Monthly Archives: February 2021

Arduous Journey #SoCS

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Hasty? Quick? Instant gratification? I’ve done enough academic work to know none of these are likely. But is it too much to ask to at least feel some sense of progress, of movement, of actually getting somewhere?

Instead, it’s more like going word-by-word, sometimes letter-by-letter, where each one is some new and unknown struggle. It doesn’t matter how well I know the information, how thoroughly I’ve researched, how complete my outline is, or even how well I write.

Sure, all these things are important, and the work would be so much more difficult if even one of them were missing. But it’s still an ongoing journey through a swamp, a mire, a marsh where the alligators of doubt, second-guessing, and anxiety rear their ugly heads.

I know these gators well, but that does not make their presence welcome! If only they would beat a hasty retreat! But no! They hang around my consciousness, laughing at me, waiting for me to stumble so they can devour me and what’s left of my work–completely and utterly obliterating us from existence!

Except… That is not happening!

I plod onward, forward, upward, until, I hope, I one day reach the point I have seen with other projects… The point from which I look down on the completed thing. This is the point where, I assume, although I can’t see it now, I will say, “Gee, it wasn’t that bad!”

But right now? With inordinate amounts of research, reading, writing, re-reading, and re-writing ahead of me, I can only hope to reach that summit eventually. That is, if it’s still there when I get there!

Meanwhile, I continue my arduous journey, gators and all!

—
Written for Linda G. Hills
Stream of Consciousness Saturday #SoCS Prompt.

Haleakala #Haibun #Poem

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Before the rain they went outside–not to a mountain peak or to watch the tumbleweed blow, but to the fish ‘n chips shop on the tropical islands overseas. They didn’t see a supernova, but he says he saw mermaids. Oh, I wasn’t supposed to say that! ❤

Life on the ship was always moving, especially with a broom or brush in their hands, scraping all the grime and dust bunnies from a ship that, to the seamen on board, continued in service long after its time had passed.

Haleakala
Great volcano in the dark
Talking to the sky

—
A Haibun about my husband, Frederick Douglass Grimes, III, who served on the USS Haleakala (AE-25), a U.S. Naval amunission ship in service from 1959-1993.

Written for Linda Kruschke's
Haibun Paint Chip Poetry Prompt.

The Shepherd’s Walk Home #Poem

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My goats search for a sprig of mint
to calm their bellies before sleep.

The moon walks softly up the horizon,
as the sun sinks below…

On our way down the mountain,
we pass our favorite waterfall.

Forget-me-nots line the path,
reminding us of the goodness of day and the restfulness of night.

The crows have carried the sun away
by the time we reach my garden scarecrow.

Today was like any other herding day,
uneventful, peaceful…..

The same,
yet different.

Tomorrow will be similar,
but different just the same!

—
Written for Linda Kruschke’s
Idyll Paint Chip Poetry Prompt.

Thank You, Mr. Goldman! #Decima #Poem

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Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Goldman!
You gave me the gift of writing,
Showed me how a word could brighten,
Listened to my songs unfolding.

Though your class was prose, not poem,
Words and music came together,
Bringing both to something better!
What a tapestry and knotting,
Worlds discovered, made with plotting;
You encouraged every letter!

—
A Decima to my High School Sophomore English teacher, Mr. Goldman, written for
Ronovan Writes DĂ©cima Poetry Challenge Prompt No. 46: (KNOT) in the D rhyme line.