One Word: Restore

It is official! My one word, RESTORE, has opened my heart and soul as a guide on my 2026 spiritual journey. You can read more here about the steps I took to find my one word and invite my Mind and Body to engage in my under-construction plan.. 

The digital graphic below is my opening piece  a faithful walker on the spiritual journey to revive my heart and renew my life.

one

word floats

like snowflakes

dancing to earth

in rhythmic motion

swaying with every

sound of chilling, blowing winds  

seeking winter's blanket of white      

quietude evolves, nature pauses, 

one word, restore, offers a deeper rest 

© CVarsalona, January 2026 

This month, the Poetry Sisters gathered to create the first monthly challenge for 2026. Poetry Friday poets were invited to write a tricube. Below you will find my tricube series of 3 stanzas of three lines each.

2026 One Word

one word flies

with weathered wings

should you choose

time moves on

2026 comes

word appears 

"restore" sparks

energy 

guiding light

© CVarsalona, January 2026

***

Arctic Blast

Arctic Storm

blasts through states

with iced snow

winter roars

whirls and twirls

share its blast

cold winds

tip the scale

no snowmen

© CVarsalona, January 2026

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Visit the Poetry Sisters and enjoy reading their tricube poems. Poetry Pals are invited to join in. 

Mary Lee @ Another Year of Reading, Laura @ Laura Purdie Salas,

Liz @ Liz Garton Scanlon, Sara @ Read Write Believe, 

Tanita @ {fiction, instead of lies}, Tricia @ The Miss Rumphius Effect 

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It's time to join the Poetry Friday Roundup at the Poem Farm with our host, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. She offers us a triolet poem with two outstanding thoughts: 1. One can be one's best self in many different ways. 2. True goodness will not always be celebrated.

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May everyone feeling the chilling winds of the Arctic Blast be restored by thoughts of an early spring.  

De-Christmasing My House

I am in the last stages of "de-Christmasing" my house and I can feel the creativity draining. Maybe it is because I just finished three days of stretching, pumping, and yoga. My muscles are sore. I am tired and it is difficult to look at one mess after another in the different rooms of the house. Below is a sample of what I mean. This messy table is not as cluttered as other spaces but it still is annoying, especially since we are moving into the latter part of January now. 

I ponder what to do. Maybe I should laugh, not cry, as an option. This would help me to not stare at the mess. I need a spark of joy! I know - take a simple be and breath moment. Add a few additional moments by looking through my blog drafts and finding just one that fits my mood. Ah, yes, I have been waiting to write a triolet for months but keep shying away from the different steps in the format.

What is a triolet? It is an eight-line poem (or stanza) with a rhyme scheme of ABaAabAB: The first line is repeated in the fourth and seventh lines and the second line is also the last line (the capital letters indicate repeating lines). I scour the internet looking for a cheat sheet that tells me what to do, line by line. Voila, I found it. 

1.  1. The first line (A)
2. 2. The second line (B)
3. 3. The third line rhymes with the first (a)
4. 4. Repeat the first line (A)
5. 5. The fifth line rhymes with the first (a)
6. 6. The sixth line rhymes with the second line (b)
7. 7. Repeat the first line (A)
8. 8. Repeat the second line (B)

The next step is to look inside my winter decoration box sitting in the dining room for artifacts that would spark a thought. I want to write a poem that is light-hearted and humorous. A few hours later, some thoughts come to mind.  I'm not a funny person by nature but I made an attempt. The joke's on me.

De-Christmasing is my current chore,

not taken lightly by the designer.

Take down, and or, add some more.

De-Christmasing is my current chore.

Sometimes, I think it's quite a bore

because there's no willing partaker.

De-Christmasing is my current chore,

not taken lightly by the creator.

©CVarsalona, 2023

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I look up at the clock and realize it is past midnight and officially Poetry Friday. A new poet friend, children's book author, and fabulous photographer, Marcie Flinchum Atkins offers the roundup on her blog. Click here to see more than a dozen poets who add their posts on the link-up page. Today, Marcie offers another one of her haiku moments and her book, Wait, Rest, Pause - Dormancy in Nature. Enjoy reading poetry!

NOTE

I'm off to Disney World where the family will share the magic and wonder of an enchanted land, the Magic Kingdom followed by a cruise on the new ship, The Wish. We have waited patiently for the little grandgirls to be old enough to enjoy Disney World. I have a post ready for next Friday since it will be the end of the month with a new challenge offered by the Poetry Sisters. I just have to decide the logistics of how to send my post before the cruise begins on Friday. My responses to other blogs will be late but I look forward to all poetic goodness as I will for this week's Poetry Friday. 

I am happy to note that Bridget Magee, poet, editor, publisher, and teacher debuted her newest poetry anthology, Two Truths and a Fib Poetry Anthology, on January 1st. Check out Bridget's Facebook page to follow the Two Truths and a Fib-o-Rama where you can get acquainted with the poets whose poems are included in the book. My dedicated place in the Fib-O-Rama is coming soon. I am grateful to Bridget for her amazing work on this anthology. The book is filled with wonderful poems and a mystery to solve on what are the truths and the fib in each author's bio. Today, Margaret Simon is showcased.