Exit Strategy

Posted for a One Single Impression prompt (“doorway”), a Sunday Scribblings prompt (“vision”), a Blog Talkers prompt (“independence”), a Scrumptious Sunday prompt (“beef”), a Slice of Life Sunday prompt (“mother’s curse,”), a Snackie Sunday prompt (“gods and monsters”), a That’s My Answer prompt (“a different name”), a Word Beads prompt (“affair,” “disappear,” “grab,” “heal” and “unkind”), a Seek the Lord Sunday prompt (“spiritual gifts”) and the Poetry Train.

Exit Strategy

I’ll try here to be bold, but brief.
It is a mother’s curse, a beef,
When independence, so unkind,
Does enter in a child’s mind.

The doorway, once securely locked,
May disappear; the child has walked.
The daughter wears a different name
And sets up house, a whole new game.

No time to grab her from the odds
Of monsters and the lesser gods,
A mother prays to heal the rift,
Employing spiritual gift.

A parent’s vision clears at last;
She loves her young iconoclast.
For growing up’s a true affair;
The Lord will take us all from there.

Related Items:

Alma Mater: A Poetic Form on a Call from the Dorm

Can Anyone Be a Parent?

Destiny Rising: A Rhyming Sight on Taking Flight

Grandmother’s Shoes

Hearting Up

Leaving the Nest

Licensed to Drive: A True Story in Rhyme, But It Oughta Be a Crime

Looming Landfill

Parental Perfection: A Rhyming Reel on a Parent’s Ideal

Teens Without Means

Top Drawer – A Mother’s Mirth on Things of Worth

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

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Healing from Reeling

Posted for a Friday Flash-55 prompt (“Oxymoron” – containing exactly 55 words), a Poefusion prompt (“doctor,” “roll of film,” “secret,” “stairwell” and “telephone”), a Weekend Wordsmith prompt “It didn’t happen”) and a Writer’s Island prompt (“curiosity”)

Healing from Reeling

The stairwell telephone, it rang
With curiosity.
In secret shock, I quickly sprang,
Answering warily.

The doctor’s voice surprised me then
“The roll of film shows signs
Mysterious, unknown to men
In brainwaves and designs.”

“It didn’t happen,” I replied.
“Excepting within dreams.
For if it did, I must’ve died,
Life isn’t as it seems.”

Related Items:

Looking Up

My Misspeak

Out of My Mind

Phone-y Baloney

Seeking Vision

Stressing About Stress

Whack-a-Mole

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

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Just Dessert

Posted for Mad Kane’s prompt on “Just Desserts” and Meme Express' prompt on "candy."

Just Dessert –
A Poetic Force on Our Favorite Course

As children of all ages,
We eat our meals in stages,
We are ever on alert,
Looking for our just dessert.

Eating green peas, carrots, corn,
Waiting with a look forlorn,
Seeking something sweet to follow,
As reluctantly, we swallow.

If I eat what’s on my plate,
Will you bring me something great?
Keep your beans and cauliflower;
Give me chocolate to devour!

Sweet confections, I desire;
My blood sugar may creep higher.
Still, I crave a sticky fix,
Though nutrition contradicts.

The best in life is worth the wait,
Although I just may hesitate,
I’ll eat the vegetables accursed,
Or better yet, bring dessert first!

Related Items:

Comfort Clothes

Grandmother’s Shoes

The Mirror Lied; A Poetic Phrase on Younger Days

Muscling into Fitness: An Exercise in Rhyme

Never Better; A Rhyming Blow at the Big Four-Oh

Our Sandy Surprise

Why Try?

Love poetry? Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink. Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

As I Discover

Posted for a Simply Snickers prompt on “day” and “discover.”

As I Discover
(A Miltonian Sonnet)

The Giver of light banishes all fear.

“This is the message
we have heard from Him
and declare to you:
God is light;
in Him there is no darkness at all.”
(1 John 1:5, NIV)

As I discover how the day is done,
The sun gone past, so long before its time,
Its counterpart, which comes in dark to shine
Appears not glowing, though the light has gone
To answer to its call and hasten on
The time to come, awaiting still a sigh.
"Can day return, unless the stars align?"
I wonder then, yet courage shed upon
My fear, soon answers, "Lord your God needs not
Sunlight or moonlight guiding Him; ye still
Living in fear, ye darken most; His Son
Is brighter. Starbeams in His Name are caught
And 'lumine life's creation at His will.
Ye cannot hide that only turn and run.

c1981 by Linda Ann Nickerson

 

Images:

Top - center: The Transfiguration, by Raphael (c1520).

Above: Milkmaids with Cattle in a Landscape:
The Farm at Laeken, by Peter Paul Rubens (c1618).

Below - right: Equestrian Portrait
of the Duke of Lerma,
by Peter Paul Rubens (c1603).

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Manatee of Vanity

The Manatee of Vanity –A Limericked Zest on Human Quest

“ Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“ Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:2, NKJV)

“We are here,
And it is now.
Further than that,
All human knowledge
Is moonshine.”
H.L. Mencken
(1880 – 1956)

Behold the sea cow, manatee,
A model for humanity.
Beneath the boats
He freely floats
With no plea of insanity.

His heritage, if it be so,
Meanders in the depths below.
A life marine
As he comes clean,
Is all that he may ever know.

Appearances don’t bother him,
No fashion line can make him thin.
For he cares not
Of blemish, spot,
And he knows comfort in his skin.

This frequent flyer fairly floats,
Deterred not by the summer boats.
His open eyes
Prevent surprise,
Perhaps someday we’ll all take notes.

Till then, we fret and pace and strut;
We exercise to firm the gut.
We primp our smiles
And don our styles
For picture-perfect who knows what.

c2008 by Linda Ann Nickerson

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Posted for prompts at Easy Street (“heritage or something like it”), Heads or Tails (“line”), In Other Words (Mencken quote, listed below), Read-Write-Poem (“get your poem on”), Three Word Wednesday (‘frequent,” “open” and “someday”) and Totally Optional Prompts (“summer”).
 

Finding Composure

Posted in response to a One Single Impression prompt on “melody,” a Saturday Free-for-All prompt on “You rearrange me till I’m sane,” a Sunday Scribblings prompt on “happy ending” and a Monday Mural image (left).

“All my longings lie open before You, O Lord;
My sighing is not hidden from You.
I wait for You, O LORD;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
Come quickly to help me,
O Lord, my Savior.”
(Psalm 38:9, 15, and 22, NIV)

Finding Composure-
Seeking Remission from Decomposition

A single chair folds with a creak,
As audiences sit and peek.
The violins are tuned and set.
We’ve come to focus and forget.

The maestro lifts his graceful wand
To carry ears to realms beyond.
The happy end, for which we thirst
May never be too much rehearsed.

I’ve sown too many wild oats
‘Mid tattered sheets of written notes.
The melody that hides beneath
Is difficult to share, bequeath.

I clutch the bow and grasp the frets,
With buried bountiful regrets.
The composition fairly sings
Of ragged memories, broken strings.

A single sheet in any key
Will never offer guarantee.
For music does require a muse,
Your inspiration to infuse.

The masterpiece, it must found
To resurrect a lovely sound.
The truth is ever painful, plain,
“You rearrange me till I’m sane.”

Author’s Note:

“You rearrange me till I’m sane” is a single lyric from “Brain Damage,” a song from Pink Floyd’s 1973 album, On the Dark Side of the Moon.

Hungry Sheep

Posted in response to an Easy Street prompt on “keeping a secret,” an Inspire Me Thursday prompt on “bringing child’s art to life” (see artwork, below), a Slice of Life prompt on “writer’s choice” and a Writer’s Island prompt on “questionable.”

(Image from South Korean photographer Yeondoo Jung’s Wonderland series.)

Our dear pastors have been bumping up the volume a bit lately, at least spiritually, with increasingly meatier messages. We are deeply grateful for the excellent teachings and insights we receive each week from these godly guys, who seek the Lord’s face all week long for direction and depth.

By sharing the truth and the deepest secrets of God, they are building disciples, without question. Certainly, there is nothing questionable about growing spiritual children into mature believers so that they can also share the secret, rather than keeping it. How exciting it will be to see the young faithful growing into teachers and preachers someday as well!

Hungry Sheep –
A Poetic Salute to Preaching With Fruit

Some Sunday sermons make us laugh;
They raise a cheery mood.
And still you show the narrow path
When you serve solid food.

Though babes the mildest milk desire,
With feedings every hour,
The more mature reach ever higher,
Seeking greater power.

So bring it on, and throw it down,
With vegetables and meat.
Those in the pew may fret and frown;
They just need more to eat.

Our ears are tickled, to be sure,
With humor and with fun.
But real nutrition will endure
When we our course have run.

The Lord, He knows this fine cuisine
Is harder to prepare,
But minerals and real protein
Will fuel a powered prayer.

Bring it on, guys! We love you, and we are taking notes . . . joyfully!

Related Items:

A Babylon Song

The Bridge That Draws

Crossroads

For Fayth Who Endures

Free and Clear

Fueling the Future

Hearting Up

His Perfect Passion

How Long?

How You Cheer Me

Just Dessert

Just Laugh

Leaving the Nest

Power and Provision

Soul-Worn

Too Far

The “Why” Chromosome – Should a Woman Preach and Teach?

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts!

Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

Click here to subscribe to an RSS feed for this writer's helpful Helium content. If you wish, click here for a free subscription to this author's online AC content, so you won't miss a single post!

Crossroads

Crossroads -
A Rhyming Plea from Urgency

“He leads me beside quiet waters.”
(Psalm 23:2a, NIV)

"’Be still, and know that I am God.’”
(Psalm 46:10:1a. NIV)

I love to speed, get it in gear,
So why are we still standing here?
My engine’s roaring; hear it keen.
God, won’t you send a light that’s green?

I have great plans, Lord. Can’t You see?
You want to come along with me?
Why must I rest and wait so long
To find Your will, when I’m headstrong?

Shall I signal to the right?
I’m holding on with all my might.
I’d love to stomp upon the gas;
My time is slipping though the glass.

All right, I’ll stop and wait for You.
Despite my plans, I have no clue.
Here at the crossroads, in midstream,
Things aren’t always what they seem.

You lead me in a slower pace,
By silent waters, secret space.
My motor roars and longs for more,
But greater things You have in store.

c2008 by Linda Ann Nickerson 

(For a Simply Snickers prompt on “secret” and “silent,” a Monday Mural art prompt, this week’s Poetry Train, and a Read-Write-Poem prompt on “quotable quotes”)

Image:

public domain artwork

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