I saw your corona with my own eyes and I was smitten with the overwhelming knowledge that you have power over my very existence because your presence ensures that I can flourish and prosper.
Without you, I cannot live. Without you, my world would be destroyed. Without you, there would be nothing to be bedazzled by and no home to inhabit. Without you, there would be no me.
@Home Studio – 99th poem of the year
Runner ups for the eye eclipse photos to accompany my poem:
I’ve been out of my medicine for two days straight and now feel like warm crap in a bucket. I must make myself drive to the pharmacy while feeling like this to pick up more meds, take those meds, stay afloat until bedtime, try to fall asleep, and hope to feel better tomorrow. The cycle of pain, illness, meds, improvement, spiral down again, two steps forward, three steps back, the good times mostly outweighing the rough ones, but people should be gentle to each other because no one really knows the suffering each endures each day while managing to appear normal, go to work, clean the house, prepare the meals, take care of the animals, make it to all the appointments, and keep things functioning.
@Home Studio – 98th poem of the year
Runner ups for the Not feeling well photos to accompany my poem:
Contentment is pajamas and a fan blowing straight on my bare shoulders, flickering candlelight, endless streaming of my favorite shows as long as I feel like watching them, sweet tea, lines of poetry, a chapter of a good novel, a cool spring breeze that rustles the tranquil curtains, salt and pepper kettle chips, the clickity clack of my keyboard when my fingers know what they want to type, my husband hobbying a few feet away from me, the dogs playing outside, the cats sleeping nearby, my kids and grandkids off doing their own things, and the complete absence of pain or discomfort.
@Home Studio – 96th poem of the year
Runner ups for the Contentment photos to accompany my poem:
I just woke up from nap number 8,943. My grandson was supposed to wake me up when my alarm went off on my phone he was borrowing to play his video games. He did not do his job, and I slept until fully rested for once. I had so much energy that I was able to clean out the cupboard under the stairs and organize the wrapping paper and vacuum the floor and sort the donations and more. I think I’m ready for nap number 8,944.
@Home Studio – 95th poem of the year
Runner ups for the Sleep photos to accompany my poem:
There’s nothing more refreshing than a cold glass of sweet iced tea when a body’s hot as blazes. My Mema insisted on unsweet, so we had to agree to disagree. Once, when I was up in Detroit, someone offered to make me a glass and poured powder into liquid; it was instant, they said. I had never heard of such an innovation and was baffled by the dehydrated concoction. Well, how do you make it? they asked, and were equally perplexed by my method of brewing a pot of tea, only to pour it over ice. The strange culture clash was more unsettling than yous guys instead of y’all, playing football in the snow, drinking milk out of bags, and eating ketchup chips. At least Mema and I agreed on the starting point for our tea with a fresh tea bag, a boiling pot of water, and a few minutes of conversation while you wait for it to steep. No need to rush. Take your time. Sit a spell.
Pain is not truth; it is simply what we must endure to find truth. This body we are experiencing is an embroidered flower, merely representative, beautiful, but artificial, not the full living embodiment of the flower. Thoughts are guests checking in and out of our quaint inn, just as this form is temporary, a visitor who will travel on. We take death so personally, spend a lifetime preventing loss, projecting fear from our own ignorance, denying our own place in the circle. It is only possible to lose what is not real. Even if we think we’ve lost everything, what remains is what is real.
@Home Studio – 93rd 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. 96-101.
Runner ups for the circle of life photos to accompany my poem:
Actors (clockwise from top C) Martin Luther McCoy, Dana Fuchs, T.V. Carpio, Ekaterina Sknavina, Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Kiva Dawson, Joe Anderson and Halley Wegryn Gross are shown in a scene from the film “Across The Universe” in this undated publicity photograph. https://images.app.goo.gl/VGx3qPKwxrQnu3xp6
i’m just a Girl standing here wanting you to Hold Me Tight so i can give you All My Loving. I Want to Hold Your Hand. though i endure tough times With a Little Help From my Friends, It Won’t Be Long before i need more than they can give, but I’ve Just Seen a Face that i can never forget, and that is saying a lot for me. i pray that god will Let It Be our destiny that we will Come Together forever, and if we ever get married, Why Don’t We Do It in the Rain? If I Fell, would you catch me? I Want You to be the one who always catches me, not the one who says, “She’s So Heavy”, and shirks the hard parts of love. Dear Prudence will be our saving grace, for our future will never lack with us in it. we’ll be Flying high the Blue Jay Way over the rainbow and off to neverland where I Am the Walrus and you are the Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite because you make my heart soar. Something you said to me changed my perspective forever, Oh! Darling. you loved me as i was, freckles and paleness, green-eyed simplicity, and Strawberry Fields Forever. it was a Revolution to be loved for myself and celebrated for my curves. you love me when i suffer, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, you hold and comfort me, transporting my grief Across the Universe. you love me when my anger has turned our world Helter Skelter and i have forgotten Happiness is a Warm Gun aimed at a Blackbird the only way to handle strife? no, you have shown me that it’s ok to walk away, to pause, to let things simmer down, then say Hey Jude-iciously discuss our differences. Don’t Let Me Down, my love. don’t ever become someone other than who you are. whoever said, All You Need Is Love, never got a divorce. you also need the right person, a person who makes you feel like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds when things are rough and you feel like lana in the dirt with slime.
@Home Studio – 89th poem of the year
Todd, Suzanne., et al. Across the Universe Widescreen., Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2009.
Someday I’ll live in a hobbit hole and grow mushrooms and sweet mint. I’ll stoke a small fire to cut the chill and steep cinnamon for a cozy scent.
First thing in the morning, I’ll sip my tea, while I watch the sunrise in peace. Then at 10:02, I’ll water the plants, before hand-feeding the bunnies and geese.
By then it’ll be time for second breakfast— berries and cream in a bowl. Then I’ll probably need to take a nap because that’s life in a hobbit hole.
@Home Studio – 83rd poem of the year
Runner ups for the Hobbit hole photos to accompany my poem:
Shall I build a spire atop my roof and invite the townspeople to a grand ball with a string quartet? Or shall I plant a rose garden hedged in by topiaries and pebble paths bordered by flower beds? Or shall I plan a high tea with clotted cream, scones, and jam, cucumber sandwiches all around? If it’s a rainy day, should I pass the time by taking an afternoon lover and lounge on satin cushions? If I’m feeling melancholy, shall I read a book of poems by candlelight and cry luxuriously at the romance? Once I pay bills and file my taxes, get my oil changed and check the mail, grocery shop and gas up the car, shall I start on my new to do list? Yes, I think I shall.
rebekahjmarshall 