lessons I'm pretty sure my soul is here to learn. Perhaps my karma is intertwined into this.

One of these I am sure is forgiveness.  Looking back to "join up the dots", I can see so many situations where an opportunity to learn forgiveness was presented. And I have finally learned to let go of bitterness where events have occurred that have been hurtful or where I felt betrayed or wronged.

So here's a poem I wrote and stored away for that opportunity to share. 

Image courtesy of akeeris http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Oh forgiveness, you demanding friend

Through many journeys my soul you bend

A heavy load I carry through aeons

In life after life as queens or minions

My spirit is worn down and heavily chained

That elusive lesson from my mind refrained

A flash of light, a beautiful blue

A Divine intervention experienced by few

A message is handed in the kindest of ways

The mind is enlightened, dissolved is the haze

In anger I walked off, tired and weary

In proving my love was pure and worthy

I should've forgiven, looked into your heart

We may have journeyed together, instead of apart.

~

This poem is inspired by a past life reading that I had. It was one of the most amazing experiences I ever had. So truly the lesson of forgiveness I have carried over from a life a long long long long time ago. 

So what is The Lesson for you?

Fact or fiction, poetry or prose, take this prompt as you will and share The Lesson. Then link up with the linky below and please link back to my post.

I look forward to reading your lesson.


Also linking this post to: Poets United Poetry Pantry and dVerse