CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH CLASS (a Naani)
Countless countries,
make-ups, cultures, and creeds
learning the language
through laughter and love.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019
pictured words
a simple pairing of pictures and poetry
Tag: Love
March 24, 2019
February 18, 2019
ALL IN THE SAME BOAT (Or, “Idyllic,” a Sonnet for Political Sanity)
Photo by Keith R. Good
When I consider all, from left to right,
I find myself smack dab in center’s eye.
But I am now okay with that, despite
The pressures of a partisan outcry.
Those right of me say I should think as they,
And fault me for the way I lean more left.
While to my left are those who stand dismayed
That I am not (in their minds) more “progressed.”
Yet are we not one vessel, stern to bow?
We need to row as one, or we will sink!
And so let’s work together to learn how
Our center, left, and right can interlink.
Let’s turn off the contemptuous hate speech,
And focus on the positives of each.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019
February 10, 2019
THE VALUE OF FAMILY AND THIRTY FIVE DAYS
One year ago, today,
we unexpectedly secured
a one-bedroom apartment for Dad,
and moved him into it.
It was just down the hall from Mom and Dad’s place,
where Mom had passed in the wee hours prior.
A back-and-forth blur
of family
furniture
clothes
drums
wood carvings and wood-carving tools
kitchen supplies
medications
wheelchairs
walkers
jazz,
and love,
until one space was empty,
and the other, full
of sunlight and life
that dared each other
shine.
Food followed.
A feast, really,
provided by cousins.
All of us squeezed
‘round a long table
with Dad at one end,
and Mom’s brother and her identical twin
at the other,
between which
more conversation and laughter managed to flow
than tears.
Who could have known
a mere thirty five days later,
the one-bedroom’s sunlight would be called to shine
alone.
© Marie Elena Good, 2019
December 9, 2018
WELCOME
Toast in the toaster
Ham in the roaster
Hot tea or coffee
Cinnamon toffee
Soup in the stockpot
Ribs in the crockpot
Cheesy potatoes
Fresh-canned tomatoes
Bread in the oven …
Smellin’ the lovin’?
Foods meant for eating,
Scents for love’s greeting.
© Marie Elena Good, 2018
November 30, 2018
Before the dawn, a
mourning song fell hard and long –
one we loved, now gone.
© Marie Elena Good, 2018
Marguerite Powers
March 16, 1931 – November 30, 2018
November 27, 2018
ROCKS, STREAMS, AND STORYTELLERS
Photo by Keith R. Good
End-of-life
for those with whom we are particularly close,
seems to bring out who we are at our core.
Some of us are rocks.
Unbreakable.
Pillars.
Feeling the need to hold up all around us.
Or,
perhaps,
we just can’t let our surface crack,
lest we fall to pieces.
Some of us are streams.
We go with the flow,
while staying our course.
Occasionally we pick up others in need,
and carry them along.
But sometimes a stream’s flow
is fashioned from tears
that even a dam can’t contain.
Then some of us are storytellers.
We talk.
We laugh.
We reminisce.
We play familiarity like a piano concerto –
every part by heart.
We connect to those who are listening,
and telling stories of their own.
But can it be that we need to get lost in a story,
because the reality at hand
is too painful to fully embrace?
Let the rocks be strong.
But if they crack,
help them pick up the pieces.
Let the streams flow.
And if the tears run,
let them –
even as God collects
and records each one.
Let the storytellers recount,
and their experiences, count.
And if the present moment breaks them,
hold their pain
as a book in your embrace,
and help them tenderly
turn another page.
© Marie Elena Good, 2018
November 23, 2018
Dream the Love, and Love the Dream (A Wrapped Refrain)
Photo by Keith R. Good
When poets sigh, they sigh for love –
In awe of fragrant fruit thereof.
To spill the heart from breast to page
Release it from its living cage –
Free fragrant ache to fill the soul, and reach the sky,
And my-oh-my, breathe in love’s scent, when poets sigh.
And how I dream our words would fill
Our world with peace. With love. Goodwill.
And I believe that words can heal
And so I’ll write, and speak. Appeal
To peacemakers whose soothing words are as a stream
In moonlit gleam. It’s how I pray, and how I dream.
When poets write, they seek within
To find the space where dreams begin
Where love writes sighs, and peace prevails
Where words can heal, and goodwill sails
To span the breadth of all that’s true, and there alight.
We’ll dream the love, and love the dream, when poets write.
© Marie Elena Good, 2018
November 18, 2018
HOLIDAY BLESSINGS ON PARADE
Oh the feasts that we would eat –
Grandma’s stuffing can’t be beat!
Turkey carved and on display,
Guesses on “what does it weigh?”
Yams and hams and pumpkin pies,
And (to figures’ great demise}
Aunt Peg’s “Goop,” and Mom’s cheesecake.
Hopeful leftovers to take!
TV playing football games,
Watched by mostly men named James.
Conversations, hugs, and laughs.
Later-treasured photographs.
© Marie Elena Good, 2018
P.S. Once-upon-a-time, there were so many men/boys named James in our family, it became a running joke. Grandpa, 2 uncles, Dad, and two cousins (one nicknamed Punk)! 😀
November 4, 2018
Lucky, lucky me.
Log cabin nestled in pines.
My name on his lips.
© Marie Elena Good
#hockinghills
#frontierlogcabins
#october2018
October 23, 2018
SOW
Sow
grace where you
may.
Pray
kindness brings good
yield.
Wield
God’s most holy
word.
Gird
softness ‘round your
views.
Fuse
truth to all you
know.
Show
love in all you
sow.
© Marie Elena Good, 2018
FOR POETIC BLOOMINGS AUTUMNAL POEM-A-DAY CHAPBOOK CHALLENGE, 2018, DAY 10: HARVEST
