Love in Ten Sentences

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

There’s a new challenge going around our little WordPress family that’s all about love. Three of my blogging friends have made me aware of it, and two of them have specifically suggested that I should take part. So how can I say no — especially when I shout so loudly from my header that I “love” words. Anyway the three ladies whose blogs introduced me to the challenge are Gilly at Lucid Gypsy, Jane, at Making it write, and Terry at Through the Lens of My Life. Thanks to those ladies for wanting to share the love.

I think the challenge originally included nominating others to take part, but I’m not going to put any of you on the spot and cause you to feel obligated. (That’s why I no longer participate in blog awards that have rules.)   But I do encourage any of you readers who like challenges to jump in and share your own thoughts on love. The rules are that you use ten sentences, but each sentence must contain only four words, including the word love. The 2nd step is to include a favorite quote about love.

Now, I confess that I broke the rules, because I used 11 sentences (Lines 7 and 8 make up the same sentence, and I have one extra.)  But, you see, I had this little poem going, and I needed the extra sentence to make it come out just right. So maybe I broke the law, but I also shared a little extra love.

SMILEY HEART SHAPEDHere’s my little love ditty:

Love is a giggle.

Love is a sigh.

Love makes you wiggle.

Love makes you high.

Lovin’ makes me hungry.

Lovin’ makes me glad.

When love is unfaithful,

Love makes me mad.

Love’s not for wimps.

Love’s for the bold.

Love’s good when young.

Love’s better when old.

♥   ♥   ♥

One of my favorite quotes about love:

“Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the floods drown it.”
Song of Solomon 8:7

♥

~

Friday Fictioneers – 2/27/15 — ‘Adoption’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Friday Fictioneers, for those who are not aware, is a writing challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields on her blog. She gives us a picture prompt each week, and challenges us to write a 100-word story based on that picture. It’s great discipline and lots of fun. So if you’d like to join in, just follow the link to her site for the details.

This week’s picture prompt is courtesy of Dawn Q. Landau. My story is below the picture.

c2a9dawn_landau

ADOPTION

Hair bristled on my neck. I was bein’ followed. I whirled ’round and found Zanzibar ploddin’ behind me, head down, tail draggin’.

“Hey, boy,” I said, squattin’ down. “Where’s ol’ Toby?”

Zanzibar whined, licked my hand, whined again. Somethin’ was wrong. Zanzibar and Toby were thicker’n fam’ly. They came through here first week of ever month. Stayed ’till the coal train came through and stopped at the crossin’. But this weren’t the first week. Where was that ol’ hobo?

I hunted three days for Toby; no luck. Reckon that lung problem finally got ‘im. Zanzibar’s tail’s still draggin’, and he won’t let me out of ‘is sight. Reckon I got me a dog.

~~~

 

New and Improved: Yeah, Right

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

CHEROKEE ALPHABET - WISDOM ONLYSome people don’t want to admit they’re growing older, but I don’t really mind — at least as long as I have my own teeth and a bottle of hair color. But, seriously, aging can be such an advantage in many ways, not the least of which is the wisdom gained through years of hands-on experience in so many areas of life.

One of the most golden nuggets of wisdom I’ve acquired is a principle I’ve lived by for quite a few years now. I’ve learned — the hard way at times — that everyone does not mean the same thing by the terms “new and improved.” When I think of new and improved, I think of something that still has ALL THE GREAT QUALITIES of the old and some extra added qualities to boot. So many manufacturers and advertisers seem to have a completely opposite definition from mine.

So, dear readers, here is my nugget of wisdom for you. You can choose to follow it or not, but if you choose “not,” then be aware that you do so at your own risk.

Golden Nugget # 1 from the Wisdom of Age:

Whenever an item says it is “new and improved,” stay away from it as long as you can, and do everything in your power to keep the “old” version working as long as possible.

`

♦          ♦          ♦          ♦          ♦

Writing 201:Poetry – Day 10 — ‘The Search for Love’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Ahhh, the Sonnet.  We must not leave out this unique jewel of the poetic treasury. For our final day of the course, our assignment is to write a sonnet on the subject of the future and to incorporate the technique of chiasmus (basically an inversion or reversal of words or phrases for the sake of repetition and/or emphasis.)  Okay: I have written a sonnet. I have touched on the future. And I have inserted the barest example of chiasmus in the final couplet. Yeah!

Thanks to WordPress guru Ben Hubermen for his creative assignments, his laid back discipline, and his whole-hearted encouragement. I’ve forgotten how many thousands of us participated, and we certainly gave ol’ Ben a work out riding herd on us, but Ben’s smile is still in place — at least in his gravatar picture — so that ‘s a good sign. This was much, much fun, and I hope we do it again sometime soon.

HEART WITH WINGS - Purple W. BUBBLES

The Search for Love

I searched for love when I was but a teen,
The titillating, quiv’ring love of youth.
I sought the shining knight from all my dreams,
Not understanding dreams are seldom truth.

In later years, the search grew more intense,
But by that time, I yearned for something more.
By adding to my passion common sense,
I sought the richer things love had in store.

Now, many years have come and gone since then,
And I’ve grown so much wiser with my age.
I’ve loved and lost and loved and lost again,
But losing love did not my search assuage.

In future, ever toward love I shall move:
To love is to live; to live well is to love.

 

~~~

Writing 201:Poetry – Day 9 — ‘Along The River’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Our assignment today was a poem on the subject of “landscape,” using the technique of enumeratio (the enumeration of multiple elements in the same series). However, we were supposed to make this piece a “found poem,” meaning we were to search for all the words in some other works, then use those “found” words to piece together our own original work, then copy and paste our own poem into our post (somewhat similar to the way a ransom note is constructed).

Unfortunately, yesterday and today have been excruciatingly full and stressed, so I did not have any time to hunt for words in someone else’s work. It sounds like an interesting exercise. I’ve never done it before, so I plan to try it sometime in the future. In fact, I think I’ll use it with some of my own poetry students in the future. But for today, all I can offer is an alternative. Here’s a poem I wrote some time back that incorporates landscape and, in my estimation, a small amount of enumeratio as well. Hope it will pass for today’s homework.

Exif JPEGALONG THE RIVER

The sun is playing hide and seek with clouds
Along the river.
The clouds are gray, but friendly, soft, and free
Along the river.

I move unhampered by the flirting breeze
Along the river
Breathing deeply of the moistened earth
Along the river.

Quiet now invades my mind and soul
Along the river.
I’m letting go of tumbling, troubled thoughts
Along the river.

My past recedes; my future quiet rests
Along the river,
And water speaks to waters deep within
Along the river.

I sit and contemplate historic past
Along the river
The generations served by this same stream
Along the river.

And sense that I belong to something great
Along the river
A part of something bigger than myself
Along the river.

And far beyond my power to understand,
Along the river,
An elemental knowing I am known —
And I am loved —
By the Creator of the river.

 

~~~

 

Writing 201: Poetry – Day 8 — Ode To Grandmother’s Engagement Ring

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Today’s Prompt: Drawer.
Assignment. Write an ode based on this prompt, using the technique of apostrophe.

Okey-Dokey.

HANDS WITH ENGAGEMENT RING - GOLD

Ode To Grandmother’s Engagement Ring

Delicate band of gold,
Crested with a tiny crown of diamond,
Snuggled safely ‘neath sweet-scented hankies,
In the top drawer of my Grandmom’s chest.

Though your jewel is tiny,
It sparkles with a fire that doesn’t fade.
Decades have come and gone since you were given,
And decades more since you were laid to rest.

That day so long ago,
When Grandpop slipped you onto Grandmom’s hand,
Betrothing each to each in awesome love,
Their journey thus begun, they gave their best.

And from their love
Two generations more have now been giv’n
Those seeds of love, watered with their examples,
And generations more will soon be blessed.

Delicate band of gold,
Crested with your tiny crown of diamond,
I’ll hold you dear and treasure you my whole life,
The symbol of a love that passed the test.

 

~~~

Writing 201: Poetry – Day 7 — ‘My Fingers Touched the Keys of Silence’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Today our assignment is to write a prose poem (poetry that makes itself apparent as such although written as prose — without standard meters or rhyme schemes.). Our subject is fingers, and the poetic technique that we are aiming for is assonance (repetition of vowel sounds).

Exif JPEG

My Fingers Touched the Keys of Silence

My fingers touched the keys of silence, and I played its song. It pulled from me a longing that I thought was gone forever – the yearning to release my soul in flowing words that birth new life in images and sounds that intertwine and reach another soul and draw it close to mine. I feared my well was dry, my soul an empty sieve, and that I’d nevermore know a yearning to create with words that live. Ah, the peace, the solace that replaces fear. For now I know I have it still – the gift to make words living things. All it took was spending time with silence for a while, and as it’s music played, it filled my well again.

 

~~~

 

Tickle Me Tuesday – Week 4

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

CARTOON MAN LYING DOWN LAUGHING 2Are you ready to grin, giggle, or just feel good?  That’s what this little challenge is all about. We share posts that are happy, light-hearted, funny, or downright hilarious. Make it prose, poetry, picture, graphic art, a joke, a song, a video ……. Whatever your heart desires. Post on your own blog and hop over here and paste your link into the “Comments” box so we can visit your site and grin, giggle, and feel good with you. Just please remember the site is for general audiences.

Here’s my contribution this week. I sneaked into Life Is Worth Living by Vera Faye Wallace (my mom) and snatched this little ditty.

BLUE CAR - AIRBORNE 2

DRIVING INSTRUCTOR

I really thought the thing to do

Was to teach my wife in driving.

But, on second thought, I’m asking you;

I know you love skydiving!

MAN WITH BIG EYES CROPPED sepia

~~~

Writing 201:Poetry – Day 6 – “The Ballad of Sister Mary Margaret

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Today’s subject is heroes and heroines. The form is the ballad. And the poetic technique that we are to use is anaphora or epistrophe (simply the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning or end of lines for the sake of emphasis). So I have given you the story of the bravest nun in the west: Sister Mary Margaret.
BULL RUNNINGTHE BALLAD OF SISTER MARY MARGARET
(Town of Petticoat Ridge, Nevada, circa 1868)

Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down:
I guess you’d say the story’s set in stone.
Our town is now quite famous, and the tourists flock around.
And it’s for sure the credit’s hers alone.

But Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down.
She did wait for somebody else to act.
But since no man among us would move to save the town,
The sister did her duty well; that’s fact.

But Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down:
You see, a bull came charging down Main Street –
Stompin’, snortin’, chargin hard at people all around –
And all the folks made haste in their retreat.

Poor Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down:
She had just finished services at church.
She stepped out to the street; her smile became a frown.
Her gold-rimmed glasses on her nose she perched.

Ahh, Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down:
The bull so wild was goin’ to take a life.
Up came her skirt; her petticoat she ripped it right around:
A petticoat as RED as cherries ripe!

Poor Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down:
The gasps of horror echoed through the air.
For no one – not one single person ever could condone
A nun who wore bodacious underwear.

Sad Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down.
But at her petticoat that bull did charge.
And Sister Mary Margaret taunted him right out of town,
And off the cliff that bull she did discharge.

But Sister Mary Margaret will never live it down.
Poor Sister Mary Margaret will never, never, never live it down.

~~~

Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Rule of Thirds

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge asks us to post a picture that follows the “rule of thirds” and perhaps includes a bokeh effect. I didn’t try for bokeh because I didn’t want my background blurred. It’s too beautiful as it is, and the contrast is perfect.

Exif JPEG

 

~

Writing 201: Poetry – Day 5 — ‘Too Late’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Today’s prompt word is “fog.” The form we’ve been asked to use is the elegy — with strong encouragement to try using elegiac couplets. And the technique assigned for today is the metaphor.

I’ve offered my piece in a slightly modified elegiac couplet, and the only occurrence of a metaphor is in the second line. But since this is the poem that came to me, I did not try to force myself to comply with more exact or more numerous metaphors. I sort of liked the piece the way it came. So, dear readers, that’s the way I’m serving it to you.  (And to set your mind at rest, I will tell you that the poem is NOT based on personal experience — I’m thankful to say.)

CEMETERY - JEFFERSON STREET - PUBDOGTOO LATE

Out from the fog and the daze I am struggling to make my way.
Scrabbling to gather the pieces of my tattered life.

Once I was warm with a love that imbued me with happiness.
Now only memories haunt me and cause my heart strife.

I sought to hold you, to own you, to bind you to me for all time.
Giving no freedom, no breathing space, no chance to fly.

Smothering you with my paranoid jealousy; making you hate me;
Turning your poor heart to stone, and that caused you to die.

Oh, how I long for just one day to relive my tragic mistakes –
One hour to whisper that finally my lesson I’ve learned.

One precious moment to bare my soul as I have never before,
Offering you only the unselfish love that you earned.

But wretch that I am, I have come to the truth only when it’s too late.
Repentant in heart, but with no where to go to confess.

For cold, ‘neath the ground you have lain all these months, and your ears cannot hear.
I’m eternally lost in this fog of remorse, and there is no rest.

~~~

Writing 201:Poetry – Day 4 – ‘A Whale of a Tale’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Don’t sit there scratching your head. I’ll tell you what it’s supposed to be.
Our instructions for Day 4 include the subject of animals, the form of concrete (or shape) poems, and the technique of enjambment. Whew!!!  Okay, how did I do? Well, the best I could come up with on shape was what I HOPE looks the tiniest bit like the flippers of a whale — going down into the ocean (of my words). I did try to work with the HTML and type the poem right into my editing window. Not going to happen this time around. I finally ran out of time to spend on it, so I typed my whale flippers into a document, scanned it, and pasted it into this post. Oh well — onward and upward. I took a little liberty with the REAL story as it comes to us in the Word of God, but thank goodness, God has a sense of humor as well.

A WHALE OF A TALE

JOHAN POEM WHALE IMAGE

 ~

SMILING WHALE - WHITE ON MAUVE

`

The poem above was approved and endorsed by the International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Pink Whales.

~

Writing 201: Poetry – Day 3 — Two Trustworthy Acrostics

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

The word “trust” is an enormously powerful word — at least to me. It embodies a complete surrender of self-protection and puts one in a vulnerable position. As a result, I don’t trust easily. I’m grateful to say that there are a few people I feel safe in trusting, and although “few” may sound like a negative number, I’ve learned that it’s sometimes rare to have even that many.

However, there is one Person I trust implicitly: my Lord Jesus Christ. And it seemed only natural, when given the word “trust” as our prompt today, that my heart and mind would turn towards Him as I wrote my poem for the challenge. I offer two poems, both of them meeting the challenge of the acrostic form. But since what I wanted to say did not lend itself easily to much internal rhyme, and since I didn’t have much more time to devote to scouring for different word choices, I have opted to let that technique wait for another time.

CROWN OF THORNS ULTRA MODERNTRUSTWORTHY

There is but One whose love and help are sure.
Renewed each day as surely as the sun.
Under His wings of grace I find the cure:
Sin and hate, sorrow, sickness – done.
‘Tis Jesus Christ, the sole trustworthy One.

PROVEN

Tiny babe: He took that form in Bethlehem.
Relinquishing Heaven’s privileges, became a man.
Upon Himself, He took my sin and all its curse.
Secure in Love’s omnipotence, He took the cross.
Then surely I can trust myself into His hands.

~~~