PROMPT #418- UNCOMMON LOVE

Today, as much of the world celebrates Christmas Day, let’s turn our hearts to love. Not just the way we Americans use the word (I love my coat; I love your hair; I love this song), but love in the truest and purest sense of the word.

And in the spirit of the season: God bless us, everyone!


Marie’s Love Poem

“Let earth receive her King.” 

King of Uncommon Love

Where are the humble kings?
Those who do nothing
     but what their father tells them to do?
Where are those who set aside power
who leave glory
who serve
who wash the feet
     of friend and foe
who wear sandals
who cook fish on the shore
who feed multitudes
     with a few fish and rolls
who change water to wine
    for wedding guests
who walk with, feed, and touch
    those deemed unclean
who spend time
    with those others shun
who come not to judge,
     but to save
who give their lives for their people.
Where is a King of uncommon love?
Look to a manger.
Look to a cross.
Then come.
Come,
     let us adore Him.

© Marie Elena Good, 2022



Walt’s Love Poem

PEACE, JOY AND LOVE

Peace.
In the quiet night I bring
a sense serene to make hearts sing.
For here on earth the season offers
tranquility to fill your coffers.
It is peace that I deliver
in the cold night as I shiver.

Joy.
And in that night I may bring a toy
to satisfy a girl or boy.
For on this earth this season brings
along with oh, so many things,
a sense of pure joy I give
for as long as I will live!

Love.
But above all else, my heart is full
and what I bring each boy and girl,
woman and man, is all the love that I can.
And if it gives them peace and joy,
I hope they all enjoy this pause.
I am forever Santa Claus.

© Walter J Wojtanik – 2022

PROMPT #417 – GIFT

As we enter Hanukkah and Christmas week, many are scrambling to find just the right gifts for their special loved ones. Maybe you celebrate another of the many holidays that come this time of year. As we all try to not lose ourselves in the hustle and bustle, let’s take a moment or two to settle our minds and let our words flow as gifts to one another.

We at Poetic Bloomings are thankful for the generosity of all who share their hearts here. God bless you all!


Marie’s Gift


GIFT

What is the best gift but food for one who is hungry, and drink for one who thirsts? For those who feel most unlovable, love feels most crucial, yet most inaccessible. For those who’ve done wrong, the most meaningful gift is forgiveness in full.  For this, God set His power aside to be born of a virgin as a helpless newborn boy, reliant on a woman’s breast for nourishment, heart for love, and her tutelage and care for survival and growth.  For this, Christ Jesus came: to feed, to love, to quench, and to fully forgive.  
 
The extravagance
of the season, embodied:
God wrapped in infant.

© Marie Elena Good, 2022

(Full disclosure:  This is not a brand new poem, as I wrote the final 17 syllables years ago.)

Walt’s Presents

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

The basis for every Christmas gift so given,
has been the same for as long as I’ve been livin’.
It was the first gift on that first Christmas Day,
and that’s the way it should be today.
The one gift that should always be returned,
a lesson we should all have learned.
A gift that came from up above.
You know that gift is of purest love.
When you give from love, you get love back,
and for that gift you’ll never lack.
So, on this Christmas take a pause
and accept my love. I am Santa Claus.

© Walter J Wojtanik 

PROMPT #416 – CATERWAUL

Last week, William used the word “caterwauling” in his poem. Daniel pointed out that this would make a good future prompt. Thank you, gentlemen, for making our job easy this week. Let’s get caterwauling!

MARIE’S SQUEAL

DECK THE HOWLS

Deck the howls with notes of jolly
Fa la la la la la la la la
There’s no time for melancholy
Fa la la la la la la la la
Swap the moans with ho ho hos, and
Fa la la la la la la la la
Raise your voice in verse and prose, and
Fa la la la la la la la la!

© Marie Elena Good, 2022

AND THIS, FROM CATERWALT

EMERGENT SEA

A lone sailor; stargazer 
and navigator, set adrift 
in a calm and tranquil waterway. 
The day is overcast,
and above the mast his banner flies.
Gentle ripples coaxed by
the lake’s nautical breath.
The call of the gulls is garish,
nearly nightmarish in their persistence.
An insistence that they be taken
seriously. Deliriously, he tacks,
feeling the wind, aroused and rancorous,
a cantankerous caterwaul at the fall of day.
Waves awash; a wild wake churning,
a yearning to manipulate the canvas
that spurs his vessel on. He is tossed,
a lost soul in a sea of doubt. Shouts 
for assistance go unheard; not a word.
He signals a frantic S.O.S.; a message
for salvation. For the duration of the torrent,
the Ol’ Salt is battered and splattered against
the ebony night. Despite the norm, 
this perfect storm is destructive,
counter-productive to the life
of a cast-away stargazer; navigator.
A lone sailor, gone.

(c) Walter J Wojtanik

PROMPT #415 – TEMPEST FUGET

IT’S ABOUT TIME. It’s always about time. Dinnertime, Wintertime, Somewhere in Time, making up for lost time. As the year begins its runoff to January, we’re writing about some kind of time that we celebrate. Give us your time and we’ll do the rest!

MARIE’S TIME:

“The world waits for a miracle. The heart longs for a little bit of hope.”  ~ Light of the World, Lauren Daigle

Now, We Wait.

His feet left Paradise to touch earth’s soil 
as we, embroiled in distress,
tried to access His heart.
Some walked with Him, 
and He unlocked their closed souls - 
leaving their lack exposed
and showing them His plenty
in the face of His poverty.  
They learned Him.  They loved Him. 
But the moment He upturned death,
they truly knew Him.
And now, we wait for His return.
We yearn for the Prince of Peace to increase, 
and our anguish, decrease.
Light of the World, right us.
Lift us.  Gift us hearing ears,
seeing eyes, 
and hope, 
realized.  

© Marie Elena Good, 2022

WALT’S MINUTES:

A TIMELESS CHRISTMAS

Christmas is eternal.
It comes independent of time.
As far as we can remember,
December has been a magical month,
for as long as the calendar records it,
every bit of the Christmas spirit lingers
in the span of ages, the stage is set.
You can bet there isn’t a better reason
to celebrate the season.

Christmas is ageless.
It is seemingly unaffected by time.
We grow in chronological years, but our fear
is that we will outgrow Christmas.
But it is the joy of the season
that keeps us young beyond reason.
We should never stop believing.
I believe in you, so you should never eschew me,
the man who takes pause as Santa Claus.

Christmas is timeless,
and my guess is that it will always be.
You see, it has been with me for as long as I’ve lived.
I carry the spirit of Christmas in my heart
as my father did, and his father before him.
I come from a long line of Claus men
who honor and defend the Yuletide.
You cannot hide the pride I feel.
It’s a big deal. Everyday should be Christmas.

© Walter J Wojtanik - 2022