Category Archives: Health

Health, Poetry, Writing

Lesson 12 The Way of the Wizard

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(Poem 75 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

“Wisdom is alive and therefore always unpredictable.” -Deepak Chopra’s The Way of the Wizard    

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com  https://gencraft.ai/p/dVT3Jv

We must learn to contain
both chaos and order,
swirling atoms, firing neurons,
never ceasing electrical storms
matched only by coherent thought
and organized cellular function.
A rose in seed form looks the
same as a bean or a violet.
Only invisible twisted twin strands
delineate its inevitable destiny.
Yet, we worry about becoming,
spend struggle and effort to
assert our determined uniqueness.
Why not surrender to fate?
A rose by any other name
(and all that) is a universal truth.
When pressures push this way
and other, we try to impose order.
Yet, attempts at control run
counter to the grain of life.
Learn to accept the unpredictable,
make peace with entropy,
embrace all potentials, so the
opportune impulses can flood
like inspiration into life, and the
bud naturally unfold into a rose.

@Home Studio – 75th poem of the year

Chopra, Deepak. The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want. New York, United States of America, Harmony Books, 1995, pp. 85-89.

Runner ups for the rose bud photos to accompany my poem:

Health, Poetry, Writing

Sleep is My Favorite Activity

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(Poem 73 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/GCc85W

Sleep is my favorite activity.
I think it always has been.
It’s just a little harder now
to reach the perfect bliss.
When I was young and firm,
sleep came easy, just dripped
like candle wax on my pillow.
Now I need my cpap machine,
a supersonic fan on blast,
the right kind of darkness
that blocks out memory,
the right kind of quiet
that sets the stage for dreams,
the perfect temperature set,
all my pillows plumped just so,
my grounding sheets tucked,
and my husband by my side.

@Home Studio – 73rd poem of the year

Health, Poetry, Writing

Good Morning

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(Poem 69 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/gEjF5X

Good morning leaves decaying in layers in our little yard forest. You have carpeted the ground beautifully with your life donation. Each of your sacrifices is appreciated, honored, and revered by many paws padding over your graves. Good morning birds singing to the gallery of the gods. You cheer the space where silence was lonely and fill the trees with invisible color. Good morning cool breeze gently swaying the boughs. Waving, nodding, welcoming all of us to your open-air cathedral, we are in awe of your generosity. Good morning ghost white sky. I suppose you don’t feel cornflower blue right now, and that is okay. You are lovely just as you are and have every right to express yourself however you like. Good morning big red barn with peeling paint. Your strength and shelter have protected many generations. You have been a foundation upon which lives were built. Good morning wood pile. What a lovely stack you’ve made of yourself, artistically skewed like an artisanal centerpiece for the yard.

@Home Studio – 69th poem of the year

Health, Poetry, Writing

I Fell Today

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(Poem 61 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/7pYBlB

I fell today while walking Kenji
the short distance to the dog run.
I did not trip, stumble, collapse,
slip, stub my toe, nor faint dead away.
It was as though the earth moved
from beneath my feet and there
was nothing left to do but lie down-
the slow motion forward momentum
reminiscent of a tree felled by rot.

My shocked dog panicked, then
sprung into action and proceeded to
administer CPR square in the middle
of my back while head-butting me,
attempting to bring me to. Trouble is,
I was not in need of any of these
ministrations; my breathing was
startled, but sure, and adrenaline
ensured no loss of consciousness.

I’ve dreaded this day for over a
year; “Whatever you do, don’t fall,”
the surgeon’s only instructions
like telling a bird not to fly, a fish
not to swim, a dog not to give CPR
to its helpless person in need.
So, fall, I did, but break, I did not.
A little scraped, a lot bruised, but
no longer dreading the first fall.

@Home Studio – 61st poem of the year

Health, Poetry, Writing

Old Tin Can

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(Poem 60 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com https://gencraft.ai/p/VMtRBA

An old tin can has myriad uses.
It can hold almost anything
that might need holding.
Used bolts, nails, and hinges,
extra screws that might come
in handy someday or never.
Paper clips, tacks, coins, even
a drink once given a good rinse.
There’s no end to its sense of
purpose when put to task.
It can keep seed safe ‘till the
next planting time comes,
trap danger in the form of
stinging things that scurry,
send sound with nothing more
than cotton string pulled taut.
It can be stacked and rolled,
kicked down the road,
thrown, crushed, and buried,
endure flame, flood, and cold.
The thing of it is the absence
of any thing that makes it
so useful because it can be
filled, drained, cherished, forgotten.
Its essence is what many
spend their lives trying to
imitate, emptying of self
opening to the possibility
of receiving and being filled.
I ‘reckon it would be quite a
compliment to be compared
to an old tin can because you
could hold your head high
knowing someone recognized
your inherent worth.

@Home Studio – 60th poem of the year

Health, Poetry, Writing

Boaz Birthday

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(Poem 56 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

My adorable baby boy
took his sweet time
arriving on this day
28 years ago after a
long few days of labor.
Being the know-it-all
new mother who
planned a water birth
with a midwife in a
birthing center rather
than the traditional
route, we of course,
ended up in hospital.
No drugs, all natural,
no cutting…became
the opposite of all that.
When life is on the line,
baby’s life, that is,
do whatever needs to
be done; that is all this
mother in labor was
thinking, having done
all I could on my own,
for my body was unable
or unwilling to end her
mission of her own volition,
having spent ten months
fiercely protecting,
I had to force her to set
aside her desires, her will,
and trust the saviors in
scrubs provided by
God to save the gift,
so I could celebrate
the man you are today.

@Mema & Grandad’s Back Porch – 56th poem of the year

Health, Poetry, Writing

I Provide

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(Poem 55 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her worth is far above rubies.” Proverbs 31:10

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com  https://gencraft.ai/p/ozljx8

I provide an excellent income.
This priceless life has maintenance fees.
My husband dreams of being
a kept man, a trophy husband.

He knows I have his best interests
at heart and will provide if I can.
I find good deals on stylish threads
and am willing to roll up my sleeves.

I do the grocery shopping
with my own money, and cook
for four generations sometimes-
dark to dark are often my hours.

I buy land, cars, investments,
houses, furniture, animals,
goods (essential or frivolous),
and keep the lights on.

I am generous with my earnings,
always willing to share, ready for
winter and summer alike;
my home is a welcome oasis.

Our needs are met, as well as
many of our wants; my children
look to me for strength and
guidance as they make their paths.

My beauty is love, peace, work,
and teaching kindness through
craft – creation of story –
words strung together like pearls.

@Home Studio – 55th poem of the year

Health, Poetry, Writing

I learned a new trick

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(Poem 54 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

“I learned a new trick to make the world look brighter.” – Erica Smith

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com  https://gencraft.ai/p/hXZuMQ

“I learned a new trick to
make the world look brighter.”
Literally, press on your eyeballs
and when you release,
everything in your field of vision
will look a little lighter.

You can also take a nap or
drink a full glass of water.
Pet your cat, walk your dog,
sit under a tree, laugh.

And if all else fails, go to bed
because tomorrow is a new
day with no mistakes in it yet.

@Erica’s – 54th poem of the year

Health, Poetry, Writing

I Do Work

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(Poem 52 for 2024 – I am writing a poem a day)

AI Generated image I prompted on Gencraft.com  https://gencraft.ai/p/JAMCjk

I do work that I feel confident doing.
It stretches me and can be a complicated
puzzle that feels unsolvable at times,
but I am fully cognizant of my abilities,
able to slow my pulse, take a deep breath,
and start at the very beginning because
Julie Andrews says that’s a very good
place to start, and she knows things.

Old dogs can learn new tricks, though
they might need some accommodations
to help them master the same skills.
Honestly, whomever thought to suggest
phrases like neutral face and thinking-face
when hovering above emojis not only
blessed those of us who struggle to
read faces, but those of us unaccustomed
to reading little circular yellow faces
as part of our regular workday because
we grew up with rotary phones, and
being able to metaphorically clutch my
pearls by clicking on a gasp emoji
might come in quite handy someday.

My grandmother worked in the tech
sector via telecommunications back
when switchboard operators used
call signs like Capital 5 instead of
area codes and you could call an
actual human to ask for the time of day.

She never imagined she would add
butterfly emojis as her call sign in messages
she would send to her great-great-
granddaughter someday, and I never
imagined I would be helping AI
improve her reasoning skills, but I
come from a long line of women who
know how to adapt, are not afraid of
exploring the unknown, and will learn
what we need to learn to take care of
this next generation of forward thinkers.

@Home Studio – 52nd poem of the year