January 1, 2018, 6:12 a.m.
The bad news. Predictable. Never-ending.
The good news buried under sensation
…..,,,,,,,and,
,,,,,,they mentioned that man again.
…..Sigh!
Too late for miracles.
[Did someone prescient write that between the two world wars?]
Yet the new year burst into bloom,
full of mettle and vision and a
singular aspiration …
– be the peace
– be the peace
– be the peace
“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.” Thomas à Kempis,The Imitation of Christ
© 2018, poem and photograph, Jamie Dedes
WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT
What is on your mind and in your heart as you start the new year? Tell us in a poem or poems and leave your work or a link to it in the comments section below.
All poetry on theme will be published here on Tuesday next. You have until Monday, January 8 at 8:30 p.m. PST to respond. All are welcome to come out and play no matter the status of your career: beginning, emerging or pro. Thank you!
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Thank you for your great works in the world.
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Hello Jamie, I have decided to write something for this prompt. Hope you are well.
Dreams of Flight
Closing my eyes dream like synapses
coalesce images of youthful fears
tainted by mountain high and
valley lows of emotions
feathered wings in flight I fancied
releasing me from my humble dawning
with the smell of lemons and lilacs
growing against a backdrop of cement
tainted with the odors of asphalt
on the other side of town peppered
with factory workers, shop owners
life ached for gleaming upscale as
housewives tended children crying
dutiful lives of status quo
but only dreams took me flying
into the darkness of night
smelling of sweet honeysuckle
scaling walls of rising freedom
as now all dreams of tender youth
have left me I no longer fear
nor struggle from whence I came
for the spring of my soul
bubbles forth a peace within
© January 2018 Renee Espriu
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Beautiful
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Thank You so much.
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Everyone Counting
a lost year
just gone by
just gone
just
oh hell
one argues as much there
lost as hope wants to bubble
up ahead uncreated
winter
— built-in grace period up
until thawing
the real bear the lost was —
is in hibernation
the carryover is pure genius
the straddling
the picture
sitting on the fence
absence of go-go dancers
ultimately
ten weeks in the grand
scheme of things
means
there is no good answer
to the question
yet
while the northern
axis observes
this tilt
can we
respect metaphorical roots
as much as continue to use them as
excuses
everyone counting
—
Miguel Escobar
7-Jan-2018
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Wonderful, Miguel, and lovely to have you with us. Since this is your first time participating in Wednesday Writing Prompt, I’d like to introduce you to readers along with your poem on Tuesday. If you would send a short bio and, if you are comfortable, a photograph to me at thepoetbyday@gmail.com, that would be great.
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midnight:
the moon’s chimneypot
on the back lawn
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Brilliant, Colon. So lovely to have you help kick-off 2018 and wish the best year yet.
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Hi Jamie, this is my very first response to a Wednesday Prompt, hope it’s suitable.
As the old year ends
Days and nights
bring silver moons
and tangerine sunlight
melting snow
from the mountains;
tell of a rose bush
bearing crumpled flowers
and branches scarred
by summers long gone,
summers to come.
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Lovely! Wonderful to have you with us, Sheila. Since this is your first time participating in Wednesday Writing Prompt, you will be introduced on Tuesday along with your poem. I’ll need a short bio and, if you feel comfortable, a photo. Please send them to me at thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Thank you!
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Thanks Jamie, I’ll send you a short bio.
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Lots of new faces here for the New Year Jamie and some really nice responses to the prompt.
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Best wishes for 2018, Renee.
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You as well Jamie. After some long thought on my part about writing I am doing much better. Now looking for another place to live. Hope 2018 for you is spectacular!
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Although it’s a struggle to look ahead with optimism, I’m trying! https://wordpress.com/post/bilocalalia.wordpress.com/722
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I hadn’t read the quote by Thomas a Kempis before. Thank you for the introduction. It speaks to an experience I had over the holidays.
Your poem is shouting many, many things. Let’s hope the word ‘Peace’ is heard the loudest.
I hadn’t written too much poetry in 2017. Perhaps,s this year a may pop over a bit more.
Hope you enjoy …. Happy New Year 2018
Isadora 😎
https://insidethemindofisadora.com/2018/01/04/a-gift-of-love-3/
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Beautiful
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Happy New Year!
Too late for miracles
Little miracles happen every night in life.
That’s what the old blind man told me, leaning against the rugged bench in the park. And at this point, a ladybug shone in front of my eyes. He saw – he smiled at me – it was the mother of the seven-color arc.
He smiled again
and
went over the rainbow.
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Happy new year, my friend!
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New Year
The cold.
Unrelenting.
Pushes through each
thin crack by frigid wind
I greet the two degree temperature
happily. It’s climbing! Housebound,
I walk the stairs between the woodpile
and couch, hot water bottle ready.
I aim the heater to the back of the cabinet,
so it warms the pipes on the outside wall.
I cut my compost into small pieces,
lay them on the snow to feed the hungry
driven to my front door in the full moon’s light.
The radio on is on for company, against
the all day quiet. I hear about North Korea first,
then President Trump’s bigger button. Is this his
New Year’s address? I remember us all
crouching beneath our desks at school drills,
head tucked in, dog tag on, when I was a kid.
Was that the Bay of Pigs? Maybe there is some
hope, if we now send cruise ships to Havana.
Maybe one day NorthKorea will welcome cruise ships, too.
elaine reardon
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Bravo, Elaine. Thanks for coming out to play.
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Elaine, since this is your first time joining in Wednesday Writing Prompt, please send a photo (if you’re comfortable with that) and a brief bio to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. The poem et al will be published here next Tuesday. Thank you.
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https://anjuwriter.blogspot.com/2018/01/for-poet-by-day-wednesday-writing-prompt.html
Thank you ‘Poet by The Day’
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Thanks for coming out to play, Anjum. I couldn’t leave a comment on your blog because it’s not WordPress, but you’ll see your poem here next Tuesday. Bravo! Happy new year. / Jamie
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welcome and Thank you Jamie..my new year resolution is moving towards writing more and better poetry..may the Lord help and guide me amen.I have a wordpress poetry blog I will share my poem on it too and send the link soon.
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Will is fuel
Impulse is potential.
Emotion without mind is violence.
The mind without heart is sterile.
The unfiltered will is scattered.
The untethered will is impotent.
Harmony is passion and reason,
refined and anchored, to perfect,
that conscience may be as leaven
in Humanity, to honour and express
the Beauty of the cosmic sum.
The heart beats. The mind’s job is to justify its rhythm to the soul. https://julijuxtaposed.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/will-is-fuel/
Happy New Year, Jamie x
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Juli, thanks for coming out to play. Happy 2018. 🙂
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Hi Jamie,
Here’s my third response:
Buy More (From “Queue At World’s End)
food than we need.
Never want to join again
these endless queues.
The end of the world
is due so we’ve got to make sure
we have enough
of everything for two days
when the shops are closed.
Two days closed is an economic sanction,
an act of war we rush to counter
with extra rations, things we would not
normally buy. Just in case a battle
breaks out and we are bunkered
in our homes. Eat and be merry.
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Hi Jamie,
Here’s my second response:
We Must Avoid
doors that open too smoothly,
scissors that open too well,
doors slam in your face,
scissors cut you to strips.
Words that come too easily,
stories that come ready made,
success handed on a plate,
accolades sent too soon
poetry that slips off the tongue,
without hard work and sweat,
words that bother the reader,
with too much work to do,
poetry without music and rhythm,
complicated images and phrases,
not asking if it’s boring,
not being entertaining enough.
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Happy New Year, Jamie. Here’s my first response:
Old Year
Celebrate the going of the new year
and the arrival of the old year.
At midnight on Old Year’s eve
sing of how it all ends,
make decisions to keep old habits
And not pander to new ones
that have outstayed their welcome.
Newness gives you wrinkles.
Stay with youthful decrepitude.
The fresh has lost its taste.
Welcome the old with fireworks.
Reold the world
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Thanks for coming out to play. Paul! Wishing you a year filled with wonderful poetry, yours and that of others.
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Than you Jamie. Happy New Year.
My response
::the year::
gently go forward, then gently back
recreating past deeds and misdemenours
you thought forgotten.
gently go forward knowing we are mostly
all the same, with motes not spoken of,
except disorder.
gently it passed behind you, seen
clearly while looking for god.
gently gather winter leaves to keep
in paper bags. these are the golden
days .
my friend.
sbm.
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Thanks for coming out to play. Happy 2018 to you. Wishing you all the best.
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