On my side of the world the winter solstice is here. That makes for a long, long night.
Here’s hoping your’s is comfortable & calm.
Poetry
Shubunkin (Friday’s Free for All)
Go ahead and share this.
Waiting
A pinch of poetry to season your tacos.
HaPpY Tuesday Y’all.
from Getting me Back (The Voices Within)
Go ahead and share this.
Little Man (In Memoriam)
Sending love and gratitude on this Memorial Day. I pray you feel it in the wind.
It’s time to go to bed little man
Cover up your head little man
I’ll see you when the sun breaks in the morn.
Say your prayers and close your eyes,
I’ve locked the monsters all outside,
She’d sang those words to him since he was born.
He grew to be a brave young lad
And followed after his ole dad
Beneath a flag of pride his oath was sworn.
They brought him home in silk lined wood,
And all around him soldiers stood,
While Butterfield’s Lullaby played on the horn.
It’s time to go ahead little man,
I know that you weren’t scared little man,
My heart breaks I can’t see you and I mourn.
I’ve said my prayers for your closed eyes,
I’ve tucked my feelings deep inside… She sang into a folded flag of thorns.
Little Man was taken from Getting Me Back (The Voices Within)
The tears of mother’s could create a flood if they all cried at once.
Go ahead and share this.
In the Storm (April is National Poetry Month)
(#NPM )
In the Storm
I reach for you…
With every crack of thunder
I hear you laugh…
Your smile is every bolt of lightning.
The drops of rain, you touching me,
with unsalted tears…
No more pain; no more regret.
I raise my arms,
as a child beckoning to be held
and it pours.
My grief is washed away by
stinging pellets of a spring rain
Leaving behind a clean slate
with only memories of the most mundane,
most cherished moments of my life.
Credits:
I created the cover from a photograph I had taken.
The heading image (The Storm) was created from a compilation of images I found at Pixabay. (Thank you Pixabay contributors).
The poem, In the Storm was taken from this twisted book of poems. And… guess what?
For a limited time my partnering experiment with Smashwords lets the reader decide what they will pay. Yep! You decide. Check it out.
And don’t forget to follow my podcast
Just keeping it real. 😘
Go ahead and share this.
Another Spring (Another #NPM )
Another Spring
You were hiding,
waiting there beneath the frost
so much more patient than I.
My soul beckoned from a wintry slumber
Fretful and anxious
Weary and depressed
fearful you had abandoned me and then
as promised,
you appeared.
Breathing life into the naked limbs; into the bare breasts of Mother Nature
until Summer’s heat met autumn’s leaves
and reminded us that change is inevitable.
Now…
too soon,
you will be nothing more than a bright spot
Getting Me Back is available at your favorite retailer.
Write on!
Go ahead and share this.
As If #NPM
As If
As if your shoulder brushing against my breast
in a crowded room meant anything to me…
As if your smile would thaw my frosty heart…
As if your constant assurance could overcome my cynicism…
As if the invisible boulevard would never rise up and beckon.
The street lamp glows in the bleached mist only three floors below us.
I blow streams of smoke into the black night and hum to the drone of the unseen road.
Be steel my bleating heart!
Be quiet! Be silent, hard steel.
As if wearing your tee-shirt made us lovers.
You can listen here.
From Getting Me Back (The Voices Within)
Go ahead and share this.
International Women’s History Month
Happy Friday y’all!
March is Women’s History Month so I thought I’d share this bit with you.
Every year, March is designated Women’s History Month by presidential proclamation. The month is set aside to honor women’s contributions in American history.
The poem below was inspired by the sage advice I received years ago from an elderly lady who truly fought to make a difference in the role (and treatment) of women in society. I feel she made a historical impact by influencing the small groups around her. She certainly left an impression with me.
I won’t name her because her M.O was to act subtly and not bring attention to herself. Surprisingly she got a lot accomplished with her (ur-um) antics. RIP A
Women’s Liberation
We did not burn our bras but wore them proudly; Holding–supporting–glorifying the mammary glands that would feed the next generation;
For the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
We did not give animated voices to our vaginas for the world to hear but let them speak in secret whispers that moved mountains.
We did not make a spectacle in the streets to prove our equality For we knew in our hearts [already] that we were superior.
The above poem is from Getting Me Back (The Voices Within)
Go ahead and share this.
A Little More Time
Hi y’all 🙋🏼♀️
My apologies for not blogging more but I have seriously been busy. I’m talking BiZZy!
We are just getting the house back to normal after February’s winter storm, Uri. I’m not sure why it’s (unofficially) referred to as Uri? 🧐
I did a web search and unless I overlooked a reasonable definition-I found nothing that applied to the ice storm. Feel free to educate me.
Anywho we are getting back to normal. Haller-lu-ya!!
[doing the happy dance]
So before I get busy this morning getting the yard and pond back in shape I will leave you with a #TBT.
A Little More Time was written in 1980 something, originally published in Pose Prose & Poems in 1998 and republished in the 2017 poetic memoir called Getting Me Back
A Little More Time
There’s an eagle out there soaring And my best friend is out whoring
Turning tricks of any kind
Doing anything to make a dime God forgive her for the crime
All she needs is a little more time.
On the roof three stories high
A junky cries and begs to die
Ain’t had a fix in several days Swears he can’t go on this way
Across the street a church bell chimes
Grant us please a little more time.
An old man sick and dying
Alone with no one crying
He grieves for all the pain he’s caused
For all the people that he’s lost
Outside the window painted mimes All rushing for a little more time
A woman labors down the hall
Her anguish echoes through the wall
But soon a laughter takes its place When she looks upon the baby’s face
For a moment all is sublime
As we are given a little more time
Go ahead and share this.
Never out of Season (Throw Back Thursday)
Dissing or Discussing Poetry
First published Feb 1, 2018 JANNA HILL
We are still months away from NPM and poetry discussions are abuzz. I love it!
I’m not even upset that one “genre” is dissing the other – I am just happy poetry is being discussed.
I clicked on a link/interview that was shared with a member of the Horror Writer’s Association and then BOOM I was knee deep in reading, searching and lurking a dozen other sites.
I [honestly] never considered a genre when writing poetry and probably couldn’t categorize if my life depended on it. But [speaking of dissing] I’ll share Thoughts on Writing from Getting Me Back.
Except from Getting Me Back (The Voices Within)
Thoughts on Writing (The Requirements of an Author)
Desire: A congenital need to tell the story.
Determination: It is not enough to walk a couple of blocks or run five miles on a treadmill, come prepared to hike the Himalayas and explore the abyss.
An exoskeleton: A thick skin will not suffice — no indeed. Colleagues and critics are apt in the sadistic art of shaving and burning the thickest of flesh; their tireless wheel of pumice leaving the toughest callouses raw and bleeding. They will thin your skin; get beneath it and prove your vulnerabilities. Like a flesh eating bacteria they will consume you — kill you if you let them.
A poker face: Never let them see you sweat.
Gratitude: Because no one owes you anything!
Grace: For the rise and the inevitable fall.
Pills and booze and smoke: Because it is a hard and hateful world and you are not a god-damned ant.
The Real Janna Hill 