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Ms. Weary’s Blues, a poem … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

blues

the helpless, hopeless, remorse-filled blues
when you’ve seen the doctor and she’s seen you
when Time runs out and Eternity beckons

blues

the darkest hues with shivering slivers of
pewter muting to gray, muting to black,
muting to light fractures in a surface
permeable and permissible, heavenly Light

or, so “they” tell me …

But lost in that Universe of Light
will “I’ still be?
will “you” still be?
answer me that

What is the character of this Light?
Matter or myth?

Ah then…
after all, pondering on
I find I really don’t care
I’ll poem my blues and poem my light
until all that’s left of me is
what I leave behind…

and you?

Will you leave your unwritten
blue poem hanging in the air to be
sensed by the few who can?
Or, will you, like slaves of old,
paint yourself blue and boiling tears
dance round the fire’s edge and rebirth
your broken blue soul into wholeness?

This poem is written out of being diagnosed some eighteen years ago with a fatal condition. Still kicking!  Nothing untoward is pending … except, of course, for the fact of a world gone mad and who knows what’s next with that …

Apologies to all for any confusion. I put up a different writing prompt a few minutes ago and immediately took it down when I realized I’d offered it as prompt once before. Some of you may have seen it and, of course, I can’t delete it from email subscriptions.

© 2017, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

As a poet/artist/human being, what do you hope to leave behind? What message for those who follow?  Tell us and leave your work or a link to it in the comments section below.  All work shared on theme by Monday evening 8:30 pm PST will be published here next Tuesday.  If it is your first time responding to a Wednesday Writing Prompt, please send a photo and short bio to me at thepoetbyday@gmail.com. They’ll be used by way of introduction to readers and other poets . . . and me. 🙂  All are welcome to participate in this prompt: novice, emerging or pro poet.  Wednesday Writing Prompt is about exercising the writing muscle, sharing our work and getting to know other poets, perhaps some who are new to you.

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there is always spring , a poem

times are
weighty
fevered
fervent
anxious

the canvas of your life weeps
it is a call to rest ~
to rest
to meditate
to wait …

for spring, a benediction
please listen …
there is always spring

this week
clouds swelled
burst into tears
overflowed into creeks and rivers
crashed into roofs and trees

but you’re still here
a survivor!

rebirth
renewal
relief

benediction

nothing lasts forever
not even this

© 2018, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY

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aspects of a story, a poem

There are open spaces in the plotting of a story
I print out for edit during one of my work hours
In the silence of creativity, a lavender plant
lends its fragrance and color, painting a calm
Outside squirrels scamper, toddlers play and
their grandmothers stand-watch in doorways,
chili stewing and stacks of tortillas, warm and
soft, rest and wait under clean kitchen towels

Spring is moving into summer and neighbors
tend their herb and vegetable gardens
They imagine the yield dressed in salads
They’re willing to share the harvest with friends
A world away soldiers download ordnance,
synchronized to the hum and click of my printer
Bodies fall, hearts stop, mother-tears water
my manuscript, blue-pencilled by rifle fire

© 2018, poem and photograph, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY

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brightness beckons, a poem … and your Wednesday Writing Prompt

Watercolor by Gretchen Del Rio
Watercolor Phoenix by (c) Gretchen Del Rio

“In the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray…”
Inferno Canto 1, Durante (Dante) degli Alighieri

in a mood
he stood at the wood’s edge and thought

……….why?

lost

this pained walk
under dark skies
living on the verge
wondering if he was
the plaything of his Lord, if so
a cruel game

from somewhere brightness beckoned
on the wing beat of sudden insight ~

it’s not your memory melting in the heat of time
or your true music dissolving unsung
nor the whimsy of some capricious god
it is, perhaps, Dante’s transformative hell

no love without yearning
no compassion without pain
no charity without failure

a Moses, he fell before the flaming bush
A Phoenix, he rose from the ashes
in his found humanity, he embraced life whole

© 2013, poem, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserved; Gretchen Del Rio (Gretchen Del Rio’s Art Blog), All rights reserved, posted here with Gretchen’s permission

WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT

There are moments, sometimes light and sometimes dark, that are transformative. Tell us about that in a poem and if you feel comfortable share or a link to it in the comments below.  All shared work on theme will be published here next Tuesday, January 9. All are invited to participate no matter the status of your career: beginning, emerging or pro.  Deadline is Monday, January 15 at 8:30 pm PST.

ABOUT THE POET BY DAY