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Food For Thought


“Wonder and knowledge are both to be cherished. Shall we appreciate any less the beauty of nature because its harmony is unplanned? And shall the potential of mind stop to inspire our awe and fear because several billion neurons live in our skulls?”

– Stephen Jay Gould

I have often asked myself if knowledge should be cherished a bit more than wonder. Knowledge of nature and how we can keep the planet is very important. But doesn’t wonder entice and leads us to more knowledge?

What do you think?

 

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Question Mark ?


*I often sit watching the clouds change into different shapes. I wrote this poem this morning after a few minutes of meditation.

 

I looked up at the sky this morning

mindful of its enormity

yet so serene

Breathed in and out

so gratefully.

 

Then  a white-grayish cloud framed in lavender

morphed into a question mark

so proudly

it spread across the sky

and asked me,

“When is it that all of you will learn to love each other?”

The cloud stretched

and stretched

until it became an endless line,

Now we need to fill in the blank.

Will we?

 

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Here Lives a Teacher


In honor of all teachers

Melba Christie at Poemattic

“A teacher is an answer in search of a question.” – Anonymous

“Here lives a teacher”

is the message

on a small souvenir

I purchased last year.

I immediately put it on a small stand by my computer;

I guess to remind me

that I am a teacher first,

and to empower

is the goal.

My dedication to teaching

does not matter

to many folks:

to some becoming a teacher these days

is almost a joke.

Everyone will poke

you on the arm

and ask

what were you thinking

when you made such a

terrible decision

to change the lives of every youngster

who has been entrusted to you?

My respond is this:

if you know me well,

you will know,

that teaching makes me younger

it fills me with joy and wonder.

It motivates me to learn more

each day in order

to prepare

to make children think and…

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What Will I Flaunt Today?


What Will I Flaunt Today?

I think I’ll flaunt my old 1929 Royal standard typewriter

I wanted to type this post on my beautiful black upright

but then, I would have to scan the page

and upload it on to my computer

and post it as media or picture to insert.

But then you may not be able to read the post.

Because sometimes the type is a little light.

However, I cannot describe the joy I feel

when I plunk down my fingers

on the keys

that make that unique snapping sound.

 

and the bell rings when the carriage returns

to let me know

There is something to flaunt about .

 

Daily Word Prompt: Flaunt

 

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I HATE FAILURE!


Failure to achieve something in life can be devastating sometimes. I was thinking about failure. There are some things that we cannot help of course. Sometimes failure is inevitable. We have little control over nature; often it seems like it needs to fail us or disappoint us. We may not understand how someone can deceive and fail us when we most need support and compassion. As human beings we fail each other all the time. We fail our children many times. We fail to love each other unconditionally. We fail to forgive. We fail to open our hearts. We fail to think before we speak and hurt someone deeply. We fail to keep the peace.

The following is a poem I wrote about failure. I wrote it soon after my sister passed away from heart failure.

I Hate Failure!

The baby steps we made

toward peace

are now giant footprints

leading to mass destruction.

I Hate Failure!

 

CHILDREN

DIE

FROM

HUNGER,

STILL!

 

WHY?

 

We do not do more to help.

 

I Hate Failure!

 

We do not do enough,

 

to do enough,

 

to snuff out

 

HATE,

   BIGOTRY,

 

and all the BAD stuff there is to snuff.

 

Yet we know it’s up to us.

I Hate Failure!

 

The moon

forgot

to dance the rumba last night.

 

Someone forgot

to make her chuckle

one last time.

 

The stars failed to show up

when she made her last wish.

I          Hate          Failure!

 

She never knew

how precious she was

to all of us.

 

 I Hate Failure!

I Hate Failure!

I Hate Failure!

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In Tune with Nature


Today was another beautiful day. The temperature was perfect for gardening a little more and for just visiting with nature. I took a walk around the neighborhood and noticed the trees were starting to show off their foliage.

The trees with bright red crimson leaves seemed to smile back at me. The trees in my backyard are still very bare. I looked at the grey limbs and tried to visualize them full of leaves.

I read a few poems every day. This month is National Poetry Month so I even keep a poem in my pocket as suggested by the Poetry Foundation. Poem in Your Pocket Day is a part of the National  Poetry Month celebration.

I looked for poems about trees or the beauty of trees. I want to share this excerpt from “When I Am Among Trees” by Mary Oliver in her Collection of Poems titled Thirst. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Gardening and Nature Watching. Also Happy National Poetry Month.

“When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness,

I would almost say they save me, and daily.”

 

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A Poem in Your Pocket Day


I am reblogging some of my posts related to National Poetry Month. Please leave comments and please use the poetry prompts. I will forward to seeing them in the comments section. Happy Writing!

Melba Christie at Poemattic

Poets.org sponsors Poem in You Pocket Day (which was celebrated today) and which offers a wide variety of poems to use for the celebration of the day. Someone surprised me today with a beautiful poem she had written about the latest acts violence and terror  that caused chaos in the city of Boston. She did want me to post it but the truth is that the poem was written with her heart. To those of you who read a poem to someone today I applaud you. Here is a poem I wrote:

A muse lives in the silence of a busy mind

where dreams connect to each other

and daffodils dance

a centipede relaxes and kicks off its shoes

to listen to the hummingbird  who seemed amused

A muse lives in the silence of a busy mind

and eavesdrops in on a conversation with itself

where there is talk…

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Good Day Sunshine


After a full day of snow and the cloudy and damp weather, everyone welcomes the sunshine.

Melba Christie at Poemattic

Emily dickinson Emily dickinson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The sun proceeds unmoved

To measure off another day

For an approving God.”

– Emily Dickinson

Good Day Sunshine

So many have had something to say about you

whether you were on the rise in the morning

or falling into deep slumber in the evening

I like you best at morn

when you so well adorn

the sky and make me want to sigh.

– Melba Christie

 

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Happy National Poetry Month


In celebration of National Poetry Month I am inviting all poetry lovers to participate in  several activities I have planned. This week I will provide a few prompts for writing poems. Please submit your poems in the comments section.

Some prompts may look familiar because they are the first lines of some well known poems.

Some tips:

1. You may want to change a word in the prompt and then write a few stanzas.

2. Write your poem in any form you wish. You may want to try writing a Tanka, a sonnet, a cinquain or a haiku.

3. Poems should not exceed 15 lines.

Prompts:

1. Write a poem about a special day.

2. “For we can still love the world …”

3. “Who said you should be happy?”

4.”You are all you’ve got.”

5. “How do I love thee”