Kites: Don't Tie Your Happiness

from Looking for Me, by Beth Hoffman


Just grab hold and run with it!

=)

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The Promised Land

Zionbound: Tribute to a Female Pioneer

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

The woman stood, endured, grew strong.

Propelled by faith, she trudged along

the snowy trail, the dusty plain,

the rocky passes, slick with rain.

Another life she left behind

in search of peace she hoped to find,

exchanging treasures of the past

for precious freedoms meant to last.

She bought those freedoms at a price,

a pathway fraught with sacrifice.

Family heirlooms, sold or lost,

portended a more grievous cost.

This unforgiving trek laid claim

to health and strength; in Father's name

she prayed for babies born too small,

enshrouded in a threadbare shawl.

Their graves she marked with memory,

no headstone for the world to see,

no time for mourning dear ones gone,

just pushing, pushing, on and on.

Her dress was washed in blood and tears,

but pressing forward through the fears,

she walked to Zion, made her stand,

and gave birth to the promised land.

HAPPY PIONEER DAY

JULY 24th

Insomnia: Once Upon A Snore

 

Insomnia: Once Upon a Snore
©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

I love you like the ocean's roar.

In fact, I love you even more.

Yes, every stupifying snore.

I love the wind between your lips.

Your exhale doesn't sigh; it rips.

(The breeze it blows could sink warships.)

And yet, your wild wind fills my sail.

Each night you wrap me in a gale,

a storm set off with each inhale.

Your foghorn warns me through the night.

My eyes fly open, wide and bright.

(I wake up safe but look a fright.)

I love your spittle when you spray me,

but do I need a respite? Maybe.

Without you, I sleep like a baby.

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How Do You Like to Go Up?

first line of a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Our Ms. Matlock has created a combo picture and word prompt for this week's Saturday Centus. How clever is that?! 110 words of poetry or prose will complete the assignment. And by the way, don't you love this cool sign from her Etsy shop? I have several in my house and even had her make custom signs for my family Christmas gifts last year. 

But I digress. Below is my response to a prompt that is close to my heart. (I love to go high!)

∞§∞

 How do you like to go up in a swing?

Pump your legs or be pushed?

Take it slow or take wing?

How do you like to consider the sky?

Safe and sound, from the ground?

Perched in trees, eye-to-eye?

There's no right or wrong way to take in the view.

Embrace, grace, or chase life.

It's all up to you!

{just make sure that you do}

∞§∞

A Fading Sky

Supermoon, Julio Cortez, 2013, AP

A Fading Sky

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

They came: the tired, the poor, the yearning masses,

the flood of people reaching for one moon––

sharing a dream that lived and died in snatches,

mercurial as air in a balloon––

inflating, rising, dipping, begging patches,

blown-up and bursting with sweet freedom's tune.

Their voices soared across the purpled mountains;

their footsteps turned and tilled the fertile plains.

They slaked their thirst in rivers, sipped from fountains,

sucked liberty into their seeping veins;

laid down new roots, too numerous to count them,

scattered upon the wind the seeds of change.

Our Lady greeted all, and still she stands,

holds torch aloft against a fading sky,

whispers to suitors born in distant lands

promises kept or broken on a sigh.

Hope is the light that flickers in her hands,

as fragile, strong, and free as you and I.

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Glory, Glory Hallelujah: Let Freedom Ring

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

Our history is  glorious.

Why should we not stand proud?

And yet, today, so many feel

that pride is not allowed.

Can our missteps obscure the truth

that much of what we've done

has nurtured peace and freedom

in the lives of everyone?

If we have made mistakes (we have),

does that erase the good?

How many threats to freedom

have our valiant hearts withstood?

We are Americans, the

keepers of our legacy.

The way we view ourselves predicts

the nation we will be.

Our country runs imperfectly;

we're learning as we grow.

But let us not forget that greatness,

forged so long ago.

Our heritage ennobles us.

Allow it room to breathe!

Set free the roots of who we are;

drink deeply and believe...

In Give me liberty or death,

in Stars and Stripes Forever,

in melting pots and second shots

and dreaming BIG, together.

United, stand. Divided, fall

 in this land of the free...

not one in practice, nor in thought,

but one in liberty.

Embrace the tired, the poor, the masses...

raise that torch up high.

And when our country's colors burst

against the summer sky,

Remember to salute with pride

the things they signify.

The happiest of Independence Days to all you patriots out there!

Let's keep that love of country alive.

=)

It's become almost politically incorrect these days to voice pride in our country. 
I'm going against that tide here, because I don't like where it's leading us. 
Taking pride in our country used to be lauded as patriotism.
Now it's being reframed as "American exceptionalism," 
and we are made to feel guilty about it.
Pride doesn't have to be arrogance.
I'm proud of my children, as well,
but I don't think they're perfect.
(Though they are, indeed,
exceptional . . .) 

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Flawed but Fabulous

I attended a class at church recently that was taught by one of the young women in my husband's flock of 18-to-30-year-olds. Her focus was self-improvement.

She opened her lesson by passing out index cards and asking us to jot down a few thoughts on how to make ourselves better people. As the writing began, I was struck by the powerful emotions playing across the faces of my classmates. Sober, strained, pained, restrained...not one smile or even a neutral expression among them. This exercise was not a pleasant one for these young women, and I feared they were being too hard on themselves. I wanted to stand up and speak my mind, but I wasn't the teacher and it wasn't my place. This IS my place, though, so I've saved the unrequested pep talk all for you... ;)

:::apologizing in advance:::

Okay here is the gist of what I wanted to say. I'm a sucker for challenging projects, and improving my distinctly imperfect self qualifies. Don't get me wrong if I sound like my own worst critic; I'm more fan than flogger, and I rarely beat myself up. But I don't view myself through rose-colored glasses either. Knowing and accepting who I am allows me to look inward more comfortably––and more candidly––unafraid of finding faults among the flowers because I fully expect that outcome. I'm even okay with it! (Time is a great teacher.)

The thing is, we are far more than the sum of our faults. Every human being is flawed but fabulous, and owning that notion supports frank assessment while limiting discouragement. This even-handed paradigm is neither conceited nor contemptuous. It allows us to check in on ourselves honestly, without fear or self-protection.

Meeting and addressing our weaknesses can be seen as a great adventure, but we must turn inward with a friendly eye. Doing otherwise places us in defensive mode. We instinctively throw up barriers, muddying the waters to save ourselves from the evil (critical, castigating) eye we are using. Far better to look kindly upon our psyches, putting a sort of arm around ourselves as we dive bravely into that deep new sea of self-discovery.

Closing points I would have made to the girls:

1. Murky waters are indiscriminate, hiding treasures as well as troubles. 
2. Viewing our depths clearly––in all our glory and lack thereof––is a gift, even if it does rock the boat a little. 
3. We are not and never will be black-and-white; everyone is teeming with colors. 
4. Not one person is perfect, least of all you, me, or whomever we admire most. 

Accepting these realities opens the door to the most helpful self-improvement tool of all: becoming your own best friend, including every sharp angle and broken line. Don't be afraid to let down your defenses and look closely. Blow your own cover. Be gentle enough to trust you with yourself.  Hey, if you can't see it, you can't be it...or un-be it either. We have to face it to erase it. And we can't grow what we don't know.

(rose-colored glasses)

It's okay. You don't need 'em.

(safety glasses, etc.)

Better to use these instead.

;)

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself
just as I am, then I can change." - Carl Rogers

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Blow Smoke

Stanley Kubrick for Look Magazine, 1949

Blow Smoke

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

The tension burns between us;

I contain it with a click,

give it a focal point

just inches from your lips.

And I break free––

foolproof and fireproof.

Flames lick my feet and die.

I'm incombustible.

Blow smoke.

{enshroud the lie}

∞§∞

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Light Me Up

I haven't participated in Jenny's Saturday Centus for a while, so I thought I'd get back on track by responding to her picture prompt this week. I'm a little late because of a baby shower at my house that ended up lasting well into the afternoon (so much fun!), but now I'm ready and rarin' to go. Here's my take on lightning today...

∞§∞

Light Me Up

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

When lightning strikes, it calls to mind

the scintillation that I find

in all those buzz sparks you ignite

the moment you burst into sight.

Your voltage hits me like a brick,

lights me up like a candlestick,

leaves me glowing like the moon,

fries me like the sun in June.

What is this sizzle that you bring?

My head goes POP; my heart goes ZING.

My lips burn red; my blue eyes blaze,

and all the world's a fiery haze.

You're smokin' hot, and that's no lie,

a rocket booster to the sky.

A first-class hazard; that's for sure.

But I ain't lookin' for a cure.

;)

∞§∞

Escape Clause

The Promenade, 1918, Marc Chagall

Escape Clause

©2013 Susan Noyes Anderson

Hold me down when I feel flighty.

Lift me up when I'm earthbound.

When in doubt, just take a chance and

swing this partner round and round.

Try your best to make me happy.

Do your worst to make me sad.

Either way, don't bore me silly.

Make me feel things, good and bad.

Stir the pot or smooth things over.

Be the charmer and the chump.

Careful, though, don't lose your balance,

or you'll find out I can jump.

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