Swinging Away on Day 17 of #NaPoWriMo

he swings the bat

like a southpaw from the pros

flowers in my pocket

 

 

Here is today’s poem. It is short because I am tired. We had to write about a swing. The flowers in my pocket are from T-ball practice. The kids always pick flowers and I have to put them in my pocket.

How Flowers Work on Day 10 of #NaPoWriMo

  How Flowers Work

they sprout before you realize it’s time

for them to even be growing

their leaves multiply

and they change color

while you’re pulling weeds

away from them

they start growing in a weird direction

you have to use string, trellises,

and other tools to train them

to grow in a healthy direction

you want your yard to

look better than the neighbor’s

they are pretty when they bloom

except that they aren’t the color

they were supposed to be

and they are taller than you planned

but they are yours

and they are beautiful

 

 

I subconsciously seem to be combining the prompts of the April 2015 PAD challenge. Yesterday’s prompt was “work” and I added that to today’s prompt which is to write a “How” poem. I also seemed to add Day 7 to Day 8. What do you think of my poem today? Leave me a comment here on the blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, or G+ or wherever you find convenient.

Little Children | A Poem

Little Children

Let the children come to me
That was the decree
The greatest in the Kingdom is these
They hold the keys
Give to them to drink and I will remember
Rewards to you I will render
If you hurt them, a stone it’s said
Is better tied around your head
Than to be caught teaching lies
He always hears their cries

 

I wrote this quite a while back, but have decided to share it today.

Kids Today

Kids

Adults always say,

“You’ll understand, someday.”

Well lately I’ve come to see,

That some adults are less mature than me.

“Kids!” they say with a scorn,

“I was doing this before you were born!”

Well that may be true when it comes to play,

But they can’t help us get through the day.

They say they know so much more

They haven’t seen hell at its core.

Adults from yesterday can’t help kids today.

Because they are kids themselves, in a way.

 

 

I wrote this when I was a teenager. I didn’t think adults would ever realize how different high school was for me, compared to their experience. I was surprised when a couple of women in their 50s told me in person that they thought children in high school, and even in grade school, were dealing with vastly different issues than they did. Since I have had my son I have heard many older adults and leaders, finally admit that the issues children and teens face today are more complex than what they faced.

End of Summer Haiku

end of summer

wind blows the baby’s pool

away across the field

 

 

Summer is over, it is time for a new season. Are you happy that it is Fall?

A post to mark the passage of time.

Sorting his clothes

Putting what no longer fits

Into a giveaway pile

Time slipping through my hands

 

 

Do you donate clothes and toys? How many do you keep for keepsakes?

What should we teach our children?

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children. -Pablo Picasso (Spanish Artist and Painter. 1881-1973)

 

Do you ever take the time to let your child know that they are a marvel? I make sure to tell my son how great he is, and encourage him to try new things because you never know what you are capable of until you try.

A quote on modern day philosophies.

We’re sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children.

-Casting Crowns song, While You Were Sleeping

 

What philosophies do you hold to, and what do they really mean?

I Doodle, You ‘Ku 2014 – 28

fruit ninja
my son’s high score
Sunday afternoon

Yay Words!

The concept is simple: Here’s a doodle. Now write a poem to accompany it!

New to doodleku? See the original post; you can also click here to keep track of each day.

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Winter Haiku

tricycle, wagon

and the pool sit empty

in the cold garage

 

This poem has two meanings. And I wrote it without realizing the second meaning was there.

Have you ever re-read one of your own poems and found an underlying theme?
 

Smart Tanka

  Dictionary

gave the neighbor girl

a tool that she would need

a dictionary

for her school assignments

for her life assignments

 

 

 

What gifts have you given this season that you were proud of or super happy to have given?

 

Pollen stained hands.

My favorite color of hollyhock.

writing poetry

with pollen stained hands

living the dream

 

 

I got to do this yesterday. I got to go outside and tend to my plants, watch my son play, and then I wrote some poetry on my little porch. That is beautiful and I am so thankful for the life God has given me!