Composed in memory of my dearest friend, who went from this life 10 days ago — much too soon and too quickly: Kent Bartholomew Mann (1957-2017).
[Daily Post Prompt: Priceless]
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Yes, it’s just a little book — only 68 pages — but it’s the first book I’ve ever done that’s totally devoted to cinquain. As most of you, my readers, know, I fell in love with this unique American poetic form a couple years ago, and since then I’ve written cinquain on almost every subject under the sun.
So if you enjoy poetry — and having fun with it — you’ll probably enjoy this book. It was just launched today on Amazon. You’ll find a very short sample on the Amazon site, and many of you have read most of the poems that are in it as I’ve created them and published them individually on this very blog. But so many were written a couple years ago, that I don’t think you’ll find it boring to revisit them —- that is if you enjoy that form of poetry to begin with.
Anyway, you can find the book HERE in paperback for only $4.95. (I should probably tell you that some of the poems have accompanying pictures, and the Amazon sample shows those pictures in color. However, the actual book has black & white pics.)
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Tall, with handsomely chiseled features and the bronzed skin of his Cherokee ancestors, Lionel Butler has caused more than one girl’s heart to flutter. But he never takes much notice, because he’s convinced he’s destined to be a bad husband and father. He’s also turned his back on the God his mother served, and since her death, he’s convinced he’ll never be a believer. But when he meets Kana Wallace, a devout Christian, his surprising feelings for her force him to stop and re-evaluate his reasons for a lack of faith.
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I lost my very best friend last night. Kent Bartholomew Mann. He was killed in a bicycling accident just a few hours after we’d been working together editing one of my books. For many years, he was a constant support and encouragement to me in my writing and my ministry, and the loss is much deeper than words can convey. I’m sharing this picture because it is of the gingerbread house he put together just a few years ago because he had always wanted to do one as a kid but never had. So in his mid-fifties, he decided it was time. For me, it represents so many of the positive things that were part of his character and personality.
I appreciate your prayers.
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Busy
Both day and night.
No time for normal stuff
Like keeping up to date with blogs.
Sorry.
Hopeful
That very soon
Stressful pace will slow down
And I can visit online friends.
Miss you.
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Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make our life happy. Each time I look at this picture of the donkey, I find myself smiling. I wrote this story some time back in response to a flash fiction challenge, but I found myself thinking about this picture as I pondered my “smile” this week, so I decided to share Clover’s story here.
Clover nuzzled the sweet-smelling ground cover that had inspired her name. She lived here now, on Old Jake’s homestead, having stumbled onto it by accident – or by Divine intervention – after being beaten by her previous owner and barely escaping. Limping through the stormy night, she’d eventually collapsed in this sweet-smelling field.
Next morning, Jake had found her, huddled in pain and traumatized by her injuries. He’d bathed her wounds, fed her, petted her, and made her his own. She had the run of the farm, but her favorite spot was this field of sweet clover where she spent quiet days being grateful to Old Jake for his love.
To participate in ‘Weekly Smile’ visit “Trent’s World.”
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To participate in Cee’s ‘Share Your World,’ visit her site HERE.
Question # 1: When you leave a room, do you turn the lights off behind you or keep the lights on throughout your house most of the time?
I leave a lot of lights on in my house. When I was growing up, my dad always taught us to turn the light out in a room when we left it. He was very adamant about it. But I love light, and I find it very hard to make myself do that now. I don’t have lights on in every room in the house, but generally there’s light in my living room, kitchen, and back foyer area — as well as a light on the front porch.
Question # 2: What do you feel is the most enjoyable way to spend $500?
Buying gifts for other people.
Question # 3: Complete this sentence: My favorite thing to do on my cell phone is…
Nothing. For me a cell phone is simply a tool to have available in case of an emergency when I’m away from home, or if I know someone will need to contact me when I’m away from home.
I have very strong feelings about the insanity of being addicted to cell phones and people who interrupt conversations with one person every time their cell phone dings and they want to see what some other person has to say. I’m fed up with being “put on hold’ every time a call or text comes into someone’s phone when they are supposed to be interested in talking to me, and I’ve about decided that the next time it happens, I’m going to terminate the conversation and walk away. And the next time I have to stand in line behind someone at a check-out lane who will not stop talking or texting long enough to let the clerk finish that order, I may give them a good piece of my mind.
That conversation would be mild compared to what I’d have to say to the thousands of people who still text and drive. The idiots just insist that they can do both things at once, but they cannot do both things safely. Then there are those who do not send a text while they are driving, but they will read someone else’s text while flying down the road at 50 miles an hour. They all need to have their license revoked. Better that than give them a chance to murder someone with their irresponsible actions.
(Just a little venting — since this question offered such a great opportunity.)
Question # 4: What inspired you this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.
I’m always inspired by the beauty of Christmas art. This wallpaper picture especially caught my attention recently. If you enjoy this kind of photo and graphic art, you can find much more at this link to wallpapersafari.com.
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What a glaring mistake I have made.
But I hadn’t seen Ben for two years.
And he — oops, I mean she — hadn’t said —
Not a word of this change did I hear.
We were meeting old high school classmates:
A reunion of sorts — just a few.
And since Ben Hall and I had been friends,
I was hoping friendship to renew.
But as soon as I entered the room —
I could not see my friend anywhere —
All at once I was grabbed and hugged tight
By this big-bosomed gal with blond hair.
She pulled back and smiled, and I glared.
Bernice Hall was the name on her tag,
Then my brain saw the light, and I said,
“Ben, why have you come here in drag?”
Oh, but no, I was soon to find out
That Ol’ Ben had had surgery done.
Said he just couldn’t resist a change,
Because big-bosomed blonds have more fun.
What a glaring disgrace and abomination we have given place to in our society now. There will be a price to pay, and we will see hundreds of bodies mutilated and hundreds of lives destroyed in the next decade as a result.
Click HERE to visit Daily Post and learn how to participate in the challenge.
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Visit Trent’s World to participate in Weekly Smile.
This week I am smiling broadly because the Mockingbirds are back, nesting in my huge Blue Spruce tree in my front yard. They used to nest there, but I haven’t seen them in a couple years. But today I saw Mama bringing food to her babies there. It made me really happy. I didn’t get a picture of the nest, of course. The tree is huge and thick, so I couldn’t even begin to get deep enough inside to get that kind of shot. But I did include a picture of the tree itself. Of course this picture is a few years old, so the tree is even taller and and fatter now. You could say I raised it from a babe. Well, it was about 5 feet tall and bending way over to the side to get sun because it was growing in a tub beneath a super tall Blue Spruce that had had the lower branches cut off.
The poor baby was getting too big to grow straight anymore beneath that mature tree. Not only that, it was in an old wooden barrel, and it didn’t have room to spread it’s roots. So it had pushed it roots down through the slats in the barrel and into the ground. It belonged to my cousin, and he asked me one day if I wanted it. (That was 17 years ago.) I said I’d be thrilled to have it — but there was a small Sweet Gum in the yard when we’d bought the house, and I’d want it removed to place the Spruce there. He gladly removed the Sweet Gum and brought me the Blue Spruce. When we planted it, he drove a strong steel pipe into the ground and braced the Spruce’s trunk to it so that it would begin to grow straight. I prayed for it a lot in the early years, so that it would get a really solid hold in the ground and be able to grow properly.
Now, 17 years later, it is a gorgeous, stupendously healthy tree that stands well over twenty feet tall and would require at least a dozen people linking arms to reach around its circumference. I named the tree Big Blue, and yes, I do talk to it and love on it. I don’t hug it because it’s just too prickly, but every once in a while I pet it’s branches and pray for it. Over the years, it’s provided homes for Mockingbirds and Cardinals, and probably a few others that I haven’t been as aware of. But this week, Mockingbirds have dibs on it, and I’m enjoying their enjoyment of their home.
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Be sure to use your toothbrush every day.
Or if you use it twice a day, that’s better yet.
Because if you will clean your teeth a lot,
Then when you see the dentist, you won’t have to fret.
Of course, it’s wise to floss as well as brush,
And then, after the flossing, we should always rinse
With something that will kill bacteria.
I guess with all the gunk we eat, it does make sense.
Anyway, I’m giving this advice —
The same advice my mommy always gave to me.
So hopefully, you won’t lose any teeth,
But keep a brilliant smile for everyone to see.
To participate in today’s challenge, visit Daily Post.
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PESTY SUMMERVisit Daily Post to participate.
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Sometimes treasures lie deep-buried,
‘Neath eons of soil and time,
Long resisting human efforts
To unearth and cleanse from grime.
But then there are rare occasions
When a prize will come to light
Resting beneath shallow waters
Waiting childhood’s keenest sight.
To the toddler on adventure,
Holding onto daddy’s hand,
Tide-smoothed pebbles, multicolored,
Constitute a treasure grand.
To participate in today’s prompt visit Daily Post.
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This week’s Friday Fictioneers picture prompt reminded me of a delightful and heart-melting true story that I read about several years ago. It took place during WWII, and involved a real U. S. serviceman, the woman who was the love of his life, and a tender-hearted, romantic telephone operator. I was so touched by the story that I told it (changing names, etc.) in a poem on this site about four years ago. That poem, however, in order to tell the whole story properly, took much more than 100 words.
But when I saw the picture today, I just couldn’t get away from that love story, so I’ve tried my best to squeeze it into the requirements for our FF challenge. I’m still 14 words over the limit, but if your romance outweighs your legalism, you might enjoy it anyway.
Today’s thought-provoking prompt comes to us from J. Hardy Carroll.
LOVE ON THE LINE
“Operator, I’m calling Susan Wheeler, St. Louis.”
“This blizzard may interfere with connection, sir.”
“Please try, my 2-day leave is almost gone.”
“Hello.”
“I have a call for Susan Wheeler from Bill Meadows in Boston.”
“This is Susan.”
“Hold please. Go ahead sir.”
“Susan! Sweetheart!”
“Oh, Bill, I was getting worried.”
“Honey, the blizzard’s too bad for me to get there, but I must ask you something important.”
ZZZZmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
“Sorry sir, we’ve lost your connection.”
“NO! Please. I’m trying to propose!”
“It’s no use sir.”
“Noooooooooo!”
“But she can hear me. Shall I relay your question?”
“Yes, please; I have to know! Ask her if she’ll marry me.”
“Great news, Sir. She says yes!”
If you’re interested enough to get the more complete version, here’s a link to the poem.
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