On New Year’s Resolutions

On New Year’s Resolutions

Do you make New Year’s resolutions?

Many people vow, as a new year begins, to stop destructive habits, beat addictions, begin healthy practices and start new personal disciplines. Health clubs and fitness centers enjoy increased membership enrollments, as folks sign up for exercise programs. Weight loss centers usually have a bump in admissions as well, as the old year closes and the new year opens.

Folks promise themselves (and others) all sorts of things on New Year’s Eve, or even New Year’s Day.

How long do New Year’s resolutions last?

Have you ever kept a New Year’s resolutions all year long? What was it? Did you quit smoking, lose a few pounds, exercise daily, finish a major project, beat a bad habit, get a new job, read some new books, keep in touch with friends or family members, finish an academic degree, stop swearing, get rid of clutter in your home, drive within the posted speed limit, or what?

Here’s my New Year’s resolution for the coming year. Perhaps these words will resound with you as well:

Foretaste

Limericked Spins As New Year Begins

My new resolution is tragically hip.

Don’t mean to sound sassy, nor prideful or flip.

Still, making a vow

Right here and right now

Seems somehow preemptive to taking a trip.

No wanderlust draws me to dangers without,

And tasty temptations delicious I doubt.

But catching up leaves

And writing on sleeves

May lead to dynamics or creative drought.

Today, as our calendars all are replaced,

A full resolution I make not in haste.

As new bells may chime

The passage of time,

I seek to make memories – to taste and not waste.

c2009 by Linda Ann Nickerson

Posted for a variety of prompts:

Easy Street Prompts (“tragically hip”)

Meme Express (Invitation to Simply Snickers)

Monday Poetry Train (poem/s)

One Single Impression (“wanderlust”)

Simply Snickers (“bold,” “bounty” and “bright”)

Sunday Scribblings (“delicious”)

Weekend Wordsmith (“catch up”)

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts!  Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging 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! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.

All A-flurry

All A-flurry

Photo copyrighted by Nickers and Ink

Playing It Cool

The fairest fillies on the farm

May with the frost take no alarm.

They find it fine –

Design divine -

To laugh at winter’s chilly charm.

Posted for a variety of prompts:

Meme Express (Invitation to Simply Snickers)

Monday Poetry Train (poem/s)

Simply Snickers (“fair,” “fine” and “frost”)

Weekend Wordsmith (“laugh”)

Photo prompts:

Camera Critters (photo/s)

Odd Shots (photo/s – odd shots)

Scenic Sunday (photo/s)

Sunday Stills (photo/s)

Thursday Challenge (photo/s)

Watery Wednesday (photo/s)

Wordless Wednesday (photo/s)

Winning Ways

Poem - Unlimited energy, unbound promise and untapped potential, all wrapped up in a young Arabian horse.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Christmas Trail Ride - a Rhymed Activity on the Nativity

When Mary went to Bethlehem, She rode atop an ass, but then, The trail was arduous and coarse; Perhaps she traveled on a horse.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging 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! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.

Holiday Haiku Trio

Holiday Haiku Trio

Do you like haiku poetry?
Do you write haikus?

A haiku contains 17 syllables in three lines (5-7-5). Technically, a lighthearted haiku is usually more correctly called a senryu. Of course, that may be mincing words or splitting hairs.

Here are links to a few holiday haiku poems. Why not write your own today?

Please leave a comment, so we can all enjoy your holiday haiku!

Carol on (A Holiday Haiku)

A Christmas Haiku for AC's Holiday Haiku Contest of 2009. Does this ring a bell? How about a carillon?

Haiku - Countdown

Haiku describes the industrious preparations of the holiday season, as advent progresses and Christmas approaches.

Haiku - Holly-Days - a Poetic Greeting, Ever so Fleeting

Have we become so politically correct that we have made ourselves tongue-tied? Does anyone know how to extend happy holiday greetings anymore?

Dark Day

Dark Day - on the Winter Solstice

(The Winter Solstice occurs in just over a week - a few days before Christmas.)

Night Shift

A Limericked Lark on December’s Dark

The solstice of winter may darken our mood.

Dear sun slips away, and the Yule nights intrude.

‘Mid holiday sport,

Our days become short.

We stand, most appalled, as our neighbors turn rude.

Brisk wind chills our souls as the season begins,

And icy barbs fall on us, needles and pins.

Still, weather may pale,

Regardless of gale,

Compared to the numbness deep under our skins.

However, as soon as the briefest day’s passed,

The hope of light grows in the midwinter blast.

Fair skies may appear

If we wait till next year.

‘Ere long may the promise bring joy unsurpassed.

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging 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! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.

Pillow Stealers

Pillow Stealers

“When we are unable

to find tranquility within ourselves,

it is useless to seek it elsewhere.”

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Little Red Riding Hood

By Gustav Dore

19^th Century

Strange Bedfellows

Strange bedfellows though we may be,

These dears may snuggle up to me.

Let winter call

And snowflakes fall;

These creatures warm me by degree.

As storms may spin outside our doors,

The gales may spray their sternest roars.

I sleep straight through

With one or two

Pet pillow stealers on all fours.

Posted for a variety of prompts:

Easy Street Prompts (“strange bedfellows”)

Friday Flash-55 (55 words)

Heads or Tails (“one” or “won”)

…In Other Words… (de La Rochefoucault quote)

Monday Poetry Train (poem/s)

Theme Thursday (“snow”)

Simply Snickers (“spin,” “spray” and “stern”)

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging 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! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.

Honoring ... Pearl Harbor Day

Honoring ... Pearl Harbor Day

Today is December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day. May we never forget those who lost their lives in the Pacific on this date in 1941.

Here's my own tribute to those brave souls:

Pearl of Great Price - a Rhymed Encore on the Start of a War
By Linda Ann Nickerson

A world at war,
From shore to shore,
Its fury to unfurl.
No turning back,
The first attack,
The Harbor known as Pearl.

Click to read the rest of the poem ...

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging 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! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.

Festive Fever

Festive Fever

Have you caught the holiday fever yet?

This morning, I spent hours creating and assembling our family Christmas greeting card. For many years, I compiled photo graphic cards for Christmas, often including original Christmas poetry as well. This time, our holiday greetings are somewhat simpler – and the distribution plan is truly 21^st century and eco-friendly.

Green Christmas –

A Rhymed Trending on Holiday Sending

This Christmas time, we’re going green,

And soon, folks will see what we mean.

Our messages sent

In purest intent

Use no stamps or spent gasoline.

With backhanded mojo perchance –

Or merely an odd happenstance,

Our greeting card list

Is hard to resist,

Although we could mortgage for stamps.

We love to send missives of cheer,

With photos that grin ear to ear.

But green faces dearth

In pockets and earth,

So this year, we’ll email from here.

Our method of mailing feels weird

For family and friends most revered.

Still, mastery makes

No magic mistakes

If love to each card has adhered.

Posted for a variety of prompts:

Easy Street Prompts (“backhanded mojo”)

Meme Express (Sunday Invitation to Simply Snickers)

Monday Poetry Train (poem/s)

Theme Thursday (“friend”)

Simply Snickers (“magic,” “make” and “mastery”)

Sunday Scribblings (“weird”)

Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging 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! Do you love horses? Check out the content from the National Equestrian Examiner.

Christmas Poetry Collection

Here's a hearty holiday helping of earlier Christmas poetry, to provoke the seasonal spirit among us.

Bright and Clear - a Whimsy in Rhyme for Christmastime

O holy night, so bright and clear,It's the most glorious time of the year.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Christmas Eve Surprise - a Fired-Up Rhyme for the Holiday Time

The naughtiest prank I ever did? It happened when I was a kid. We made our neighbor flip his lid! And three weeks later, we still hid. It truly was retaliation. That may be some consolation. We expressed our own frustration At the local Boy Scout station.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

The Christmas Fruit Basket

Quatrains Unmissed on My Christmas List - My must-have Christmas gift this year is not in any store, I fear. If such rich fruits could but appear beneath my Christmas tree this year, perhaps this season I'd recall as merriest yuletide of all.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Christmas in Candyland - a Poetic Claim for a Favorite Game

It's Christmastime; let's have some fun, As everyone is on the run. We bake and shop and wrap and more, And rush from store to store to store.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Christmas Trail Ride - a Rhymed Activity on the Nativity

When Mary went to Bethlehem, She rode atop an ass, but then, The trail was arduous and coarse; Perhaps she traveled on a horse.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

The Coming of the Light - Do You Belong to the King of Song?

Poem - sprung from Isaiah 9 - of prophecy fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled: "The dwellers of darkness have seen a great light. The waiting is o'er, and day springs from night. For Jesus is come, as the prophets foretold, The world is fulfilled, and my cup's overflowed...."

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Dear Son Divine of Christmas Time

Poem for the Christmas child: The clutter of Christmas preparations and celebrations can be distracting, drawing me from the real purpose of Christmas, the Birth of Christ, the Baby who was born to die to redeem all mankind from ourselves.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Deck 'Em All - Rhyming Blahs from Mrs. Claus

Based on a true story . . . here is what Mrs. Claus has to say about all those Santa impersonators, who are milling about malls everywhere in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Haiku - Countdown

Haiku describes the industrious preparations of the holiday season, as advent progresses and Christmas approaches.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Holiday Check-Out

Poem on shopping for the Christmas spirit - Where can the true spirit of Christmas be found? Can it be destroyed by the flurry and hurry of frustrated shoppers? Can troubled economic times dampen our holiday spirit? How can we rekindle and refocus?

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Jingle Bell Schlock

A Christmas Poem to Drive Truth Home - A Christmas Poem to Drive Truth Home - Sweet jingle bells ring all around, collecting coins from those store-bound. Can we afford to celebrate with finances in such a state?

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Just Be-Claus - a Rhyming Trick on Old St. Nick

One Christmas, as my child turned six, Her questions had me in a fix. A classmate had betrayed the myth, And many questions came forthwith.

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Maybe It's Sold-Out Time - a Carol in Rhyme for the Holiday Time

Another fractured Christmas carol for the 21st Century, to be sung to the tune of the popular Christmas song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

By Linda Ann Nickerson

Violent Night - a Carol in Rhyme for the Holiday Time

Here's a Christmas carol for the 21st Century. The tune is familiar, but the lyrics have been changed to reflect our times and new traditions.

By Linda Ann Nickerson