Today at d’Verse, Lisa gave us an animal prompt challenge. I chose to go back to Dora’s Prompt Running with Horses and write an equine poem based on an odd painting I did back in 2012. i experimented again with a haiku chain. In the poem you can pull out any three lines that can be a haiku alone.
Today three generations sat at the same table and painted one of the castles along the Rhine River. It was so interesting to see how each of us approached the painting. The end result was a set of unique watercolors that reflected each of our perspectives. It was such a great privilege to be able to share these painting moments together.
Would your glow overflow from a heart of gratitude
Or would numbers be your downfall too
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Will you age gracefully with a smile warm and bright
Or complain and fuss that nothing’s ever right
Numbers shadow you like hounds in the night
But a grateful heart will fill you with light
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Numbers are only what we make of them
Great attitude and perspective come from within
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Today at D’Verse, Mish asked us to write a poem about numbers for Poetics! I decided to write about aging and the way we seem to be obsessed with numbers as we get older.
My wife has an uncle who just turned 103 years old! He is still alert and able to get around All his life he has had a positive outlook. I believe that is one of the keys to his long life.
I just finished reading my blogger friend Liz’s Novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret. It is a wonderful story of the life Hazel, who with her husband Paul, have taken on the responsibility of managing the last poor farm in Vermont before it closed for good. It is filled with unique and interesting characters that will captivate your attention and your emotions as you read.
The poor farm is where people who have nowhere else to go are taken and supported by the state-run facility. The story begins in the 1960s and then carries you back to the early part of the twentieth century as it tells of a time leading up to and following WWII. They were hard times for those left destitute.
The book takes you from the present to the past and back again as the story moves along. It starts off with Clair who is married to a furniture store owner gets tired of her ho hum life and leaves to be with a blues singer Lightning Hopkins. Her life gets very complicated as her husband and daughter move from the deep south to Vermont. She follows them there in mid-winter only to end up at the Poor Farm with Hazel and Paul.
Flashback stories of Hazel’s childhood of poverty will tug at your heartstrings as her life as a child unravels as well. You cannot help but be touched by the life and times of that era. The story is full of unexpected surprises throughout.
I loved the story from beginning to end and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for something unique and different to read.
Today at d’Verse, Lisa asked us to write a Quadrille (44 words) using the prompt, coax.
Back in the late 1960s when I was in college, some of us would pile in a car and go downtown Harrisonburg, VA, to Jess’s Lunch counter where we could get hotdogs with chili and onions for 25 cents each! They were the long red hotdogs that made the water pink when they were boiled. We loved them! The restaurant stayed open until just a few years ago. They even opened a location at the mall. Anyone from that era knows exactly where you mean when you talk about Jess’s Hot Dogs.
Roth Poetry 