National Poetry Month – Days 28 & 29

We’re almost to the end folks!

Day 28

Cinquain pattern 3 – you can read about it here It’s a fun short little poem that I’ve come to enjoy over the years.

Practice

by Julia Wagner

Practice
Continued, Arduous
Halting, correcting, developing
Beauty accomplished
Music

Day 29

Bio Poem – there are lots of different formats & styles of Bio & About me poems – frankly I dislike them ALL – I just don’t really care to write about myself – writing in my journal is one thing, but poetry? Poetry about myself just makes me cringe. No reasonable explanation why. However, I believe in accepting every challenge put before me when I commit to doing something (unless it goes against my standards and what I believe in of course), so I did what I often do when I am in uncomfortable situations, asked to do hard things, or just plain doing something I don’t care to do – I crack jokes, try to find a way to make it fun, or laugh my way through.
So here is my SILLY bio poem (you can read about the details for this particular Bio Poem form HERE)

Moi

by Julia Wagner

Julia
Goofy, spoofy, and poofy
Enjoys dancin’ and shakin’ her booty
Able to make a smoothie that’s frutie
Feels like she’s having a hootie
Wonders how she bagged such a cutie
Fears she may fail her duty
Cares that her family’s not snooty
Dreams of mountains, and meadows, and beauty.

*PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone.

National Poetry Month Day 27!!

And on the 27th no less!! I know –

SHOCKING!!!

Okay, today is Terse Verse – basically 2 line riddles with rhyming answers – so addictive and fun to write!! I made up a ton some worked and were pretty funny (they will be posted) others were quite lame (they didn’t even make it into my notebook, lol) For the reules of Terse Verse go HERE.

*A note before we begin: Please, even though these are “jokes” or “riddles”, they are still my creation – if you wish to share them, please keep my name attached. Thanks in advance!!

PSA: I am a mom to 3 boys, keep that in mind as you read these poems (ahem)

Terse Verse Poems

by Julia Wagner

What do you call a hyper primate?
Spunky Monkey

What is a large serving of beans?
Farter Starter

What do you call a dirty diaper (especially in Britain)?
Crappy Nappy

What is another name for your nostril?
Snot Slot

And One Terse Verse poem

by Paul Wagner (the amazing husband)
What do you call a matchmaker?
Twitterpater Instigator

*PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone.

National Poetry Month days 23, 24, 25, 26 & yes! 21

Whew! I’ve been busy today! several of the more recent poem forms have been a bit more serious for me – but there’s some that should make you giggle too! Let’s get to it:

Day #21

One of the last poems I wrote today (out of avoidance, heh). A free verse (learn more about it HERE) – which sounds easy to most, but for me they are often harder with now hugely specific rules to follow, the wide open world at your feet (eek!) and add to that Easter as a possible topic with all the emotional ties it has to our family. I was so tempted to dodge or just post an old one, but I made a promise to myself that this year I would actually write 30 new poems in April. I pushed on and came up with something. It is nothing s great or grand, but it comes from my soul.

Three Words

by Julia Wagner

Three words simple, plain,
Yet in them lies all the
Hope of mankind.

Three words sweetly tender,
Showing the unconditional
Love of God and our Savior.

Three words of
triumphant glory,
a promise divine.

Three words,
Powerful,
Jubilant,
Heart soaring,
Tear coursing,
Carrying the yearning desire
Of every person ever touched by sorrow.

Joyous refrain
Shout it again
And again
He is Risen!
He is Risen!
He is Risen!

Day 23

The Tetractys Poem – a fun form – full of counted syllables. I did a double. You can learn more about the form & it’s rules HERE.

Cloudburst

by Julia Wagner

drip
drizzle
umbrellas
open beneath
stormy torrents. Scurry, quick, to cover.

Thunder shakes, lightning flicks, wind whips. Clouds roll
past. Sun peaks. Close
umbrellas
drizzle
drip

Day 24

The Diatelle poem – another completely new one to me – and quite the challenge. But I had a bit of fun with it! It’s full of syllable counting and rhyming patterns, so you can read the details HERE.

Comeuppance

by Julia Wagner

Pete
Did spy
Apple pie
Upon the sill
Away from watchful eye.
With careful step and silent thrill,
He pinched sweet temptation with expert skill.
Hastening on tip-toe, he escaped with his treat.
A bleat made him jump, the pie took a spill.
Demise of his prize made him ill
And with agonized cry
Watched the goat fill
Tummy high
With pie.
Beat.

Day 25

Credo Poem – a form taken from a scene in a movie – you can read all about it HERE. Just like the name of the form suggests, it’s about what we believe.

Beauty from Ashes

by Julia Wagner

I believe in the tender mercies of the Lord,
the hope of His promises fulfilled,
the balm He sends to heal our tattered souls,
the peace He gives when all feels lost,
the miracles that ease life’s daily pains,
solace, comfort, love

But I don’t believe we will receive them unless we open our hearts and souls to Him

I believe in healing
I believe in forgiveness
I believe in the Love of our Savior
Forever, always, eternal
And I believe in smiles through tears, hope through heartache and that our trials can be made beautiful and we can find joy again and again.

Day 26

Finally! All caught up! Today’s form is a cute, fun little thing called a synonym poem (or antonym, but I did mine as synonyms) Stephanie outlines the details HERE. By the time I got to these, I had gotten serious and emotional and was ready to have a bit of silly fun, so I had popped out three quick little ditties:

Laughter

by Julia Wagner

LAUGHTER
Mirth, chuckle, giggle, glee
My dad is tickling me!

Burnt

by Julia Wagner

BURNT
Singed, charred, scorched, seared
When you’re cooking, watch that beard!!

Sneeze

by Julia Wagner

SNEEZE
Gasp, wheeze, gesundheit, ACHOOOO!!!
I’m sorry, did it get on you?

*PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone.

National Month of Poetry Days 13-17

Wow! What a weekend! Things have been just hopping around here! So, I don’t think I mentioned earlier that my daughter, Dot, has chosen to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has been called to serve in the Mexico Mexico City South Mission – we are so excited for her and preparations have been fun, busy and a little crazy wild at times! (Like an unexpected jaunt up to Detroit… 4+ hours away)

This Saturday she went to the temple and it was absolutely wonderful in every way. Consequently, that filled our day and we had grandparents visiting from Utah which filled subsequent days and I got behind on my poems. So here are the past several days worth of poems (with links to the how to!)

A lot of these are just silly kids’ poems, but they tend to be my favorite kind!

Day 13

we did Triplets– you can read about them HERE This poem was inspired by my daughter, Dot (her middle name is not Rose), who really did get a rock stuck up her nose – but she stuck it there herself (and not with her toes). She was probably about 4 or 5 and we were in the Wendy’s drive through when she started hollering about a rock in her nose. I hopped out and opened the side door, pushed on the empty nostril and told her to blow & out it popped! lol

Woes of the Nose

by Julia Wagner

Jimmy, how do you suppose
Sweet little Dorothy Rose
Got a rock stuck in her nose?

It wasn’t me! I oppose!
I was washing my elbows.
I bet she picked it with her toes.

Day 14

we did Couplets– you can read about them HERE. I did two….

Turtle Troubles

by Julia Wagner

I wonder how my turtle
wound up in Grandma’s girdle?

After the Rain

by Julia Wagner

After Spring’s clouds and showers
Earth dons her robe of flowers.

Day 15

we learned about the Tyburn. You can read about it HERE. This was totally new to me and a really fun challenge!

Speedster

by Julia Wagner

Funky
Spunky
Junky
Clunky
Classy cruiser, funky spunky sped,
Now it sputters, junky, clunky, dead.

Day 16

we did a Windspark poem – a kind of fill in the blank poem. You can read about it HERE. I did this one right after writing the previous poems, so I still had rhyming in my brain, so this silly little ditty popped out:

A Frog’s Life

by Julia Wagner

I dreamed
I was a frog
Nestled in a bog
Hopping from log to log
Gleefully

Day 17

Today!!! We did Haiku– specifically a poiku, which you can read about HERE. I just did traditional haiku because my poetry brain was starting to die

April

by Julia Wagner

Month of weeping clouds
bleeding hearts, forget-me-nots
hope grows with flowers

*PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone.

30 days of Poetry Day 11

Today’s poetry form was a quintain – a five line poem – of which there are several forms and variations. You can read about it at Stephanie’s amazing blog.

I decided to try several:

first a Gogyohka inspired by a joke I told my husband and his parents last night – oh how we laughed! I found it fit the poem for perfectly!

A Lesson to Husbands

by Julia Wagner

A good husband
is like a bra
supportive
uplifting
and adjustable when needed

Next I tried my hand at a Yadu – a five-line Burmese climbing poem

Dance of Spring

by Julia Wagner

Lightning streak snaps,
thunder claps, then
rain taps my nose,
soaks my clothes. I
decide to dance – why stay dry?

And finally I did a quintilla – well, I did two and two together is apparently a Copla Real

Childhood Adventures

by Julia Wagner

Sail with me in my cardboard boat-
We’ll plunder seas beneath the trees,
fight the sinister billy goat,
and capture gold from bumble bees.
We’ll storm the castle cross the moat

To demand cookies from the queen
with “pretty-please” and “thank you, M’am”
(we don’t want her to think us mean).
We’ll escape o’er the beaver dam
then sail back home across the green.

*PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone.

A Poem or Two

So, April is National Poetry month and I have an awesome friend who runs a blog and challenges us all to write a poem every day – often I skip several days and then write 3-6 all at once, lol. Anyway, I rarely write poetry anymore – two times a year really, April & August/September when a different friend does a postcard poetry month.

Even though I prefer writing and working on my books, I enjoy writing poems and I feel like the process of writing poetry helps me to be a better writer. Anyway, in an effort to share more – and post more frequently on my blog, I am going to post the poems I write through out the months – who knows, maybe I’ll feel inspired to write a poem at other times of the year!

If you would like to join in this April writing a poem everyday, check out my friends blog it’s never too late to start!! – you can start at day 1 or hop in right here with day 10

I’m not going to post all the ones I’ve done so far this month, I’ll post today’s and a favorite from some time past.

So today’s poem form was a “What if…I might” form and the link right up there will tell you all about it & what you need to do!

Here’s mine:

What a Trip!

by Julia Wagner

What if my children picked up their toys?
I might walk with ease and poise.

What if the sidewalks weren’t cracked?
I could keep my knees intact.

What if I didn’t trip over air?
I wouldn’t need this wheelchair.

Don’t you wish you were graceful like me?
(Hey! Watch out for that tree!)

And an old favorite:

Fall Delights

by Julia Wagner

I picked a bright red apple
fresh from off the tree
and rubbed it on my sleeve
till it was clean and shiny.

With a crunch I sunk my teeth
through its crispy skin
and dashed away the juice
that dribbled down my chin.

My nose scrunched,
my lips quivered,
something on my
tongue shivered.

It wasn’t apple
skin or juice.
I think my face
turned chartreuse-

For dangling from my apple
was a little worm
mourning for its other half
which made my tummy squirm.

*PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone.

The Effect of a Typical Day

Today’s post is brought to you by my

Husby

and his

SMILEY FACE MUG!

He had a little fun taking photos of it and using those photo warping apps on it….

A fresh new day!

Full of possibilities, enthusiasm, the world is yours!

No dish will be left unwashed, no corner uncleaned, no job undone!

And then the effects of the typical day,

whether at work

or at home chasing children

(which is a ton of work, by the way)

take their toll,

the day wears you down,

and your left feeling just a little….

Luckily, you know that after a good nights sleep,

and quite possibly a hefty dose of chocolate therapy,

you can feel like this again in the morning…

READY TO CONQUER THE WORLD!!

(or at least the two-year-old)

Just a Bit of Silliness

I love writing games. 

Of course, I love writing.

My favorite writing game is the one where you write a little bit and fold the paper covering everything but a one or two word lead in. The results can be absolutely hilarious.

Friday night Paul and I were on one of our famously fun dates.

Only, it wasn’t as famously fun as usual because we forgot to bring a card game with us.

We almost ALWAYS play a card game or something on dates – especially when we’re eating out –

but we’ve been known to play just about anywhere…

waiting for a movie to start…

waiting in a really long line for something…

waiting for contractions to kick in and get that baby outta there…

Just about anything that takes any amount of waiting requires a card game

which results in LOTS of LAUGHS

and strange looks from many people – which make us laugh even harder.

Only, Friday night we forgot the game.

BUT

I had a pad of paper and I found out that my Husby likes to make up stories – write stories

We’ve been married 14 years and I did not know this!

Shame on me.

(Apparantly he said he doesn’t mention it because he has no time to give it a whirl, so I’m not COMPLETELY lame – just partially lame)

Anyway, that got me thinking about my FAVORITE writing game…

and I remembered I had a pad of paper in my purse.

Well, of course I pulled out that pad of paper and we got to writing….

The resulting story had us laughing so hard we were in tears and I decided it HAD to be shared…

It’s very short (hey, the notebook has to be small enough to fit in my purse for crying out loud)

My part is in PINK with the lead in words in GREEN

Paul’s Part is in BLUE with the lead in words in GREEN

Remember, we don’t see anything that the other person has written except for the lead in words.

Alice stood on the porch railing trying to balance herself.  She grabbed the toothpick and broke it in two. Now he had nothing to poke into her nose to get the rock out. She pressed one nostril and blew. The stone flew across the grass and hit John square in the forehead. He laughed at the attempt to keep him restrained. Nothing could stop him now. His goal was in sight and she gasped in dismay. The love of her life disgraced forever. What could she do? He ran his fingers through her hair and realized it was too late to stop her. The deed was done. Forever would they live lives of love lost.

We decided that we had so much fun with that one we had to do another one. It turned out completely warped and rather funny too…

The sun was setting as Randy strode into the yard. He could not believe the luck he had. His bag burst open and twenty frogs escaped. Desperately he tied his donkey to the hitching post and headed for the house. His mind raced as he tried to think of the place where he had stabbed her big toe. The scar blazed white against her skin, marking her as an undesirable. She had now way to hide her deformity. She must never know the truth. Her life and that of their son depended on his ability to walk on lava. He would never succeed in breaking the curse and bringing equality to the land. He shook his head and took her back inside. As they entered the house he thought he heard a distant rifle shot. It might already be too late. Now she had no choice.

Personally, I just like the idea of John being restrained by a nostril flung pebble….

that’s just pure

AWESOMENESS

right there!

The Unexpected Smile

I love that moment when you’re walking along and smile at some unsuspecting person.

You don’t know them.

You just smile because it’s nice.

You try to be happy and hope to make others happy.

And then that surprised smile of being smiled at springs onto their faces.

If it were a cartoon it would

BOING

at the edges.

And your innerds grow warm and you know that if Superman were around he’d be able to see them glowing inside.

There’s just something special about a smile. 

My husband promised to always make me laugh – and smile – he promised that too.

And he does – everyday.

The amazing thing about my husband is that he doesn’t just make me laugh

he strives to make everybody laugh

or at the very least

SMILE!

There is nothing like watching that expected smile BOING onto someone’s face.

Wherever we are he’ll manage to meet the gaze of someone who looks a bit down and his face will explode into an amazing smile and he’ll say, “Hi!” or “Hello!” And they look somewhat startled at the sound of his cheery voice but there is nothing as contagious as a smile and before long they are grinning and saying, “Why, hell0!” or “Oh! Hi!”

He calls every person we meet with a name tag by name – the gal ringing up the grocers, the guy waiting tables.

It’s amazing, the smile that springs on their faces when he calls them by name and grins at them.

He teases – hands them the debit card and then flicks it away a few times before surrendering it and they laugh or smile and he says,

“Made ya laugh” or “made ya smile”.

I laugh and shake my head and love him even more. I think about how long of a day some of those workers have had and some of the rude people they have had to put up with and I love that my husby goes out of his way to put a smile on their faces and give them a bright (and usually silly) spot in the day.

Old, young, adult, child, or teen – Paul can manage to coax a smile out of anybody.

In fact, I overheard someone once say about my husby, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him NOT smiling” which really made me SMILE!

And I thought of one of my favorite quotes:

“Happiness is like jam. You can’t spread even a little without getting some one yourself.” 

And since I ALWAYS get sticky fingers when it comes to jam, I can relate really well to this (of course it usually because one of my charming children used it and got jam all over the OUTSIDE of the jar – ha ha).

So, the next time it’s been a long wait in the grocery store line,

the person ahead of you had coupon after coupon, half of them didn’t work right, and they had to argue with the person working the register over every single one.

Okay, I’m exagerating, but you’ve all been there – or someplace similar –

and you finally get there and the clerk gives a tightlip smile as they apologize, waiting for you to lash out on incompetance and how long the line was.

Give a smile a try.

You can see them cringing inside (after all, they saw you rolling your eyes at how LONG everything was taking), waiting for the final straw to make today their worst day EVER

and then you

Grin

and

Chuckle

and say,

“Hey, no problem, my mom taught me patience.”

or

“My special super hero power is patience in long lines.”

And the tight-lipped panicked smile relaxes into a full fledged smile that BOINGS on the edges and there go your innerds again, glowing  and blinding superman.

In fact, you feel a little like Superman’s side kick.

Making the world better.

One Smile at a Time!

A Bushel of Trouble – 100WCGU #58

This week’s prompt is “…as the apple fell…”

Feel free to click the 100WC icon to read other stories or participate.

 

Alice leaned against the side of the weathered stone bridge and peered into the creek. John loved to goad her into a temper. With a sigh, she turned, pulled an apple from her pocket and polished it on her sleeve. Gentle voices from the base of the bridge caught her attention. She looked over the side and spied John and Felicia, their fingers entwined.  Her hands slackened in shock. Time slowed as the apple fell and knocked  John on the head. Alice gasped, and dropped to the ground, pressing her back against the rough stones, but not before she met John’s startled, impish eyes.