My Blood Runs Red…

Today I stopped to visit a big red Farmall M sitting along the road. It brings back so many memories of driving one in the summer during my teen years many years ago. I thought I would share some photos and memories with you.

My blood runs Farmall red

Filling my mind with memories

of days gone by so long ago

Back when fields were plowed

With three bottom plows

Turning over thick rich soil

Farmall red is a color full of life

Of roaring engines full of power

Days on the farm combining wheat

Shoveling it into the granary bins

Of lumbering Holstein cows

Coming down the lane udders full

Ready to be milked morning and night

Barn filled with the smell of hay

Silos filled with chopped corn fermenting

Big red Farmall tractors helping it happen

Yes, my memories run red… Farmall Red.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge:

Posting for d’Verse open link night.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

For more great farm stories check out my book Farm Stories on Amazon Kindle. You can read it free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

Cataracts or Cubist Vision

“Portrait of Eivind Eckbo” painted in 1914: Thorvald Hellesen

When I was very young seventy years ago, my grandmother was suffering from blurred vision from cataracts. She was not able to get surgery to get them replaced like I was and spent her final years unable to see clearly. It is amazing how far medical surgery has come.

Grandma’s eyes grew dim

Figures blend like cubist art

 Winter of her life

***

So much we take for granted

in our self-centered lives

Grandma with my oldest brother

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Lillian asked us to choose one of five paintings by Norwegian painter, Thorvald Hellesen, and write a poem in any form that inspires us.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Reading Fun

I started my teaching career in the early 1970s at a small-town elementary school in Bridgewater, Virginia. From the start my goal was to try to make learning fun for my students. In the photo above are two of my fourth-grade students putting their paper cars on the wall for Evil Knievel to jump over on his motorcycle. Some of you might remember when he tried to jump the Grand Canyon!

We had a reading program called SSR Silent Sustained Reading that the students were to read the last twenty minutes of the day. You can see they really got into reading as a result. Those were good days to remember.

Cars stacked for the jump

Students got into reading

when learning was fun

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Frank asked us to write a Haibun that speaks to a memory. This was one of the fun projects I did with my students. I still have connections with a few of those early students on Facebook.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

For more stories check out my book on Amazon Kindle:

Re-Create and Celebrate (Book Review)

Finding out what makes your heart sing…

When Cindy contacted me about doing a review for her book, she did not realize that I had just committed to re-creating myself, by losing weight. Her book was a great compliment to this endeavor. It was full of helpful ways to take a look inward to find the fortitude to make it happen.

Her book delves into who we are and why we succeed or fail. This quote sums it up very well:

“The first question to ask yourself when you come to your want and why is, “who is this for?” Is it truly for yourself, or is it for someone else? Is it really your dream, or is it a dream someone else has for you? Rarely does it succeed if it’s for someone else.”

When I turned 76 a few weeks ago, I realized that I cannot just gradually keep getting bigger and bigger. I decided I wanted this change for me. It is going to be a difficult journey because I really love food. Her book reminded me that the change in attitude must come from within myself.

Cindy’s book is much more than a weight-loss book. It goes into what has shaped us and made us who we are today. She shares a number of personal stories from her own life and the journey she has been on since childhood. She takes us on an inward journey of self-discovery.

We grow up pleasing others and doing what they think we should do. But as adults we must chose what we want in life. It is not an easy choice because we have been programmed to please everyone but ourselves.

“We often live out someone else’s dream for them, instead of finding out what makes our heart sing…”

“The key to life is being open to receive what is already there waiting for you to hear and understand.”

“Remember, processing feelings is the inroad to the soul, and by clearing the debris you are opening a pathway to reaching your goals and living the life you envisioned.”

“We cannot control the circumstances around us, but only our reactions to them.”

These are just a few of the quotes from her book that spoke to me as I read it. I found her story and vulnerability something I could connect with and learn from.

Her book comes out on Amazon today. If you want to know more on how to re-create your life go and check out Cindy’s book. You will find it helpful and enlightening.

Here is the link:

 

You can check out her wonderful blog at:  https://uniquelyfitblog.com/

 

Limbo

Limbo

As the sound of the crash died down, I followed the light at the end of the tunnel. Moving slowly, I floated weightless toward the future.

Everything changed in a blinding flash, when that Kenworth crossed the median and slammed into my car. Sounds of bending metal and breaking glass echoed across the mountainside.

Time stopped instantly. Now, ‘on this day without a date, on a back street, dusky,’ my course seemed to change. The light seemed to fad into dusky street lamps. I am again floating once more toward the traffic light up ahead that turned to caution as I came to it.

Now I am in the mountains sitting beside a beautiful flowing stream. Sunlight gleamed on the ripples. I wanted to stay there forever.

Suddenly, I took a big gasp and heard voices saying, ”Dwight, can you hear me!”

“Breathe!”

***

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Posting on Lisa’s d’Verse prosery prompt. We must write a flash fiction of not more than 144 words. We must use a given poetic line in our story. The line she gave us was, ‘on this day without a date, on a back street, dusky’ from poet

— Charles Simic, from My Friend Someone

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Roof Restoration

My 07 Toyota Tacoma truck roof was beginning to show through to the primer. It sits out in the hot sunshine all year round so it really takes a hit on the paint. I decided to try repainting it myself with rattle can paint, I ordered the exact color match from a paint distributor on-line and started wet-sanding the surface with 600 grit sandpaper. I spent a few hours perusing You Tube clips on do it yourself painting tips.

When the paint arrived, I taped it up and proceeded to spray away. I barely had enough to get coverage, but it seemed to do alright. I covered it with clearcoat lacquer and left it dry. The next day I washed off the residue with water and soft-scrub. The little bit of abrasive cleaned the top very well. I am very happy with the results.

Fading finish sanded

Color match spray paint coats roof

Clearcoat makes it shine

Click the photo to elarge:

Visualization

Music makes the blind man see again

“This sunny April afternoon” made me think of Danny

He loved music and singing in the choir

Being blind did not affect his singing voice

His harmony came through loud and clear

Diabetes took its toll on his health, but not his voice

At age seventy-four he wanted to learn the guitar

A big challenge for me to help him

Getting fingers in position.. on the right strings

Playing chords came in time as we met each week

I could feel the music flowing through Danny

We spent a great year playing and singing together

Although it seemed like his “life in a bottle” was dark

his imagination and memory were sharp and clear

Then came Covid-19… isolation separated us

Health issues took Danny from us only a year ago

We all miss him greatly

Music made the blind man see again

Photos: Vera Payne

Posting for Punam’s poetry prompt, Music, on d’Verse Poets Pub. We were to include two of the song titles from a Linda Perry record album that she shared with us.  My quotes are in dark print.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Do It Myself Tomatoes

I have enjoyed gardening for many years. Fresh tomatoes are a favorite . I usually get my tomato plants from a local nursery. Last spring I planted several tomato plants, but they got a blight and died. I went back and got a few more, but they too got a blight and died. It was the first time that I was not able to raise tomatoes. I was wondering if the blight came from the greenhouse.

This year I decided to start my own plants. The past few weeks have been warmer than usual for early spring. My little plants seem to love it. The tiny plants in the square containers are zinnias I am starting for the butterflies. Hopefully I will have better success this year.

Fragile green plants grow

Soaking up the late spring sun

Leaving blight behind

**

Photo: Dwight L. Rith

Posting for Linda’s d’Verse prompt, Hiabun for Late Spring.

Join us at: http://dversepoets.com

Scrambling

Life is such a short span when viewed from this end

Seems like we started out together just yesterday

And then I look in the mirror and wonder who that is

staring back at me and looking like an old man

*

For years we struggled to make a living and raise a family

We passed through several lifetimes it seems

Now, in retirement, looking back, the joys and difficulties

passed so quickly and the things we worried about are forgotten

*

Now that we are at the ebb and flow we begin looking forward

again to where we are headed and what it all might mean

Time it seems is that stretch of sand between the dunes and the ocean

where we wait for the Light to show us the way to the next paradigm

*

“We are all just baby turtles

scrambling through the sand

to the ocean

that lies just beyond this moment!”

*

*inspired by a post by Cheryl at: I Am the Moment | Gulf Coast Poet

Please check out her beautiful blog. Thank you, Cheryl, for the inspiration.

This seems like such great metaphor for our lives.

No Excuse for Hate

No excuse for hate

It’s not a political tool

Remember lives lived

Lift them high // show their faces

Erase haters from our view

*

No excuse for hate

Turn off the talking heads

Remember lives well lived

Their joy // happiness // and love

Hater’s don’t deserve mention

*

No excuse for hate

Guard the dignity of those

Whose lives were cut short

Let their lights forever shine

As we overcome hate with love

Every week it seems there is another hater out there who decides to shoot people. We never seem to find the motive for their decisions, because most are killed or take their own lives. Their actions are usually planed out and calculated. It seems we finally have learned that we don’t need to see the killer’s face on every news broadcast, but rather show the faces of the victims. We must learn that divisive rhetoric and hate messages only propagate this kind of behavior.

Today at d’Verse, Sanaa asked us to write a poem in which each last line of the stanzas delivers a message that can stand alone or as a group. I revised this one from 2018 and sadly the message is still the same in 2023.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Painting: Dwight L. Roth