Thinking in Threes

" Life, it seems, is series of eras, periods, and ages that are constantly shifting, rearranging, being integrated, and viewed anew." 

- Karen Edmisten

I am always on the lookout for well-stated thoughts to inspire my day. While reading Karen Edmisten's blog recently, I decided to capture the above quote to add to the Poetry Sisters' writing challenge.

It's the end of June, and the Poetry Sisters invited PoetryPals to join June's challenge. Here's the scoop from Tanita Davis: "We’re greeting the opening act of summer with a triptych." Tanita was introduced to the poetic format by Tabatha Yeatts, who shared West Coast poet and essayist Louise Ireland’s three-act August Triptych. 

Even though I never heard of a triptych poem, I decided to bring together three different summertime moments as poet Linda Pastan did in her Summer Triptych. My triptych poem went through many revisions, so it is still in the draft stage. Wordy narration, was a start. 

“It’s strange how summers from different decades can be yoked together by memory in a single poem.” -Linda Pastan

Summer Love Connections

1.

Love is summer's heated-blush

to a young lady, who arrived late.

A sun-kissed sky, and one crutch

slowly. moved me toward a surprising spark of connections. 

From the thumping of his heartbeats,  

smiles and conversations rose.

Temperatures swelled and 

whisperings swirled as  

 hearts melded together.

2.

Summers passed by; full-bloom gardens 

shared nature's nurturing fragrance.

Hearts deepened as heated sands

and roaring waves ebbed and flowed.

The sounds of children's voices

echoed across ocean waves and

cherished memories lit sunsets. 

Love sparked amidst life's shifting, 

and tides of ups and down.

Anniversaries broadened. 

Summers renewed a bond.

Love connections flourished.

along with blooming gardens 

of florals and herbs 

and refreshing waves.

 3.

Summer years followed; 

love grew like the deer family

marching strategically from the woods.

Geese paraded with fledglings broods.

At times, connections were

lost in unexpected time warps. 

Sunrise either brought warmth

or skytears of gray mornings.

New home renewed life's designs

until love split in half as 

one life slipped heavenward.

draft, CVarsalona, 2026

Hope and faith are strong components in life. Connections are anchors. Love and nature nurture life. Breathe in. Breathe out and notice what is precious in our lives and on our earth of contrasts  

Join Poetry Sister, Tricia Sthor Hunt, at 

The Miss Rumphius Effect for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

You will be delighted to read her triptych and those of her 

Poetry Sisters,Tanita, Mary Lee Hahn, and Liz Garton Scanlon.

My time slipped by so this blog was finished into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Forevermore

Today, I read Diane Anderson, newtreemom's blog and found an interesting prompt from Ethical ELA's Verse Love challenge. Use the "first words" from a poem that inspired you. 

As many of my poetry and writing colleagues know, I have been bewildered by a new way of living since my husband passed suddenly last April. Writing is my way of dealing with loss and so I try to find time each day to unfold my thoughts. This day started out with what a person in the bereavement phase of life calls a grief burst.  You will find my poem starting with the first line of Rumi's poem, The Window,  a raw piece of writing that opened my soul. I found the above image at Unsplash's free image collection. Then, I scrolled through blogs on love and loss and found a quote that reminded me that love is forevermore. "Love is the bridge between two hearts, and death cannot break a bridge built with such strong and lasting love." I share my poem with you. ⇣

LOVE AND LOSS

"Your body is away from me."     (1st line of Rumi's poem, The Window)

 Year two begins anew.

 Everlasting love remains,

 Tucked away in my heart

 Unexpectedly, grief 

 "Gushes in", flooding 

  My soul with sadness, 

  Changing my perspective.

  I pause in the warm sunlight.

 Tears quietly stream down,

 Like a rushing waterfall.

 Another "grief burst" 

 Finds its way, uprooting

 Years-old, seeded thoughts.

 Your heartnotes sprout

 Preserved in our gardens -

 Forevermore cherished 

 With eternal love. 

 draft, CVarsalona, 2026

                   I listened to this love song.

I have always been intrigued by dandelions and their puffballs' ability to fly through the air with one breathe-in, breathe-out blow. This week, when I saw a perfectly ready dandelion to make a wish, I ran right to the ground and picked the "wish weed" (what I have called the dandelion for years). I  photographed it before the seed heads spread across the lawn. 

←Thank you, Poetry Sisters, Tanita, Laura, Mary Lee, Liz, Sara, Tricia, and Kelly, for inviting "PoetryPals" to write an Ekphrastic Poem for the Poetry Sisters' monthly challenge.  

News of the Week: I happily checked my  Spring Seeds Grace April Padlet and found five poet friends, Bob Hamera, Ramona Behnke, Joyce Ray, Denise Krebs, and Verreno Diane Anderson, who added their creative image poems. There is still time to add your original artistic expression related to the theme. 

Click here to join our lovely host, Irene Latham, at her An Emily Dickinson Poetry Friday Roundup. Irene shares news on her new book, Some Starry Night, which "explores what might have happened if Emily Dickinson and Vincent van Gogh met in 1886 Paris. It's a re-imagining, as Emily never actually went to Paris or met Vincent. In actuality, she died May 15, 1886."

National Poetry Month

Day 24/30

Spritual Journey Thursday: Service, Poetry Friday, and an Invitation

Lent is a 40-day solemn season for Christians.  During this time, prayer and fasting are traditions. As a child, I fasted without chocolate (a luxury for me), but over the years, I learned that praying and helping others are key. The beautiful ceremony of Holy Thursday becomes a day of service, serving, and humility.

This month's Spiritual Journey Thursday is hosted by our teacher/poet, Ruth Hersey. She chose the word "service" as our theme, based on the ceremony of Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday's washing of the feet ritual. 

My son, sister, and I attended the Holy Thursday evening ceremony at St. John Neuwmann's Church tonight. Upon arrival, the washing of the feet stations were set up in six areas of the church. I was amazed by the large choir, beautiful voices, and an orchestra. My husband would have been equally surprised when learning that his name appeared on the bulletin and was also mentioned during the solemn Mass. 

A year has passed since his memorial mass on April 2, 2025. I am grateful for  Pastor Father Michael Murray, who sent me a beautiful Mass card stating that my husband would be honored at the 2026 Holy Thursday service. I also thank Father Sleeva, who provided a beautiful memorial service last year for Richard, and will be at the Holy Thursday Mass.

On April 2, 2026, I started to reflect on this beautiful piece of artwork, Washing of the Feet Ceremony. Please read the nonet poem below ( refreshed and refined since 2023).

Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet. by  Rembrandt van Rijn(between 1640-1650) with a reed pen and brown ink. Some areas were deliberately rubbed with a wet finger or wet brush, framing lines in greyish-brown ink ©Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

On Serving

Jesus came to serve, not to be served.

As a great leader, He acted

with gentle, loving kindness

and caring for others.

Through His clear actions,

He modeled how 

to offer

love to

us.

©CVarsalona, 2026

As I continue to work on restoring my soul and reviving my heart, I hope that love will be my special tool. Realizing that there is a season and time for birth and a time to die, planting seeds of love and hope will renew my life in every part. (Ideas and words come from Ecclesiastes 3 and the song, Restore My Heart.)

Thursday was a day of memories, service, and peaceful intentions for my husband. I joined the Creekside Cares committee to create small bouquets for 15 hospice rooms at the Adler House and vases of flowers for 6 neighbors. It is the place of repose that my husband was transported to last year. I remember the tears, shock, and last rites given to Richard as his body lay in the room that overlooked the meditation garden. He was quiet but not alone. My daughter and I were at his bedside with the nurses. I continue to reflect upon that night., I realize that there were many caregivers and spiritual leaders who offered their service to bring peace into the silence of a room. Service is the kindness we give to others, as was shown during the Holy Thursday Mass. The priest who said the mass spoke of the ceremony as the washing of feet love. What we can do for others is not only providing a service but fill it with love, as indicated at the ceremony. 

With sincerity, I pray that the light of Holy Week will wash away some worries, increase love, and bring peace to other families who have deceased relatives that need remembrance.

Spiritual Journey Thursday

hosted by Ruth Hersey

April 3, 2026's Poetry Friday is hosted

by the marvelous, award-winning poet Matt Forrest Esenwine.

Matt is celebrating the book anniversary of his 12th book, a beautiful children's anthology, A Universe of Rainbows, with a star list of fabulous poets. 

INVITATION during National Poetry Month

Day 2-3/30

Join me this April as I look back on my Gallery of Artistic Expressions, Spring Seeds, which was originally unveiled in July of 2016. (Yes, time passes swiftly.) If interested, please write a poem and/or add a photo regarding Spring Seeds Grace April and post it on the new padlet. (https://padlet.com/cvarsalona/spring-seeds-grace-april-iqgitngvyfqwch7b) I will gather the gifts of verse to create a new gallery of artistic expressions. Perhaps, you will find one of your poems or photos residing in the 2016 Gallery (click the link on the 1st line of the invitation).

Let your imagination take you on a journey throughout National Poetry Month.

A Different Type of Birthday

Death is not extinguishing the light.

It is only putting out the light because the dawn has come.

Rabindranath Tagore

For Richard

Time passes quietly. 

Silence fills the room.

This is your day of days.

I pause in the stillness of

Your heavenly presence

Warming morning's chill.

A slice of cake awaits.

This is your day of days.

You may not be here, but 

Your heart is leaning in.

❤

© CVarsalona, March 25, 2026

• Note: Today is a solemn day, a different type of birthday. You are here in spirit. We honored your heavenly birthday on Sunday at the little grandgirls' house. All three children placed the candles on the cake, and Sierra decorated the label with your name, Grandpa. Then, the family sang the birthday song and I took photos. My heart is my gift to you...
• 
  
• 
  
  

My

for March 25, 2026

Love Is Never Lost

 With St. Patrick's Day still on my mind and only a few days to my husband's birthday, I dream of laughter, nighttime, and meeting my love in my "deep heart's core". While there was both joy and sadness this week, the family celebrated with a St. Patrick's Day dinner. We thought about Grandpa, who would have enjoyed watching the grandgirls scurry about during the scavenger hunt. Two previous blogs, Happy St. Patrick's Day and Dressed In Green. 

Love Is Never Lost

Over the laughing land   

Andwhere the sky’s a pale blue cup,

at night, on the edge of sleep,

shadows fall;ing

everythingwa's simmering.  

My love and I did meet;

bid me take life easy.

As the leaves grow on the tree,

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore.

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Searching for the last sight of a hand,

I imagine

silently climbing a cloud-lit sky.

 The Words will flow to St. Patrick's Day,

this emerald gem.

Sweet, there is nothing left to say

But this, that love is never lost.

cento poem created by CVarsalona, 2026

The lines in the poem come from the Poetry Foundation's

St. Patrick's Poetry Collection.

 Lines 1-2       Song by James Joyce 

      Lines 3-4       The Lost Land by Evan Boland

Lines 5-6       Corned Beef and Cabbage by George Bilgere

Lines 7-8       Down By the Salley Gardens by William Butler Yeats

      Lines 9-10      The Lake of Innisfree by William Butler Yeasts

Line 11-12      The Lost Land by Evan Boland

Line 13         Dawn at St. Patrick's Day by Derek Mahon

      Line 14         St. Patrick's Day by Eliza Cook

Line 15         St. Patrick's Day: With a Shamrock 

                by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna 

     Line 16-17      Her Voice by Oscar Wilde

*******************

I am sharing my thoughts with two writing communities I am associated with. 

Poetry Friday

Tanita S. Davis is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today at her blog site here. She offers powerful thoughts on songs of protest with the theme, Comfort in Community. Tanita asks us to "Hold on to who you are, what you know to be right, and how you live - with open hands, helping your neighbor and community, and uplifting sanity and kindness."

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Day 20, March 2026

 12th year with Two Writing Teachers

Connections

The sky opened in a shade of gray yesterday morning. Sunlight was not evident, so I spent time meditating and hoping for peace. As I reached for my laptop, Margaret Simon's Wednesday blog, "Photo Wants to be a Poem," popped up on my screen. 

Margaret's photo from Louisiana showed a cardinal posing in a garden of silent stillness. In addition, Margaret shared her beautiful draft poem titled "Besotted". She also added a piece of Southern lore: cardinals visit humans who have lost a loved one. Other tales say that the cardinals carry messages from a heavenly place to earth, as a spiritual sign of connection with the deceased. Lore or not, I was touched that the red cardinal, a carrier of love, offered comfort, especially during this grieving time of life. --- This was Connection #1.  

cardinal's connection

you pose in stillness

waiting to connect

offering solace, comfort-

in nature's garden

love perfumes the air

draft CVarsalona, 2026, cherita poem

Photo by Margaret Simon 

Connection #2: I am sending my poem with a link to Margaret for "This Photo Wants to be a Poem".  

Nature nurtured me yesterday morning and

continues to do so today in the darkened rain.

Day 12, March 12, 2026

12th year with Two Writing Teachers

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for offering reflective writers a meeting place.