PROMPT #244 – MOTIVATION: HUMILITY

If you think yourself to be too great for small tasks, then you are too small for the great ones.

A person should know their limitations. Confidence is a great thing, but over-confidence can rub people the wrong way and be your undoing. We are merely poets, only human. We are each subject to the same ups and downs as the next person. We were all given degrees of talent, but no one is truly so high up that they cannot fall. In this humongous fish bowl in which we live, we are merely plankton. But, plankton with potential. Where others strive to put themselves above everyone else, some choose to let their “greatness” be determined by others. In the meantime, we offer our words for those we know will read and enjoy them. We show our paintings to the ones who would appreciate our work. We play our songs for those who are in tune with our music/lyrics. We all find our niche with humility, remembering the old movie adage, “There are no small roles, only small actors!” Here at POETIC BLOOMINGS we have come to realize similar sentiments. We have become a community, a family with no regard to age, or ability, just a likeness of mind. There are no small poems/poets. There are just poems and poets, and in that embrace, we will all find our greatness in those who matter.

Write of humility. Humble in your life or in the world. We are all better for it.

MARIE’S SIMPLICITY:

MARIGOLD

I bring to the garden my birth-month flower,
And admit to being drawn to her modest, unassuming style.
She seems unconcerned that she is common.
She simply embraces her meaning:
Winning grace.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

WALT’S HUMBLENESS:

FINDING MYSELF

I found my poetry, and as such
I found myself. I discovered I had a heart
that rhymed in compassion and beat to the meter
of a well worded verse. The course of my thoughts
followed in kind, for my mind searched for
the emotions that corresponded to those
tendrils of imagining. I admitted much to myself,
knowing my indiscretions through the words
I used to express them. Humility came in the
release of such things and they would bring me
to each new revelation. It has become my
salvation; made me a better man.
I stand here today, no worse for wear
for there I have revealed the true me.
A humble self-discovery through poetry.

© Walter J Wojtanik- 2019

PROMPT #243 – MOTIVATION: TRANQUILITY

Find peace in the reflection of still waters

Vocabulary.com Dictionary interprets the sense of tranquility as such:

Tranquillity* is a sense of peace and quiet. It is the feeling you have while sitting under a starry sky, listening to the crickets. The aura of tranquility comes from the calm in the world, which makes you feel you are without a care (in the world).

By definition, tranquility is quiet, peace, stillness, serenity, placid, relaxed … I think you get a sense (as if you didn’t know already!). Write a scene or circumstance that you would deem tranquil. And to paraphrase Mr. Trebek, make sure it is in the form of a poem!

* Apparently, it can be spelled with a double “L’ as well.

 

MARIE’S SERENE SURROUNDINGS:

FIRE

Fireplace captivates –
holds my eyes in place; my heart
releasing its race.

WATER

Night sky’s silent moon
presides over a serene
song of sluggish waves

WIND

Perched in autumn’s tree,
color floating around me
as my book leaves turn.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

WALT’S TRANQUILITY:

DRAWN TO THE WATER

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky  ~John Masefield from “Sea Fever”

I am drawn to the water,
a sanctuary dank and deep,
where Neptune’s sleep is unsullied
and tranquil. I will go there

where a sailor’s son should roam,
a second home for a weary traveler,
a reveler in life’s safe harbor.
Looking towards horizons and distant

spaces, of  foreign faces that grace these places
and dreams of adventure of which there are many.
Anyone who is so drawn is a son of the sea,
a welcomed one who is asked but one thing,

“What will you bring to the sea?”
for treasures that abound are found deep within,
and in their discovery we find ourselves.
I am ever-drawn to the water

a sanctuary dank and deep,
where the son of a sailor finds eternal sleep.

© Walter J. Wojtanik – 2019

PROMPT #241 – MOTIVATION: ADVENTURE

Undertaking an unexpected exploration is a worthwhile endeavor

We are word explorers. Always on the hunt for the right thought to inspire and the right word to achieve our goal: write a cogent poem. Even if we do not head out with that in our sights, we find ourselves taking the chance to write the next fabulous verse. There is a sense of adventure in taking on that trek. We respect the art of expression and put ourselves out there to take others along for a ride. In the jungle of creative endeavors, we forge ahead to write this poetic adventure.

MARIE’S ADVENTURE:

Root of the matter:
Life is no small potato,
so keep your eyes peeled.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

WALT’S EXPLORATION:

BEYOND THE SEA

We are two, adrift in open waters,
sailing as ships in the night.
We remain within each other’s wake,
as we chart our course long and uncertain
by the stars above. No shore
can define our route, only starlight
and stiff breezes. And here we seize
this very moment to please
and satisfy our sense of adventure.
I sends you a signal, a bright flare,
one heart’s semaphore to say
all that my flags can convey.
Turning into the wind,
we are two who began as friends,
finding our hearts beyond the sea.

© Walter J Wojtanik – 2019

 

**

Tomorrow starts “National Poetry Month” and presents the multiple challenges to write a poem a day. In the past, we here at POETIC BLOOMINGS backed off on our usual regimen to give our poets free reign to accept this adventure. This year will not be the case. We will proceed with our Sunday Seed prompt, our POETIC BLOOMINGS READING ROOM and our Friday Form/Exercise. Maybe these will provide a bit more inspiration in your endeavors to combine prompts write a diverse poem from both. Good luck in where you choose to contribute.

PROMPT #240 – MOTIVATION: HARMONY

Synchronize with the nature order of life

When we think of harmony we usually think of sound, music. The tight connection, when right, is very pleasing to the ear. But as we’ve seen, harmony can be a synchronicity. It can be a balance of the cosmos where all the planets align. It is the syncopation of two hearts making one sound (again with the sound!). Harmony can be a point/counter-point, or it could be a precise mating of two things, true and equal. Think of how harmony comes into play in your world and write that thought into a poem!

 

MARIE’S HARMONY:

CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH CLASS (a Naani)

Countless countries,
make-ups, cultures, and creeds
learning the language
through laughter and love.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

WALT’S HARMONIOUS HAIBUN:

SUNSET SONATA, by Walter J Wojtanik

The moon has long since crested, ready to rest in the bosom of day. Silence is the aria of morning, forming in crisp harmony with the symphony of coming light. Night creeps undercover in hopes of recovering her vigor. She has held aloft to guide stars in their journey, keeping pace on her cycle and spurning the tides to dance. But this is her chance to revive for the next new evening to arrive. The sun comes slowly to tuck her in, a great relief, perchance to sleep.

Crystal water sleeps
as life awakens beneath.
The day is new born.

 

PROMPT #239 – MOTIVATION: NURTURE

Grow and develop through encouragement

The caring in a mother’s caress. The wisdom in a father’s smile. The support of a friend or mentor. All contribute to our sense of growth and confidence. There is a positive gentility to being helped along by others who have our interests in mind. As we grow in maturity (or battle the oldness of our age), we still find comfort in those moments we hold so dear. Write a nurturing poem, or of a moment that had contributed to your growth.

MARIE’S NURTURE:

She searches in prayer.
He nurtures her there, and sets
her pen to poeming.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

WALT’S COMFORT:

AND NATURALLY, SHE COMES

And she comes to me silently
a respite in a world gone wild,
offering her pointed shoulders
and ears meant to hear every
anguished breath from my chest.
She is the best at easing an anguished heart,
pleasing my sensibilities with
whispered words that build to
crescendo, and a blown kiss that serves
as a memento of her caring.
And she comes to share in every
good word she’s ever heard come
from his soul; she’s come to know his heart.
And from the start she’s felt the love
and caring, and therefore dares to care
and love even more. Love is a seed.
You plant many, but not all will blossom.
And it is natural to nurture these in the purity
of the warmest caress the sun can give,
and you will live in its blooming beauty. It is your duty
to return all she gives. The balance is simple.
You live to love and be loved. You offer your heart,
and naturally, she comes.

© Walter J Wojtanik – 2019

PROMPT #238 – MOTIVATION: CHALLENGE

Face the “impossible” with the ability to accomplish it

We all face challenges in our lives. Either financial, emotional, creative, or familial, we all have our crosses to bear. Crosses? Maybe it’s a spiritual challenge. But whatever it is, it is there that we find our resilience and our strength. How one faces a challenge says a lot about that person. Do we ignore it? Do we shy away? Do we charge forward into the breech? We each have to decide the tact we take. Make no mistake, challenges can be hard and daunting. But if they weren’t, they’d be called easies! Write about challenge, personal or general. Even poets face challenges in the form of a difficult prompt, or in the form of a form that vexes them. Pick up the double-dare and poem!

MARIE’S CHALLENGE:

POEM-A-DAY

Stamina is good.
Essential. Even crucial.
But not poetic.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

WALT’S GAUNTLET:

ON THE OCCASION OF THE POET’S BEING CHALLENGED, by Walter J Wojtanik

My muse was defenseless,
a senseless ramble that was
slower than half-fast, as I’ve discovered.
But it’s another day and I’m tired, 
dumbfounded, uninspired
and the desire to poem has been sold
down this river of dreams, or so it seems.
I have uncovered my major flaw.
And it gnaws at my muse, my words.
Such challenges should be left unheard.

PROMPT #237 – MOTIVATION: PERSPECTIVE

Be open to a new point of view

Today, we look at the idea of perspective as a motivation. As poets, we can all look at a scene or situation and compose many different views of what we are presented. And all will be our own true and correct representations of what we each see. Can we give the visions that another poet offers a fair chance to sway our thinking or touch us in any way. We are working within the realm of point of view, the perspective we all capture in our own poetic eye, our own poetic voice. It is your choice. Write of the concept of two perspectives. Or take a poem offered by one of our poets or one of a favored famous poet and try to put a different view to work there (identifying and crediting said poem/poet). Be open. No two people see things exactly the same. But we can try.

OR

Write from two points of view on your subject (a pro and con, a different focus for each)

OR

In your poem, write one stanza with someone else as the character. Then in the next, yourself as the character.

OR FINALLY

Write on the concept of perspective itself.

 

MARIE’S P.O.V:

TRI-ANGLES

I.

They say we shouldn’t talk politics or religion
so, religiously,
we blind our eyes,
plug our ears,
close our minds,
and open our mouths.

II.

They say we shouldn’t talk politics or religion
so, religiously,
we shun politics
while we de-bate what hooked us
and dragged us to our knees.

III.

They say we shouldn’t talk politics or religion
so, religiously,
we set our jaws, and type
with furious fingers –
too often the same fingers that have
never cast a ballot,
raised themselves to seek answers to questions,
nor folded themselves to silently seek the
One
we religiously shun.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

WALT’S PERSPECTIVE:

MIDDLE AGE SPREAD, Walter J Wojtanik

E. Joseph Cossman theorized that middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin to change places.

But, what Cossman fails to tell us is this: Logic dictates that somewhere in this mutual migration, we are the same thickness all over for a brief moment. Thus, the concept of “Middle Age Spread” comes into play. At this juncture, all you can possibly do is maintain.

Drink beer. Lots of beer. Your mind will still be narrow, but as you lose control over the volume of your speech, you are labeled obnoxious, and no one listens to you anymore anyway. Your point of view is rendered irrelevant. And as your waistline expands, you have more surface area on which to balance the cheese doodles. Victory from the jaws of defeat.

your nature is skewed
from the way you’re always viewed.
two sides of your coin

PROMPT #234 – MOTIVATION: AMBITION

Strive to climb higher and go farther!

We all have an idea where we’d like to be in this life. But how badly do we want to get there? Do you have the ambition to achieve that which you desire? Ambition is a great motivator, but does it come at a cost? Does it tread on the toes of another to get what we want? If we can gain a better place and in the process, lift others up (instead of dumbing everyone down), we can indeed climb higher, go farther, all for the betterment of the human condition. Get fired up, stoke your ambition, and write your poems on how you believe your ambition motivates you!

“BRIGHT AS DAY”

It’s the meaning of her name,
and I claim there is something to it,
as in days of old testament.

But multiple impediments seized her
mind

energy

sight

voice.

Her very soul.

The whole of her,
splintered.

The light of her,
wintered.

But her God is not flawed,
nor silenced.
As her spirit returns
and yearns to be,
I see her flame ignite,
and hope shines
Bright as Day.

© Marie Elena Good, 2019

 

BLIND AMBITION

Call it obsession; compulsion,
a drive that keeps me alive to do what it is
I am meant to do. What I am bound to.
I’ve wanted for so long to belong
to a group of like minded minions
expressing the things that live within us.
Nothing and no one can take that away.
Not a soul can control what I am to do!
There is no obstacle that can stand in
my path paved in my intentions.
Blindly committed to my ambition,
a condition to my compulsion,
my obsession. No roadblock to my success.

 

© Walter J Wojtanik – 2019

PROMPT #224 – PAINT ME A PICTURE

We’ve all heard the phrase, “A picture paints a thousand words.” We as poets know this medium very well. And we know the artistic terms: Portrait, landscape, still life, seascape … Paint a picture in words. Pick an aspect of one of these terms and use it as your inspiration for your poem. Use it as part of your title. An example for one of my poems could be “Walt in Still Life.” “A Portrait of my Muse,” or, “Purple Mountain Majesty: A Landscape” are other ideas in this vein. So, set up your poetic easel and paint me a picture.

MARIE’S ART:

Still Life

Life may be art, but
it’s still life. Don’t brush it off,
and don’t hang it up.

© Marie Elena Good, 2018

 

WALT’S RENDERING:

MAN IN WATERCOLOR

Not outstanding by any means
he gleans some satisfaction
from the attraction. He gathers
his senses and mends the fences
he has left to decay. They say
he is faded. Jaded by life.
But this is his canvas.
He is rendered in soft colors,
muted pastel shades,
awash with the hues that
are his alone. He sees his flaws
even if others are unaware.
Others may stop and stare,
analyzing the amazing lifelike
reproduction sans heart.
Addition by reduction.
He calls it art.

© Walter J Wojtanik – 2018

PROMPT #223 – “AND I QUOTE” – INSTALLMENT #4

Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.

~ Walt Whitman

This inspiration from American poet, Walt Whitman, plays on the concept and contrast between sunshine and shadow; between light and dark. We’ll use these as our starting point. Write either a sunshine poem or a shadow poem. Or light. Or dark. Either definition of each is acceptable, as in gradations of luminescence or lighthearted or darkly mooded words. Even something black or white can satisfy this prompt.

MARIE’S SHINING LIGHT:

SONLIGHT

In darkness of cave
Defeater of Grave was born –
a King, unadorned.

In stillness of night,
as prophets did write, a birth –
The Light Of The Earth.

In grayness of sky
and depth of blue sigh,  dear one,
delight in The Son.

© Marie Elena Good, 2018

 

WALT’S SHADOW:

THESE SHADOWS

Silence does befall this place,
and in the night I see your face.
Every feature haunts my mind
in the darkness of this room I find
your piercing eyes, your turned up nose…
these shadows offer no repose.

This stillness in my heart does ache
and I can tell, make no mistake
the love I carried, I carry still.
For surely I’ll carry you until
my own eyes finally close,
these shadows offer no repose.

But, until that fateful day
I’ll still have so much more to say
to fill the vacuum of this night
and keep your visage in my sight.
For in spite of how our ending goes,
these shadows offer no repose.

(C) Walter J Wojtanik