Author Archives: Dr. Crystal Grimes

Writing in Spite of Life 3TC

Posted on by

Poetry and songs are what I love to write! They elevate my spirit and my mood, and, I hope, others’ as well. At times I am amazed by the monthly crop of poems I get to grow and share!

The pattern of songs is not nearly as consistent as it once was. If I think about this too much, it annoys and deeply irritates me, makes me cry, or sends me into hysterics. I wrote an original song every week for three years straight, then tapered off to two songs every month. I didn’t write any for almost 18 months, but for part of that time, I was moving, had no instruments, and was planning our wedding.

Then, the transition of marriage was very difficult for me–in truth it still is–and I have trouble just finding the time, the space, and above all, the quiet and solitude for composing. But songwriting is still a drive of mine, and without it, everything and everyone pushes my buttons!

I do manage to arrange other pieces, and this is a different musical blessing. I can learn a new vamp and just enjoy playing like a busker, though I’m inside, and no one is listening until I’ve recorded something.

Recording is yet another thing, as every thump, every movement of the upstairs and downstairs neighbors, every siren and street sound is caught and preserved for eternity, even when I think it’s quiet!

Once several years ago, I took my ukulele outside and sat in my mom’s car just to record in a quieter environment. But it’s what I do!

Sometimes I just want to pack up my instruments, leave the unknowing pests behind, and hunt for a peaceful place in the woods, where only the sounds of nature will accompany me!

But it’s Friday, and it’s a good Friday! For with every swipe through my blog reader, I’m given a laugh, a prompt, or a new idea! Maybe one day soon, some of those ideas will become songs!

—
My “take Seven” response to the daily #Threethingschallenge words for this week. Add yours at
Pensitivity101!

Unprompted #Poem

Posted on by

Nothing comes from nothing;
Therefore, nothing is truly unprompted.

That which makes the gingerroot grow
And the coyote howl;
The King of earth and sky and sea,
The Power some call Neptune,
Gives the green light for all that is,
For He is All that is.

Let us seek our home base
Deep within ourselves,
And find within the same Ilumination
That lacquers shining stars and objects both!

This is our Light,
Our Life,
Our Inspiration!
And may we listen
To the Spirit’s promptings!

—
My response to one of Linda Kruschke’s previous Paint Chip Poetry Prompts, where she and Ron ask,
“What if there were no prompts?”

Glissful Love #Poem #Music

Posted on by

Play or download the poem with lyre accompaniment.

Download Mp3

What we don’t know, we cannot miss,
Except for longing deep inside.
The Music only Love provides
Brings Peace and Comfort, Joy and Bliss.
Now hear the magic of the gliss*
That lifts us to a higher place,
Where there’s no conflict we must face.
The Love we try but fail to find
Exists forever in the mind
Beyond our mortal time and space!

*Gliss, short for Glissando: Italian musical term meaning a continuous slide upward or downward between two notes.

—
This is a Decima for
Ronovan Writes Decima Poetry Challenge Prompt No. 27: Bliss. This week, it’s the A rhyme line.

Fielding Life #SixSentenceStories

Posted on by

I’m forever fielding questions and conflicts, smoothing out the rough edges of life and personalities for my loved ones, or trying to.

I’ve just finished refereeing a match between the personalities, desires, and feelings of my husband and my son.

The real issue is mine, and it is this:

I’m damn tired of putting others’ fragile egos before my own preferences!

Sorry, I didn’t mean “before;” I meant “over and above,” “instead of,” “regardless of,” whichever you choose, it’s still the same.

And I have just enough energy left to ask myself what would happen if I met my own expectations for a change, instead of meeting the expectations of others at the expense of my own!

—
Six sentences for Denise’s “field” prompt at
#SixSentenceStories!

Natural Law 3TC #Poem

Posted on by

There are crops in the patterns and patterns in crops,
And we can’t press a button to make them turn off.
We can try to resist them as long as we like,
But the crops and their patterns will come out all right,
As the cycle of nature from darkness to light
Follows natural law and the order of life!

—
Written for
#Threethingschallenge #387.

Time and Eternity

Posted on by

It’s human nature to ask questions. When we lose a loved one, we ask why God took them from us. When someone we love has a serious accident or becomes very ill, we ask why it had to happen to them. When we feel emotional despair, we ask God why He has forsaken us, when all we want is for the pain to go away and peace to enfold our minds and hearts. When we see violence, hunger, suffering, and hardship in the world, we ask why God doesn’t stop it.

There is nothing wrong with our questions. It’s human nature to ask why. But we look at Him through the wrong end of the long telescope of time. We only see our present lives and circumstances, thinking there is nothing more. But God sees everything, all at once, through the telescope of Eternity!

—
A prosery piece of 144 words, using the line in bold from “The Hummingbird” by D.H. Lawrence, for Kim’s prompt at
dVerse.

Natural Music #Haiku #Poem

Posted on by

Street busker vamping
Music drips like cleansing rain
Nature drops in bass

—
I couldn’t resist when I read today’s #Threethingschallenge at

Three Things Challenge #386


and combined the words with Ronovan’s challenge of drip and drop at
https://ronovanwrites.com/2020/10/12/ronovan-writes-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-327-drip-drop/

Softly and Tenderly #Music

Posted on by

Download Mp3

Will Lamertine Thompson wrote this hymn in 1880. The lyrics are based on Matthew 11:28, which reads, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

“Softly and Tenderly” is Thompson’s best known composition and has been widely translated. It has spread throughout many Christian denominations beyond its origins in the American Restoration Movement and the Churches of Christ, where Thompson was a member.

I hope you find comfort in this lyre arrangement!

Two April Mornings #Poem

Posted on by

One April morning, breakfast done,
I got an envelope.
O it was big, with rais-ed seal.
Yes! It was what I’d hoped!

My work and study done at last,
At least for there and then.
The Masters I’d committed to
Was in my trembling hand!

I felt just like a waterfall,
My heartbeat loud and hard.
With glad relief I took a breath,
For that ordeal was large!

Another April morn did come,
When some three years had passed.
A rainy car ride ended in
A devastating crash!

No one was badly hurt, but still
I trembled with the shock.
It could have flipped and killed us all;
A big tree made it stop.

With grass stains on my shaking hands,
The medics helped me out.
Skyscraper high, my blood pressure
Was up without a doubt.

We made it safely, four of us,
To hospital and home.
But let’s just say that in a car
I lost my wish to roam!

When I see April mornings now,
Each different as these two,
I try to stop, remembering
The saving Spirit’s truth.

When it’s my time, then I will go,
But then and not before!
So let me, in my life and time,
Sing praises evermore!

—
I got so carried away writing this poem in the style of William Wordsworth’s “The Two April Mornings” that I forgot to include Linda’s
Paint Chip words,
which were the reason for the poem in the first place! So, I went back and added stanzas containing four of them. I guess there really is a first time for everything!