Do you overextend by pretending?
Is that your intended purpose?
Why contend with false bravery?
Extend your heart and attend to your tears with tenderness.
image credit
via Tend
Be Good to Yourself
10
Category Archives: Dear Readers
What If and Why Not?
Befuddled, bewildered and baffled am I
to think that my house cannot live in the sky
I’d open my windows each morning at dawn
and wave to the birds as they proudly flap on
I’d puff up the clouds that create my front yard
and bend my own rainbow to hang as my guard
At night I would juggle and play with the stars
then tuck them in safely in soft layered jars
Now, as i look up, I don’t understand
why my house it must always be glued to the land.
image credit
via Bewildered
When Pencils Need Sharpening
We were born. We didn’t have a choice.
We didn’t enroll for this class called “LIFE.”
Why would we ever want to “unenroll”?
We might miss something unexpected, something better.
Yes, some days all the hallways are the same.
They lead to the same old classroom,
the same old teachers.
Pencils get dull.
The roof leaks.
Trash cans get filled. Emptied.
But then on the big cork board in the hallway, we see something new.
“New construction in progress.
We are expanding!”
So even as we sneeze through the dusty air,
step over the nails,
hold our hands over our ears as the hammers pound
and the saws whiz
there’s a new spring in our step.
Something better is coming.
image credit
via Enroll
Inclusiveness Doesn’t Need a Permit
WE CAN ALL GET ALONG
Come in the house, little mouse
I have a muffin just for you
it’s made with chocolate drops
and lollipops
quite yummy once you chew
Come in the house little cat
and be nice to little mouse
get to know her
you’ll adore her
besides, it is MY house
Come in the house, little fox
lick the ice cream I have made
It’s purple pink
and good, I think
It’s served with lemonade
Come in the house, little bunny
don’t be scared of little fox
have good sense
and confidence
and listen when he talks
Now, isn’t this just lovely
how we all can get along?
it doesn’t take
much food to make
to know we all belong.
© C. Dennis-Willingham
Edited version of my WIP children’s book
image by Pixabay
via Permit
Trying Goggles on for Size
I’m a creature of habit if that means trying new things.
Maybe I just can’t seem to settle on one.
(Just ask how long it took me to choose font colors)
image created by picmonkey.com (I didn’t know it could do that!)
via Creature
Jeers for Fake Tears
She never gets tired of the sympathy visits.
The hugs, the tsk tsks,
the chorus’ of “oh, you poor dear”
So what she broke a bone?
It’s not like her heart lay open – split in the middle like a bagel ready for toasting.
I know she smiles when her visitors leave
How she says, “that’s better” while stuffing bon-bons in her cheeks.
Then another knock on the door and her face turns solemn again.
What a sham by a scam artist!
Doesn’t she know that people have real worries to contend with?
I can’t sympathize with the plight of an artificial pansy.
“All things are relative,” you say?
Well, I’m glad she’s not related to me.
image credit
via Sympathize
All Things Beloved
Missing a loved one?
A special place?
A special object that you once held dear?
No matter what has transpired …
All things beloved can be seen in the mind’s eye.
-CD-W
via Beloved
When I Grow Up …
She believed there were only pros to fusing things together
the bricks to build her house
the quilts to keep her grandchildren warm
the neighbors at the parties she threw
She was a pro at fusing things.
Nothing came apart.
Nothing tore.
Nothing fell.
No one was left out.
And all because she was generous with her love,
plentiful in her resources,
abounding with energy.
In all these things, she was profuse
never lacking
seldom flawed
and never felt defective.
In her wrinkled, aging hands
she held the world together.
I want to be like her when I grow up.
Image one credit
Image two credit
via Profuse
Reflection
Is reflection the conveyor
of a message thinly sent
to serve as object’s layer
in an undersized percent
Or,
is reflection the conveyor
of a purposeful intent
to show the viewing player
the beauty of accent?
via Conveyor
Why Stifle a Good Thing?
Do not rain on my parade
unless it’s with feathers,
or glitter
or golden moon powder
You may not like the floats I created
my choice of marching bands
or the tethered balloons
reaching for the endless sky.
Perhaps the spectators are not to your liking
the cheers from old and young alike
may be too loud for your ears.
If you want to rain on my parade
do not come
But if your heart opens
and your mind changes
I will let you in for free.
image credit
via Stifle
Carolyn Dennis-Willingham 