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TTOT

Arlene

Ten Things of Thankfulness

  1. The flight of steps in the town park so I cannot forget the ability to walk upstairs.
  2. For small gifts of a long time ago that keeps loved ones close while they are gone from me..
  3. The Sealey Chapbook Challenge of reading a chapbook a day for August. It has brought me back to re-reading good poems that have slept quietly on my bookshelf.
  4. For Zoom which is easy to use and allows me to see others in our meetings.
  5. For the caution many businesses are taking to help keep us safe as we shop and conduct business.
  6. For my lawn gentleman who does a fabulous job and allows me to take off a time or two of cutting my grass.
  7. Those who forgive me for being a day late in my Friday TTOT.
  8. For those who share recipes to try that are new to me.
  9. For the opinions of others to keep me from knowing all the answers.
  10. For others who continue to go forward, not allowing this pandemic to defeat them.
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Chapbook Challenge-day 6

Arlene

Be’tween You and Me- arlene s bice 2013

I share with you an early attempt at self-publishing and

a sevenling poem; it is split into three stanzas

first is 3 elements connected, 3 lines

second is the same yet opposite

third is a one line zinger which reminds me of NJ irony.

He Loved-arlene s bice

he loved horse races

dog track

casino

he hated reading

theatre

libraries

he married a writer.

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SSS-random

Arlene

Rolling down the interstate on a morning after a heavy rain making the world look like it was scrubbed clean by Mom last night, I stay relaxed but constantly aware of traffic around me, especially the big guys, meaning the tractor trailers that dwarf my little, red Mazda II that I love so much.

They generally tend to be good drivers but still they have to see (meaning me) in order to be road savvy where I’m concerned as I never forgot the time a trucker kept pulling left into my lane as I blew the horn, pffft, his music must have been playing loud and I finally just braked my car rather than run into the center island because I knew he just didn’t see me..

We were slowing down, fortunately, for some kind of trouble ahead or for certain I would have been in trouble, too.

At the time I was clearly alert and on my toes as far as interstate driving goes not allowing random thoughts to run through my mind as I was doing today.

Driving is good for letting ideas spark, ferment and form solid ideas for what I am going to work on in my writing when I arrive home and also for working out knots in a piece of work I have already started,  maybe thought was finished until that lightbulb went bing!

That bing let me know it wasn’t as finished as I thought.

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Chapbook Challenge-day 5

Arlene

Crossings –Jude Dippold

Jude writes of losses, letting go, death, dying, mourning, mostly remembering; bringing remembering to me, though my memories are always there in my shadow even when I have no shadow.  I feel the depth in his writing as it encourages me to take time to write a poem for each of my own many losses.

Clearly I see the portrait of his sister he writes about, my dear friend Anne, younger then, with the simple beauty of daisies and the sun lighting her hair. She adored her brother.

Fortunately, each of my lost loves i.e. ancestors, parents, siblings, sons, and friends, has come to me at least once, a few have come often but each time has been comforting. Life after life and all after love.  This is a special chapbook that has important insights to give you, written in many different ways.

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Chapbook Challenge-day 4

Arlene

From the late Judy Beach’s Ritual Writing IWWG

One poem:

Spell For A Desired Position

arlene s bice

Cast a circle

lay a blue cloth in the center

with a blue candle in a blue dish on top

of the blue cloth. Enhance this with a blue

ribbon, let scented citrus oil permeate the air. Be

sure to have blue underwear on. Lay a section of

the newspaper that is desired to be publish in, be-

tween  you and the candle. Lay your article on top of

the desired newspaper. Light the blue candle. Begin

speaking gently to Mother Goddess:  “Please merge

these two that I may become the writer, published

routinely,  desired by many readers, appreciated 

by editors.  Send the power, wisdom,

make way for my path. My grace

 to you with thankfulness.

Blessed be.

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Chapbook Challenge-day 3

Arlene

One poem from As the Day Dawns

The Lake – Ellie Newbauer. .

Rousing from its slumber,

it cuddles in its blanket of mist.

An early morning breeze skitters,

and fitfully drops,

to caress its satin body.

The glassy water responds

to the whispering lover,

so close for an instant the two are one.

They separate, and the fickle gust hurries on

to spread its rippled secrets

to the farther shore.

As the misty shroud dissolves,

shadows fall,

heralding the coming sun.

Diamonds burst forth,

and in a tap, slide, turn,

they gaily dance the day away

to the lapping rhythm

of the flowing waters.

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Chapbook Challenge -Day 2

Arlene

What Brought You Here? Nancy Duei Denofio

Bruises

It tasted like a nip

of bad wine-it would

curl inside, grabbing

a hold of your heart.

One more time-then

it’s over. They say

tell us again.

It’s self confidence

assurance, liberty of

women, our right.

One taller, stronger, a

warrior. Picture a

dignified soldier.

Children seldom hear

the scrape of a sharpened

blade.

Revenge, pillage, spoiled

Deflowered, endeavor, and

weaker, unable to fight

or confront a warrior.

Those who never touched

a blade tell those who have,

“Confront the past.”

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New Challenge- read a chapbook a day for August

Arlene

Writing What You Love Loving What You Write

From the late Judy Beach

Ice Cream and Love

arlene s bice

It’s more than a childhood memory;

the texture, the flavors, the taste

rolling around my tongue, melting, creamy

soothing my throat, adding to my pleasure.

The biting cold stinging my mouth.

Strawberries freshly picked in spring,

chunks, dripping with sweet juices

lay over the mound of French Vanilla

in a fancy glass rimmed in gold

like kisses laying on my lips.

A summer-ripened cantaloupe,

hollowed out and filled with scoops

of Chocolate; blending, melting

with the juices of warm fruit

coming together as one body.

In the autumn when spicy flavors

of Pumpkin and Buttered Rum tease

the palate, tingling the tongue

licking the drips on the cone,

my fingers wrapped around it.

Cold winds come in winter,

volcanic hot fudge covers the

heaping icebergs of Black Walnut

like your hands caressing my

breasts with your touch.

Seasons define the years,

flavors define the seasons.