New Year 2012 Blessing/Poem

To 2011 we bid adieu.
I hope the year was kind to you.

The old we now release,
Allowing any regrets to rest in peace.

Again we take out a page of white,
On it our hopes and dreams to write.

Anything is possible in the coming year.
May health, wealth and love in your life appear.

May 2012 be your best year yet,
Fulfilling all desires on which your heart is set.

2012 Prophesy New Year’s Poem

Some say twenty twelve marks the end.
Don’t count on it, my friend.

For sure the year will have surprises,
Hidden blessings in tragic disguises.

Mother Nature will continue to take aim.
Wars and terrorists will do the same.

But the year will also contain great joy,
Wonderful discoveries our spirits buoy.

Acts of bravery and compassion will fill the news.
The arts and new technology will shift our views.

Perhaps our consciousness will open wide,
A new awareness to provide.

But humankind will continue on.
Homo sapiens sapiens are far from done.

Praying Alone

Mathew18:19-20

Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. 

Whenever I am in a prayer group, I feel a need to spend a few moments focusing on the people praying alone that day. I like to think that in some unexplained way we are with them, letting them know that there are other people in the world who care about them.

I will be part of your two. 

I will be the other person praying with you. 

Even though there seems to be no one to care, 

Know my thoughts are with you there. 

To your prayers I add my distant voice,

Whether you are alone by circumstances or by choice. 

Today may you be wrapped in Divine comfort and love, 

Receiving wholeness and answers from above.

I Give Thanks for the Necessities of Life

The necessities of life I too often take for granted 

But they ensure my life on the planet. 

I give thanks for clean, gentle moving air 

Most days of it I am unaware. 

I give thanks for solid ground beneath my feet 

Pure, life-supporting soil that nurtures the foods I eat. 

I give thanks for clean water to quench my thirst 

Shelter to protect me from nature’s worst. 

I give thanks for my body, soul, and mind 

My healthy connections with humankind. 

Today I make my grateful way 

On the path leading up to Thanksgiving Day.

I Give Thanks for Food Suppliers

I am grateful for all those along the way 

Who help provide the food for my Thanksgiving Day. 

Store cashiers, managers and stockers who lift the load, 

Truckers who drive long hours on the road. 

Farmers and laborers at the mercy of the weather,

Those who work in factories to put the food together. 

Today I make my grateful way 

On the path leading up to Thanksgiving Day.

I Give Thanks for Kindness

Turkey on my mind

I remember those who were kind.

Those who gave encouragement

Or offered needed nourishment

Of body, mind or spirit.

Those who gave much needed assistance,

Brightening my existence

In moments I questioned my inherent merit.

Today I make my grateful way 

On the path leading up to Thanksgiving Day.

First Comes Thanksgiving Day (Poem)

Just say “No!” 

To ho, ho, ho. 

Resist premature Christmas.

Go against the flow. 

Let your inner rebel shine.

Demand that Thanksgiving Day be next in line.

With your sense of gratitude align.

Spend the first weeks of November.

For all that is good to remember. 

Be the odd one in the crowd 

Dare to say aloud,

“Of Thanksgiving Day I am proud.”

Distressing Weather

Vulnerable

Weather’s fury

Life-destroying winds

Floods that devastate home and community

Security shattered

Sharp turns on the pathways of existence

Yet fertile soil

For the seeds of compassion

We pray, meditate, visualize, connect, and act.

We feel our common humanity.

Neglecting My Cadence Blog

Lately I have been unintentionally neglecting this blog and focusing on Kata Chimes In, where I have been writing about my experiences reading the Hugo Award winning novels. I have now started reading the Hugo Award novel nominees for 2011 and some of their prequels. Once I am caught up, I expect to be spending less time reading and more time writing.

So many books, so little time,

I have been neglecting my rhyme.

Reading, always a faithful friend,

Conspires to set my world on end.

Last June a thought said in my head,

“All Hugo winners can be read.”

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Awards given over half a century.

While my mind is in an unknown land

No lines of verse have come from my hand.

Soon the trend will run its course

Cadence again the main force.

Reinvention

They never tell you about the blank, white paper.

From first memory, the paper has lines
Thick and black.
A box of crayons at your side
Neatly lined up in the box.
You must always put them back neatly in the box.
You must always color within the lines.
You must teach your body to obey the lines.
You see the frowns, the head shakes
The “No! Inside the lines!”

So you are good.
Soon you do not need to see the lines on the paper
You reproduce them from memory.
You make neat, tidy strokes within the shapes.
Soon you are given a bigger box of crayons
Markers, pastels, even brushes if you are especially good.

No one tells you about the shock of that day.
Perhaps no one you know has seen it.
Perhaps they scrunch their eyes shut
No longer see the paper
No longer move their hands along its flat surface.

But, you may see it.
The crayons are worn to stubs or broken.
The markers are out of ink.
The pastels are smeared on the floor.
You cry and cry and cry.
Someone tells you to shut up.
Big girls, big boys don’t cry.
You will upset the others.

But you cry.
You find a big barrel.
In it you put what you cannot use on the paper
Then, if you are daring, you put what you do not want.
A day comes when you wake up.
Light is glaring off the blank, white paper
Like sun rays reflected off smooth metal.
It is too much for anyone to bear.

You could tear up the paper
Leave the room
Even forget that the room ever existed.
It is a choice.

But you do not choose to leave the room.
Instead you remember an even earlier time
A time before the lines
When your little hands gripped the crayon uncertainly
Struggled to make the marks stay on the paper.
Color began to appear.
You were amazed.

You move around the blank, white paper to a new spot.
One cannot call the new spot comfortable.
You look for something to put on the paper again.
Perhaps you find something close at hand.
Perhaps you must find something new
Searching the cupboards
That you never knew existed.
Perhaps you take the edge of your fingernail
And make grooves in the paper.

All that matters to you now
Is that you see and feel the blank, white paper.

I Am Willing to Feel Gentleness

I am willing
Willing
Willing to feel
Feel
Feel gentleness
Gentleness
Gentleness in my heart
My heart
I am willing to feel gentleness in my heart.

After a long time of creating walls
Walls
Walls between myself and others
Walls
Walls between the parts of myself
Walls
Walls between my body and my mind
Walls
I am willing to feel gentleness in my heart.

After months of building walls
After
After numbing with food, books, TV, hurry, crisis
After
After feeding the frost of winter in my soul
After
I am willing to feel gentleness in my heart.

I am willing to feel gentleness toward myself
Gentleness toward imperfection and weakness
Gentleness
Gentleness toward strengths and gifts
Gentleness
I am willing to feel gentleness in my heart.

I am willing to feel gentleness toward the world
Gentleness toward the sick and the well
Gentleness
Gentleness toward the weak and the strong
Gentleness
Gentleness toward those who want to give up
And toward those whose overreaching harms others
Gentleness
I am willing to feel gentleness in my heart.

March “Bloem”

This is a hybrid blessing and poem.

May the lengthening days lighten your Spirit,
As new life begins to stir around you,
Robins returning, rain nurturing young sprouts,
Changing from frozen dreams to forward momentum,
Hope’s warmth feeding your courage to grow.

March Poem

Last night I was reading about acrostics and decided to try to write a few.

Moody from the long winter dark
Afraid hope will make me appear foolish
Resigned to cold, ice, and snow
Casually I look for signs of new life
How joyful the first buds of Spring.

Two Thaw

I wrote this poem while waiting for the bus today. I was tapping the iambs on my leg. I need to have a card that says “No, I’m not crazy. I am a poet in training.”

Relief.

I wait no more for warmth

Sun’s rays begin to melt

The snow and muscles tense from cold.

Depression

What monster has swallowed me whole?
No light seems to come from my Soul.

Perplexed.
What next?

Attempt my best?
Will I digest?

Should I wait for a new day’s mood,
Fill myself with sugary food,
Curl up in my soft chair and brood?

Or quietly accept my fate
And wait, and wait, and wait, just wait.

Or love myself in this dark hour
To reconnect with Divine power?

Chinese New Year’s 2011

This is definitely not a traditional Chinese New Year’s Poem. I wish health and wealth to all of you in the coming Year of the Rabbit.--Kata--

Grab your friends for the bunny hop
Chinese New Year is about to drop.

Love of family is one of next year’s themes
Also hard work to reach financial dreams.

Kindness and elegance are back in style
Also peace and contentment for awhile.

Now, prepare to inhabit
The Year of the Rabbit.

New Year’s 2011 Poem

As we begin the New Year
For a moment the slate’s clear.

Limitations are dead
Better days lie ahead.

Fresh possibilities we feel
Hopes, dreams, desires appear real.

So starts 2011
With Potential the leaven.

Christmas Shopping Civility

“Peace on Earth” extend to all
Please don’t make the cashier bawl.
Frustrated customers too often take aim
On store employees place the blame.

Even if the wait is a mile
Try to extend a holiday smile.
Let “visions of sugarplums dance in your head"
And leave harsh words left unsaid.

To your fellow shoppers also be kind
And soon enough you will find
A spirit of kindness and brotherhood goes a long way
To help all around you remember the meaning of Christmas Day.

Black Friday Unobserved

For me this Friday will not be black,
In no shopping cart will I today presents stack,
Instead I’ll sleep a bit more in the sack,
Some neglected projects conscientiously attack,
My pre-Thanksgiving body work to get back.
In my choice of activities, I feel no lack.

Thinking

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