Hollow Talk

Engulf me.
I don't want
Shallow waters,
Fragments.
I've had enough of hollow talk

11/11/13

Nature

It is not in my nature
To say
"I love you"
When I do not mean it.

Unfortunately,
It is in yours.

The prompt at OSI this week is nature. To join in or read the other contributions go here
This poem is also linked to The Poetry Pantry.

Faith

image courtesy of Ella Wilson

I saw a child kneel in belief
Trusting in Him who lives on high
Her face devoid of any doubt
Expected Him to bring relief

Oh, that I had a faith as pure
So that I might my burdens lay
Down at His feet with gratitude
And thus my peace from Him secure!


The Sunday Mini-Challenge at the Garden this week is an envelope quatrain written in iambic tetrameter. This is the first time I have ever written a poem with meter, so it was quite a challenge! I hope I did it correctly. The rhyme scheme I chose for my envelope quatrain is axxa. To join in or to read the other contributions go here.
Special thanks to Ella for the use of her photograph!

Wonder Wednesday 4

Remember how we used to dip
Our fingers in melted wax?
Now watching candles burn
Reminds me of all the good
Times that we shared.
But I am not like the wax,
That melts away and
Becomes less and less
Until one day
You realize there is nothing left
To burn


Ella's prompt for Wonder Wednesday was wax. To join in or read the other contributions go here.

Scarecrows

I dug up an old box
Containing fragments of our lives,
And thought of what was left of it;
Nothing but scarecrows
That ceased to scare me
Long ago

The prompt at One Single Impression this week is scarecrow. To join in or read the other contributions go here.

Really Living

Today I decided to live
Instead of gliding by
I went out and looked to the sky
Unlike I'd ever done before
And felt a little piece of me
Would never die again


   The Ella's prompt is to be inspired by Sark. This is the first time I've ever heard of this author and it was like a breath of fresh air. A lot of the times we tend to just go through every day without really living, so that's where I went with the prompt since Sark seems so ALIVE. To read the other contributions or to simply get inspired go here.

Fences

   When I think of fences keeping something in, I tend to think of emotional fences. We've never had a fence around any of the houses we've lived in, so I don't really relate to them physically.
   All of our neighbors have had them though, to keep their pets in, except our current neighbor. I'm not really sure why he has one, but I think it's because he likes to garden. I can't see anything of his backyard except a tree with some very pretty pink flowers, a shed, and a few months ago he added some sunflowers that peeked over into our yard.

I took this one rainy day a few weeks back. It doesn't show all of the fence because my brother's roofing materials were in the way
   My response to Mary's prompt is this:
No matter what
I won't take down the fence
Around my heart.
I've made that mistake
Twice before.

To read others' response to the prompt at The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads or to join in go here.

Landai for the soul

It is not revenge or hate that drives me,
But the love I feel when the sun begins to rise

The life I now lead
Will not dictate how my soul lives

One may look at me and think I am not worth much
But they don't know that I am gold purified by fire

Every inch of me is covered except my eyes
That way I can speak with more than my mouth

I came across this through Grace's post. Kenia's challenge today at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads is to write a bunch of landai. This is a form of poetry used by women in Afghanistan. The poems are only two lines for easy memorization, since only five out of 100 women graduate high school. This goes to show how important poetry and expression are. To read more or join in go here.

Memory Quilt

Memory quilt
I stitch each thought
Each sentiment

Together

Maybe someday
I'll give it to you
Whole

The prompt for this week's Thursday Think Tank is timeworn. Ella introduced us to an amazing artist who creates visual poetry using things from the past. You can visit her blog to view her work here. To read the other contributions, or to join in go here.

On Ending Conversations

It's hard to converse
when your lips are sealed.
Worse still,
when your heart is.

The prompt this week at Theme Thursday is conversations. I don't converse easily with people, and there's only been one exception to that. I chose to write about the end of my conversations with that exception. To read the other contributions, or to join in go here.

Friends

I used to ask myself
What makes up a friend
Until I met you
And definitions
And meanings
Ceased to be important

The prompt this week at Carry On Tuesday is "What is a friend?". To join in or read the other contributions go here.

Thursday Think Tank - Signs of Autumn

image from weheartit

Death has never been more beautiful
Than when I see the leaves
Set themselves on fire
Deciding to go out with
A bang
Instead of
Politely bowing out

OSI - Lopsided

This week at OSI the prompt is lopsided. To read the other contributions or join in go here.

Imperfection is
Beauty shining in your sweet
But lopsided smile

7/01/12

Here is my response to a Carry On Tuesday prompt that I never got around to posting.

I listen to the silence
Because it's better than
Listening to your empty
"I promise"
Or when you say
"I'm sorry"
And I know you don't mean it

Even worse is hearing you say
"I love you"
Because I know
You say it to keep me
Believing
So I listen to the silence
As you do also

The Thursday Think Tank - Books

Today's prompt for the Thursday Think Tank is books. My favorite is The Kite Runner, so I read it every other month or so. Here is my poem inspired by the book. To read the other entries or to join in go here.

image from weheartit

For you a thousand times over
Even if I have to cross the sea
Or brave the desert
I'll come find the little
Pieces of you
Left over from
Our childhood

Here is the synopsis taken from Khaled Hosseini's website:
   Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable, beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan nonetheless grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara, member of a shunned ethnic minority. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.

   The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. Written against a history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption.

Carry On Tuesday #167

"All the world's a stage", Lyla breathed to herself as she walked into the office. She merely had to pretend she wasn't rattled by the impending interview. Everyone had to go through one of these more than once in order to get a job, but Lyla still felt nauseous at the thought of having to answer why she belonged at Moulton Inc. She drew in another breath and tried to fall back on her four years of college training as she took a seat. She quickly fixed her eyes on a crack in the wall so as to avoid being intimidated by her competition occupying the tiny lobby.
"Miss Lyla Fisher?"
Her mouth went dry, but she quickly placed a confident smile on her face. "All the world's a stage", she repeated to herself as she rose with her head held high and entered the manager's office.

7/21/12

image from weheartit

I thought my dreams had died
Sometime during the night
But when I awoke
I found them very much alive
Flying over me

6/13/12
You
Are two
Parts that I've
Yet to figure out


One
In which
You love me
And don't hold back


And
Another in
Which I am
Just a second choice

First Birthday!

image from weheartit

    Today's the day! Paper Thoughts is celebrating one year of life! To be honest, I had forgotten about this very important milestone in a blogger's life until about three days ago, so I don't have anything special planned. I do want to take a moment though to say thank you to everyone that has made this year so much better than I ever thought it could or would be.
    First up is Gill Harrison from Ink Paper Pen. Gill was the very first person to visit my blog and leave a comment, and I won't ever forget how encouraging that was, especially since I was still being a Secret Squirrel (as Gill likes to call it) about my writing. I had never showed anyone my writing besides my sister, so putting it out there and receiving a comment from a writer like Gill was major. Also, thanks to her blog I was able to have my first experience with a supportive writing community, and met lots of cool cats who helped my blog grow. Thank you Gill!!!!
    Next is the lovely people who keep Poets United alive. I didn't feel like a poet when I first joined this amazing community, but all the support and words of encouragement certainly make me think I am! Thank you so much for hosting a place for us to share our poems, and for all the work that you put into the daily posts that help us in our writing!!!
    And where would I be without my readers? A special thanks to Abin, Grace/Heaven, Mikhael, Mary, Sarah Mac who encouraged me in my early days, and last but not least Sherry. You all brighten my blogging days. Thanks a million for stopping by every week to read my work!!!
    This final thank you is for the two people outside the blogging world who had a hand in getting me to where I am today. A huge, huge thank you to my sister for making me learn how to write a proper five paragraph essay. Without that, I never would have made it into Mrs. Stanley's English 1 Advanced class. Before I go on to thank Mrs. Stanley, I also want to say thank you for the oodles of encouragement that only sisters know how to give! 
Ah, Mrs. Stanley. I remember the day I had to write a poem for her class, and consequently had to give my previous failure another go. If not for this assignment, I never would have pursued poetry. A huge thank you for always pushing me and believing that I could do better. Since then, English has been my favorite subject. I won't ever forget that class!
Thanks to everyone that has joined me on my writing journey! You all have made this year incredible!! Here is some delicious Batman (my hero!) birthday cake for you :D.

image from weheartit

I don't feel sorry anymore
Because I finally found
The courage
To set my dreams free
From my crumbling wall of
Disappointments
And the things I don't need
Were lifted off their wings