Double Rainbow

My daughter had a challenging day at work today. She started this new job last week. This is her dream job, so when she doesn’t do things just right, she takes it hard. She isn’t looking at this as “just a job.” This is the beginning of her career, a learning experience. She is trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible and prove that she’s a valuable member of the team. However, a few personal inconvieniences prevented her from being completely prepared for training today.

She came home frustrated and ranted about the things that needed to change in her personal life, that would make focussing on her career and education a little easier. We really didn’t get a chance to talk about those things in great detail. Her boyfriend showed up and she dashed out the door. Ahhhh…to be 19 again! A few moments after she left, she texted me the picture below. She said it “made her day.” I’m pretty sure it reminded her that all is not lost! Tomorrow will be a better day.

 

Paint Myself Gold

I would paint myself gold
if it meant you would notice me.
I’m just a poor child
living in the Land of Opportunity.
Mommy works so hard,
but makes very little money.
We have no light or no heat
My family lives in poverty.

I rush to do my homework
before night-time falls.
That’s when the drug dealers come out
and begin their street battles.
All the shooting scares me.
I want a safer home.
They fight for a piece of concrete
that they will never own.

Police are on the every corner,
I don’t think they care for me,
because all day long
they fight what my future could be.

I look forward to the holidays,
Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts,
that’s the one time of year
we always have plenty to eat.
We get big gifts,
new shoes, clothes and toys.
Even Mommy gets new things.
That fills my heart with joy.

I wish I could be a superhero
and protect my family and friends.
I’d beat up all the drug dealers
So the streets would be safe again.

There are a lot of families like mine
living in my neighborhood,
We are poor, but hope hard and pray
That our lives will turn out good.

When I look at all my neighbors,
I wonder again and again,
If I painted us all gold,
Would you notice us then?

This poem from my book, Persistence of Vision, was published in 2009 and was one of the winning works presented at the 2008 Delaware Art Museum’s Eye/I Witness Gordon Parks contest.

To Leave You

For today’s Throwback Thursday post, I dug in the archives and found this poem that I wrote in 2013. I’d almost forgotten about it! I hope you enjoy it! Happy Thursday!

Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest desires of the human heart.
-Richard Carlson

To find you

The same way I left you,

Oh, that would be a shame.

Whether you were well

Or down on your fortune,

To be stagnant is a disgrace.

Time is a currency meant to be spent,

Not killed, nor simply passed by,

But it should be spent wisely,

Invested and well accounted,

And enjoyed one moment at a time.

To leave you

The way I found you,

Now, that is a sin for sure!

While, I need not sermonize,

Criticize or scold,

I have a duty to add to your greatness

Whenever we may meet.

It’s my duty as God’s creation

To increase your value

Even if it means I never speak.

If all you require is an open ear,

Then that I will be, for you, with honor.

For to listen,

Is to fulfill your heart’s greatest desire.

Who am I to deprive you of such a treasure?

To live in a box,

Is to regard life as a trifle!

For, to a box we will go

As our final resting place.

When we lay in rest,

Friends and family will recount

Precious moments of our lives.

This audit of time will be marked

By anecdotes of the marks we left on them.

May those memories be kind and true

Whether we receive accolades or not.

You can’t take your treasures with you

When you die.

Don’t exit this world,

Without leaving a deposit.

Reboot!

Photo credit: Joel Montes de Oca

I have been struggling to write for the last month. I’m not lacking the ideas. I’ve started several stories and jotted plenty of notes. I’ve written some amazingly deep paragraphs and story openings only to become stalled about how or where to use those words next. It’s frustrating! But I’ve realized that certain thoughts and situations have dominated my attention and shifted my focus.  (Not that some of those things didn’t need attention! I still have bills to pay to a kid to take care of!) So, I took Monday afternoon to do a writing purge. I wrote out the things that were weighing heavily on my mind. Why was that so important, you ask? Because I write emotionally. I get into my characters. When my character is upset, I’m upset. When they are happy, I’m happy. When they crack a joke, I giggle. It may sound extreme, but if I don’t feel it, you won’t feel it when you read my stories, either. Those thoughts and situations blocked my creative flow and weighed me down. Writing it out helped! Weight lifted! (Insert a happy dance >>here<<.) Now, I feel like I can dig deep and do some creating! I should probably get started as some of you will are looking forward to a Flash Fiction Friday post! 😉

Happy Wednesday, folks! 😀

L is for Life Goes On

White Rose by FullmetalDevil, Deviantart.com

I looked over the lush green lawn scattered with headstones and through the wrought iron fence. Traffic flowed at it’s normal pace, the drivers oblivious to the fact that we were laying a citizen to rest. The irrational part of me wondered why they didn’t stop or at least show some reverence and drive by the cemetery slowly. I felt betrayed by them. I wonder if any of them said a prayer as they passed.

I turned my attention back to the graveside service. The Reverend started singing and everyone joined in. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms? I have bless-ed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms. I hadn’t been to church in quite some time, but I knew the song well. Mother sang it all the time. I missed her. I didn’t sing with them. I have a horrible singing voice. Everyone else raised their voices, clapped in rhythm and harmonized. A few family members raised their hands and shed tears. I swayed and let the rich sound of voices wash over me. The Reverend said a prayer. He talked about how short life is and the value of every moment, the importance of God in one’s life and eternal life. Then he extended an invitation to anyone who was not saved to accept Christ as their Savior and began to sing another hymn. No one stepped forward.

The graveside service ended with everyone placing a white rose on top of the casket and then they watched as it was lowered into the earth. The Reverend said a final blessing and everyone went back to their cars. I looked back toward to the fence. Cars and trucks still sped down the highway like nothing happened. The world only stopped for the family, and a little bit for me. I couldn’t be upset with the rest of the world for not stopping or slowing down to realize a soul had moved on. Life goes on, after all. My partner tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a shovel. “This body ain’t gonna bury itself. Let’s get this done and then we can go get some lunch,” he said. He was right. We got to work and quietly covered the grave.

F is for Falling Behind

100 metres final, London, 1948, National Media Museum

Do you see that guy in the picture? The one on the left, number 35. The one in last place, the one that has fallen behind the rest. He’s not very far behind, but he’s not in first place. I know how he feels. You work hard, you give it all your effort, you push and press and stretch, but your efforts just don’t quite get you where you need to be, when you need to be there. You’ve fallen behind and can’t catch up! It’s frustrating.

The truth is, this was pretty much the same position I was in with the writing challenge last year. It’s true! Look here. I know how my life cycles. As soon as I commit to taking on something big, like this A to Z Blog Challenge, chaos breaks out. But I’ve learned not to beat myself up about it. I can’t control the chaos, but I have control over how I deal with it. I have to think like that runner in the picture. I have to keep running. It’s better to be in the running and place last than quit and not place at all.  So I am going to do what I did last year, I’m going to jump around the alphabet as I post. But I will complete this A to Z challenge! It worked last year, it will work this year!

Tomorrow is Throwback Thursday, so I’ll be re-posting a blog from the past! if I complete the piece I’ve been working on I’ll post that tomorrow, too! Then it will be Two For One Thursday! 😀

Well, back to the race! Gotta run!

Running into My Older Self

Fellow blogger Don found a clever way to get in contact with his younger self. He left him with two life changing pieces of advice! Check it out!

Don Miskel

I was all of fourteen, applying a healthy coat of Noxema to my pimpled face, when the strangest thing happened. The mirror became cloudy, though I wasn’t running the hot water in the sink or shower. As the fog cleared a bit, I noticed a face in it that was very familiar, but somehow different.

“Hey, kid,” the older version of me said.

I jumped back, startled and exhilarated at the same time. “How the heck did you..?”

“Shut up, Don. I’ve only got a few minutes. Through an experimental technological advance I stumbled upon in the year 2015, I was able to tune in to your frequency.”

“But…”

“Butt my ass! Hush up and listen.”

The man in the mirror was handsome, though his hair had become gray in some places. His eyes had seen things that would unravel in my future. I listened to every word he said.

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Back to the Future: A Letter to the Past

Dionne’s message to her 10-year-old self is a message that so many young women (and grown women) need to hear and remind themselves of often! Thanks for sharing, Dionne!

dionnesexpression

It’s so interesting how the universe responds to us. I’ve recently found myself saying on a number of occasions that I wish I could “go back and give [a younger version of myself] a hug’. I say it whenever I remember behaviors that were mindlessly prominent, stemming from a number of perceived deficiencies or flaws…efforts to get others to notice or “see” me and perceive or (even worse) ascribe my value. Then I stumbled across a challenge to– no… I was presented with an opportunity to do a writing assignment about advice I would give to my younger self. Anyone else hearing Twilight Zone music, besides me? Well, actually the time frame that I was referring to was only about 4 years ago, but what follows is a letter to myself at around age 10, which is when things really were still in the middle of heavy twists and turns…

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Messages to my younger self

The great responses keep on coming! Here is my friend David’s advice to his 9-year-old self. I love his final words to Little David!

David K Williams

Dear Dee ,

i know you are about 9 years old and aren’t sure what will happen to your life when you grow up,  you probably would call yourself crazy if I told you that when you grow up you will inspire people to write books of their own simply because of your choice to write one. There will be people who don’t understand your vision and that’s ok because it isn’t their vision, it’s yours. Not everyone is going to like you, even though you like to help people and want to see everyone who’s affiliated with you succeed. It is your differences with people that will motivate them. Make sure you finish whatever you start. The journey will be hard but it’s something you need to do. No one can take the journey for you. I know you struggle with expressing yourself because you aren’t sure of people’s…

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Hey, You’re going to be just fine.

I had a few friends join in to answer the question, “What advice would you give your younger self?” This is my friend Kristina’s response to the question. I LOVE her response! Take a read and feel free to share your thoughts!

Second Act, Second Chance

Dear Nicki or Stinka Pooh (nicknames when I was a little girl),

You’re around 10 years old and you’ve experienced a lot in those tender years. Your father was never around, your mother was always working and providing for you and your sister, you are practically raising your sister now just to help fill in the gap. Life has seemingly given you this adult assignment and put it on your tiny shoulders.  You’re introverted, you have now begun to write to express what you are too scared to say.  You feel overlooked, abandoned and like your voice doesn’t count for anything. You’re scared and you cocoon yourself because the world is such an awful place for you.  But guess what? You’re going to be just fine.  Your father left you at the age of seven but you’re going to be just fine. Your mother worked a lot and never really…

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