Tag Archives: peace

Isolated and Free (Day 10: Golden Shovel Poem)

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Today’s Prompt: Write a Golden Shovel Poem. Find a poem that speaks to you, use the words of that poem down the margin of your own poem, then write your poem around those words.

My poem is inspired by a poem by Reyna Biddy from her book A Psalm For Us. 

Isolated and Free

What was life like BEFORE
This pandemic thought PUTTING
Us in isolation might bring FORTH
Kindness? Are we to BLAME
Can we ACKNOWLEGE
Or consider THAT
Our collective hatred and ABUSE
Would have consequences? God DOESN’T
Like ugly, people ALWAYS
Say. But what may COME
FROM
Our solitude and shelter is AN
Embracing and gratitude of the beauty OUTSIDE
An unquenchable desire to discover our SOURCE
For peace and love. SOMETIMES
We need silence and stillness. WE
ABUSE
Others beyond repair but we abuse OURSELVES
To God’s despair. Go inward and examine yourself MENTALLY
Give your mind and soul an EMOTIONALLY
Uplifting message. Sing, dance and find a PHYSICALLY
Healing and strengthening practice. Rest assured, SPIRITUALLY
You are covered in God’s grace and mercy. Use your isolation to FREE
YOURSELF

 

Peace Divine

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This is 1 of 5 poems from the March 5-Day Writing Challenge. We had to use words with aural texture that create a unique sound palette. We were challenged with even creating a unique made-up word. Mine is “Prastinktidy” and you can decide what it means after you’ve explored my poem, Peace Divine.

Peace Divine

Panic

Plucking away

Fibers of your smile

Truncating prayers

As undulating heartbeats 

Rattle and trottle your spirit

Masked madmen slither 

Into your dawn to dusk

Spewing 

Botulinum toxins

Over your grocery cart

Your gas station

Your favorite cafe

Your neighbor’s greeting

Your classroom

Your snakeskin fingers

Making your faith in humanity

Oozeebboozeebb clop

And glut in mustard seeds

Then one seed falls

Onto balmy palm soil 

Your hands receiving it

To take root

Savory splendor sprouting

Piquant prayer of praise

Gratitude 

This moment of wellness

This day’s torrential downpours

Cleansing your dirty hurting Earth

This knowing

That God brings peace

In the midst of

Prastinktidy

February’s Writing Challenge: Day 2 “What I Want Is…”

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What I want is

A backyard with a lap pool

 

For daily swims and summer luxuries

What I want is

 

Two chocolate Australian Labradoodles

Who wait for me each morning

 

Through my garden path, we walk

Up to the clearing on the hill

 

Where the ocean view welcomes us

Before I sit on my meditation mat

 

Basking in gratitude and blessings

Giving God all praise and thanks

 

For sunshine, salty breezes, and lavender

For intentional breathing, and stillness, and joy

 

What I want is

Peace that surpasses all understanding

 

That shields and guides my path

Back to my home where love abides

 

Where journals and books await my hands

Where inspiration flows beside the fountain at my back door

 

Where I write, read, and live the way I want

Have what I want and when I want it.

Pieces of Peace #15: Anger Managed

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meditation

I remember anger

lived in my house

with fangs

dirty clawed fingers

squalid spirits

blood-shot windows

venomous kisses

ate acidic holes

into temporary peace.

 

I remember anger

packed with suitcases

and mildewy boxes

shoved into storage

with darkness

and silence.

 

I remember anger

distant enemy

weapons destroyed

battle lost

to peace.

 

 

Pieces of Peace: 14 Words

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Peace List

butterflies

ladybugs

waves

sunrise

hugs

positivity

inclusion

solitude

rain

cake

smiles

love

forgiveness

kindness

 

12 Pieces of Peace: No Turtledoves

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12 days of chaos

11 kids coughing

10 piles of papers

9 boys in trances

8 girls on periods

7 late assignments

6 hours of sleep

5 sticky desks

4 parents texting

3 weeks ’til testing

2 poems missing

1 more day alive

 

Pieces of Peace #11: A Peaceful Struggle

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one child chooses to look at porn

other children snitch

another child coughs up mucus

too close to my face.

one child cheats on his assignment

other children rush carelessly through

another child uses the “b word”

lies to my face.

one child requests me on Instagram

other children follow him

another child’s eyes shine in shock

from the look on my face.

where was my peace today?

porn was not watched on my watch

the mucus never touched my face

the children who rushed, asked to start over

and I never heard the “b word”

but I did hear, “God bless you”

after all 28 snotty, disgusting sneezes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pieces of Peace #10: Illusions of Peace

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My student’s didactic poem about peace

stated, “Peace is illusional,

but it always starts with you.”

 

True.

Peace begins with me

in my mind

I craft a story

designing peace

or destroying it

I see beauty and delicacy in a glass

before deciding if it is half full

or half empty.

Peace begins with me

when clouds shroud the sun

shade and coolness calm me

in the midst of chaos.

Illusions of peace

prevent my full disclosure

from all the webbed fractures

of what is real.

 

Pieces of Peace Poetry #6

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Pieces of Peace in Haiku

At my lowest point

Pain, prayer, tears, and power

Pulled me up in peace

Pieces of Peace for our King on 4-4

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I had no idea that this Pieces of Poetry #4 would fall on the 4th day of the 4th month, the same date that we lost our peaceful leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on December 11, 1964 was part of his Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, “The Quest for Peace and Justice.” He said, “The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”

Pieces of Peace for our King

We have learned to fly the air like birds

and swim the sea like fish

but we have not learned

the simple art

of living together as brothers.

We judge one another

while looking into eyes mirroring ourselves

We label to better define

that which needs no definition

We are divided

not only by those who seek division

but by our own selfish needs

to box beauty, brains, and beliefs.

All that we have accomplished

never matches achievements

in heart and spirit.

If our melanin still threatens

and our strengths weaken

we have attained nothing.

I pray for the day

when humanity’s moral and spiritual heart

beats louder than the drumming

of egos and property.