Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Valentine Vignettes

Valentine's Day is a special time of year to spread love because:
"Love is our true destiny. 
We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone -
we find it with another."
-Thomas Merton
💕

As a tribute to the spirit of love, each Valentine's Day, my house is decorated with turn of the 20th century Valentine postcards and heart mementos created by my mother. Breakfast is a ritual so this year I walked into the kitchen with a purpose, to prepare a Valentine's Day family breakfast with love. I immediately headed straight to the refrigerator without looking around the kitchen. Then, I heard my husband say,

 "Are you unobservant?" 
"What? Oh, my! 
Laughter commenced.
I was not paying attention to my surroundings. 
Determined to create breakfast,
I walked right past a lovely sight. 


While my husband does not write poetry, he certainly knows how to pick out just the right card with a beautiful poetic sentiment. A gorgeous bouquet of roses set in a crystal vase accompanied the card. The spirit of love was filling the room and I felt it.  

💕 
A valentine surprise-
endearing love greeting,
romanticizing gift,
designed to make hearts lift.
At a special meeting,
two spirits share sweet sighs.
©CV, 2020
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The above poem is a Scupham Stanza made of a sextet, 6-lines, with a rhyme scheme pattern of a-b-c-c-b-a. Each line contains the same number of syllables. Poet and children's author, David L. Harrison whose new book, After Dark Poems About Nocturnal Animals, is working on a Scupham poem with three stanzas. 

💕


There was much love being spread on Twitter this Valentine's Day, so I decided to create a Buncee with one of their new templates. This one is for all of my Twitter friends. Let's continue to spread the love together. 


💕

I do not find the meaning of life by myself alone. I find it with family.



💕
Now it's time to spread the love of writing at Two Writing Teachers
for Slice of Life Tuesday and the 13th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge
starting on March 1st.

7 comments:

  1. Dear Carol,
    I really like your Scupham Stanza poem! I'm a romantic, too, and love the idea of being in love. Good for you and for your husband. Roses and a vase and a card...sounds like romance in the air for sure.
    And thank you again for your marvelous support in hosting a spot on the blog tour for AFTER DARK. I love it all!

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    1. David, I am honored that you commented on my poem. I am new to this format and appreciate any thoughts. Since I love Valentine's Day and Hallmark movies, the topic of love was certainly something I can relate to and my husband offered me just the right items to prompt my thoughts.

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  2. When we are focused on doing one thing it is easy to miss what is right in front of us. I like the format of your poem. It is not one I was familiar with.

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    1. Thanks for adding your comments about my poem. It is a new format for me, too. I like new challenges and always welcome feedback.

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  3. Aww, Carol! You are so “tweet” — and sweet! I love this! I wish you a fun and loving February that spreads over the whole year!
    Jennifer Sniadecki

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    1. Jennifer, thank you for joining me here. I'm off to explore "love" with my granddaughters in Virginia this weekend. It is wonderful to see life through the eyes of little ones.

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  4. Carol, I've had trouble getting my comment to post - I just want to say that this piece is such a beautiful celebration of love. That Scupham stanza - a sharing of spirits, indeed. I am glad to learn of that form. What a lovely, lovely surprise from your husband, and what a great treasure is that final photo! I always come away uplifted by what you create.

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