Near

This week, over at “Making Things Up,” Melissa’s cue word for us is “near.” If you need to know the rules and read all the posts, please click on the Six Word Fridays button on my sidebar.

As usual, I am posting a poem with six syllables per line. Here goes:

Near

Away is near when you

call me from the airport

just to say you love me.

Near is away when you

take my heart with you and

I await your return.

© cj Schlottman

Joy

I know it's Sunday, and "Six Words Fridays" was two days ago. Yet here I am, once again late to the party. Each week Melissa gives her participants a prompt around which to use six words, six-lined poems, poems with six words per line, or in my case, a poem with six syllables per line. Whew! To read all the posts and maybe add one of your own, visit Melissa by clicking on the "Six Words Fridays" button on my sidebar. You will find some very good work there!

This week's prompt was one word - joy - and here is my offering. I will publish it here and on "My Poems." Please visit there me if you are so inclined!

Joy comes in sparkling gems

of sunlight, twinkles of

stars in your hazel eyes.

Shimmering refections

from ocean water at

whose feet we linger late

give glow to your visage

radiate to my own.

You flash a smile, fold my

hand into yours as the

sun sinks into the sea.

© cj Schlottman

The End - A Saturday Centus

Love was not enough

to keep him alive.

I could not will him

not to die. The end

was soft and gentle

June eight, two thousand nine.

© cj Schlottman

Too Young

Okay, I know it’s Wednesday, but Jenny really does give us a week to write and publish our posts. Right? I missed all of you last week while I was in Aix-en-Provence with Zona Rosa, my writer’s workshop since 1997. I have to confess that I did not have time to either enter a post or read those that you all wrote. I hope to find time in the near future to read and comment.

If you are here, you probably know the rules for Jenny Matlock’s Saturday Centus, but in case you are new, please click on the Saturday Centus button on my sidebar. Also, please try to read all of the entries and make a small comment. Most posts that are entered late in the week seem to get left behind.

Jenny also has a wonderful personal blog, “...off on my tangent...” Drop by and find out how awesome she is!

This week’s prompt is "The legacy of heroes..." I am taking this prompt in the spirit of Memorial Day, when we honor our fallen heroes who made this country a safe and free place to live.

So, here is my Centus for this week.




Timmy stood on the sidewalk watching the parade slide by. An American flag in his chubby hand, he waved it with vigor, and when he tired, he let the flag fall to his side and affected a salute or placed his right hand over his heart.

“Mommy, why is this parade so important?”

“Well, Timmy, it’s important to remember the legacy of heroes, the people who died in war to keep America free.”

“You mean like Grandpa, who died in Vietnam?”

“Yes, Darling, and like Uncle Jim, who died in Afghanistan.”

“Mommy, will I have to go to to war and die, too?


© cj Schlottman

5 AM

Another Saturday has rolled around, and Mrs. Jenny at "…off on my tangent…" has offered the prompt, "Hush little baby, don't you cry…" for this week's Saturday Centus. If you don't know about this fabulous blog, to learn the rules and all that, please click on the Saturday Centus button on my sidebar.

And, if you have time, please go back to last Saturday's meme and read my granddaughter's first serious poem at "New Poet @ Small stories and Stuff." It wasn't posted until yesterday because of issues with Blogger.

So what shall I do with this week's prompt? Here goes.

Jane’s head wobbled as she peddled her grandmother's cradle with one foot, then the other. Exhausted and sleep deprived, she had resorted to lying Joseph in the cradle and rocking it from her precarious perch on the edge her chair.

Every time she stopped the rhythmic motion of the cradle, Joseph tuned his windpipes and blared out like a trumpet. Her response was to croon “Hush little baby, don’t you cry,” over and over. She leaned back in the chair, fell into a light sleep. When the cradle wound down, there was quiet in the nursery.

Until, from down the hall, “Mama, I’m hungry.”

The baby bellowed.


© cj Schlottman

Untitled

This poem was writen by my grandaughter, Addie Duck. She is 16 years old and this is her first serious attempt at writing poetry. I think it is wonderful, naturally, but she and I would both appreciate any comments you have. She used the Saturday Centus prompt, “I’d like to teach the world to sing.........” And she stuck to the 100 words rule!



Ocean waves crashing
Autumn leaves crunching
Fierce winds blowing
Tall grass swaying
I wish I could teach the world to sing
 
Rain drops splashing
Weeping Willows hunching
Entangling vines sewing
Bright moons waning
I wish I could teach the world to sing
 
Nature’s orchestra without a director
Each contributing different tones
Lyric-less music effortlessly fills the air
Randomly concocted art
I wish I could teach the world to sing
 
In unison, in sync, together
Conducive to the masterpiece
No longer separated
Simultaneously beautiful
I wish someone could teach the world to sing

Diversity

Each week, our Schoolmarm with a Heart, Jenny Matlock, hosts a meme called Saturday Centus. To learn all the rules and get a feel for the entries, please click the Saturday Centus button on my sidebar. You will not be disappointed. Oh, and please visit Jenny's blog, ...off on my tangent...

This week's prompt is I'd like to teach the world to sing.... And here is my contribution - late, as usual.


Jane felt a bit dorky. Her friends were making fun of the new Coke jingle, “I’d like to teach the world to sing...” but she kind of liked it. The thought of the whole world singing together was appealing.

Could it happen? What language would they sing in? There were thousands of languages and dialects to choose from. Wouldn’t it just be an awful cacophony if everyone sang at once?

Thinking some more, she realized that it was impossible for the world to sing as one, that our planet is peopled with diverse cultures and languages, and that was a good thing.

But she still liked the song.