Change & Transformation-Spiritual Journey & Poetry Friday

Today as I Grandmasit for my grandbaby, I ponder the theme, change and transformation, Leigh Anne Eck offered for October's Spiritual Journey writers. In addition, Lee Anne included a personal thought: "I love fall and all the goodness that comes with it. It gives us a time to reflect on the words 'change and transformation' and what this means to our natural world, our personal lives, and our faith."

Autumn is a magical season that transforms landscapes, shortens days, brings cooler weather, and provides reflection time. Migratory patterns begin, and trees change color. "There is something so special in the early leaves drifting from the trees–as if we are all to be allowed a chance to peel, to refresh, to start again."(Ruth Ahmed) This week, rains continued and leaves scattered across the driveway and sidewalk waiting for recognition. I found a single leaf with a tinge of color. It reminded me of Autumn's beauty, even when its leaves wither.  

Falling leaves also remind me of the importance of letting go. If trees can shed their leaves during Autumn, I must be willing to release old habits and beliefs. Embracing change is a process that will bring calmness to my life. A slowdown pace would be beneficial instead of a hustle and bustle life. Shedding the old and making room for new growth 

"Falling leaves are nature's way of showing us how beautiful it is to let things go."

-Unknown

 As for faith, Romans 12:2 tells us not to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. "Then, you will be able to test and approve what God's will is."  Lately, the patterns of this world are mixed up so rethinking my actions would be beneficial as would letting go of stress.

creekside pathway ends 

leaves scatter in fall's light

enchanted autumn

©CVarsalona, 2024

Last year, I walked the Creekside trail. The photo above shares the path that does not continue past the bridge. I was in awe of Autumn's scattered leaves waiting to change. If nature can change then I can also. I shall embrace the opportunity for personal growth this Autumn.  

Tabatha Yeatts is the host of Poetry Friday this week.

She shares a photo from a neighbor who photographed the perched owl

that she also saw. She also offers a poem, Murmuration.

"In every leaf, there's a whisper of autumn's magic."

Labor of Love

Have you ever stared at your laundry loads and knew it would keep coming? I am trying to find the humor in this chore. After my little grandgirl's visits, dirty socks and other clothes lurk in corners. Also, my husband's and son's laundry baskets are always full so I need to find some humor in daily chores.  

Take a peek at my laundry room when it is quiet. Then, read the trinet poem I created to bring humor to this rainy, damp day.

 Staring at Dirty Laundry

dirty laundry

daily quandary

a challenge when cleaning soiled deposits

that's why I have several products 

muddy socks

need soapbox

neverending chore

 @CVarsalona, 2024

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Let's remember that laundry is the real Neverending Story!

Above is a Getty Image of a 1950s woman doing her laundry. 

See more here.

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I hope you enjoy my Slice of Life that I am sending to the Two Writing Teachers world community of writers.

Six Ways of Looking at Autumn

It is officially the start of Autumn and I agree with author Elizabeth Lawrence. "Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn". I love decorating the inside and outside of my house in autumnal hues. Then sitting back to admire nature's blessing the earth in Crayola tones.

This month, the Poetry Sisters invited writers to join their September writing challenge by "wandering through" Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. Using the mentor text, writers were to look deeply at something differently and compose a poem maybe not in 13 ways - maybe in 6  ways with the tab #PoetryPals.  

Autumn pushes me to notice small objects that create a picture for an artist's touch. The leaves are changing; I feel poetry in the air. (Laura Jaworski) What did I see the past two week? Brown leaves make crunching noises, raindrops soak the earth, and birds fly across the sky heading for feeders in yards. I now feel ready to write.

September Leaves photo

Six Ways of Looking at Autumn

Beyond the stretch of grass and trees,

Autumn arrives with crunching leaves

Strutting through woods and crowded weeds.

Over garden beds, bees buzz and whirl.

Sunshine peeks between the clouds. Birds twirl

Poking and picking seeds that unfurl.

Ornamental grass circles gardens,

Adorning beds with purple garlands.

Fall offers beautiful bargains.

Bunnies and deers pause, taste, and munch.

My delicate plants become lunch. 

Autumn sends its breeze and such.

My eyes travel with quiet control,

Watching nature's glamorous stroll. 

Autumn touches each heartfelt soul.

The season of splendor is ablaze

With leafed hues that truly amaze.

Autumn embraces life in many ways.

CVarsalona, 2024, draft

There are lessons I learned while quietly observing Autumn.

• Embrace change
• Let go to heal
• Allow nature's colors, sounds, and elements to bring joy

“There is a subtle magic in the falling of old leaves.” - Avijeet Das

 

The fabulous children's poet and author, Irene Latham, hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup. She has wonderful news about her new anthology also written by Charles Waters. You will also enjoy Irene's latest ArtSpeak poem.

Feeling Septemberish

This year September is an interesting in-between-seasons month filled with sunshine, gray clouds, warm breezes, and swooshing rains. Poet, David Henry Thoreau noted, "Happily we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures." Another 19th Century author, Rowland E. Robinson wrote, "September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours but in their lengthening evening a prophetic breath of autumn." Skip to the 21st Century poet, Raquel Franco who adds her thoughts to welcome the start of Fall: "And then the sun took a step back, the leaves lulled themselves to sleep, and autumn awakened."

Writers appreciate Nature's touch on Earth. Poets bring a sensory aspect to changing seasons along with poetic glee. "There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that it is all about to end as if summer was holding its breath, and when it let it out again, it would be autumn." -Sharyn McCrumb

It's time to celebrate the transitional month of September as Lady Autumn confidently and glamorously sweeps the runway dressed in seasonal colors.

"By all these lovely tokens September days are here. With Summer's best of weather and Autumn's best of cheer." -Helen Hunt Jackson

September Memories

back-to-school days

jump rope in the schoolyard

bees circling and sunshine ablaze

friendly play and nature walks

mark the beginning of September

ending with new seasonal thoughts

cinnamon spice and pumpkin pie

I reminisce and remember

draft, @CVarsalona, 2024

I think you can see that I am enjoying feeling Septemberish.

What are your thoughts on September,

the transitional, in-between-seasons month?

🍂

 

Linda Baie is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup this week at her delightful blog, TeacherDance. Linda is watching the clock as she says her goodbyes "to another beloved season of sunshine and lazy days and vacations" while waiting for Autumn to come along with her crunchy leaves.

Wholeheartedly Feeling a New Season

Another season will soon be here. A variety of leaves will scatter across sidewalks. Nightsky will turn into an inked mass earlier and I will hear my first crunch-crunch sounds underfoot. Autumn will dramatically enter slowly swooshing through a carpet of leaves. With a wholehearted spirit, Lady Autumn will bring the brilliance of Fall.

a season unfolds

offering a new pathway

life is a gift

©Carol Varsalona, 2024

Photo from Pixabay

I look forward to Autumn's debut and the opportunity to offer a new perspective on life. Her rich colors, cooling breezes, and longer nights remind me to pause and breathe in the fragrant essence of fall's scents, such as cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and crackling bonfires. Beauty is not the only side of Fall. Autumn also has a spiritual side to her.

Autumn walks a pathway of reflection and growth. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, "For everything, there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven." I honor nature's graceful embrace as the cycle of renewal soon begins. With wholehearted commitment, I look forward to linger and notice each glorious moment of the upcoming season. 

Please see yesterday's blog post,  Wholehearted Spiritual Journey. Today's blog post offers a follow-up connection.

©Carol Varsalona

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Thank you to Heidi Mordhorst, the amazing educator and poet, for hosting today's Poetry Friday. Please join me as I link up with the Poetry Friday Roundup at Heidi's blog site, my juicy universe.

WholeHearted Spiritual Journey

It's a warm, breezy September day and at this moment, I am enjoying the quiet. I feel nature's slowdown pause, a signal to breathe in and out. My thoughts are inspired by a single word, wholehearted, which is this month's Spiritual Journey topic. Ruth Ayres, writer, author, and researcher is our host and offers various questions for us to ponder before writing. Since I am recuperating from the medical trauma of surgeries and infections, I want to learn more about wholehearted living. 

Ruth asked, What does it mean to live wholeheartedly?  Since I didn't understand what that entails, I did research. Noted author, researcher, and professor, Brene Brown, speaks on the issue of Wholehearted Living and offers 10 signposts. "Wholehearted Living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the Courage, Compassion, and Connection to wake up in the morning and think, no matter what gets done and home is left undone, I am enough." I admit I have oodles of paperwork stacked in my office so I often feel I cannot finish what I set out to do each day. This bothers me and leads to frustration and anxiety.  

One of Brene Brown's signposts attracted me. "Cultivating calm and stillness and letting go of anxiety as a lifestyle". When I calmly stay in the moment of stillness, I feel refreshed but during the next part of the day, other feelings may interrupt and lead to anxiety. Therefore, I need to cultivate calm, pause, and stay in a moment. 

My garden is a restful place but during the summer the season offered heat waves and turbulent rainstorms. I did not spend much time in this tranquil place. I patiently waited months to see my ornamental grass sporting beautiful wheat and purple hues alongside butterfly bushes and two specimen magnolia trees. When the end of August and early September brought different temperatures and soft breezes, I spent more time admiring the outside patio. The sight of my gardens and a song, Wholehearted, energized me to write a Golden Shovel poem. The line from the song that I used is "I need grace. You give it wholehearted."  Grace would help me see life in a better framework.  

"Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly ..." - Colossians 3:23-24

My goal for September is to be enthusiastic and mindful, to open my heart to positivity, and not let worry overwhelm me. I will start now because I just returned from the doctor's office. Instead of telling me I have an allergy or upper respiratory issue like my husband, I heard the word COVID. I was surprised with the outcome but knew I had to wholeheartedly accept the new detour on my spiritual journey. I am thankful that it appears to be a mild form of the new COVID virus. Maybe, now, I will have more quiet time to understand the cycle of life and wholehearted living with my one word, pause. 

My Commitment: 

I choose to fully engage in life during the next season and walk the spiritual pathway with faith knowing that my heart must be open and giving.

"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."  Corinthians 9: 6-8

Thank you, Ruth Ayres, for bringing your one word, wholehearted, to our attention. I look forward to reading what other members of the Spiritual Journey community write from their cheerful hearts. You can link in to read other posts here.

Nostalgic Thoughts

Educators are in back-to-school mode, so providing students with a fresh perspective on the curriculum is important. My back-to-school thoughts are ignited by a conversation with my granddaughters. 

How was the beginning of school, Sierra (2nd grader)? What did you learn? 

             Obviously, I learned, Grandma! 

                   Then, I turned to Aurora our PreK student. What did you learn at school?

                       I don't know!

To step into the back-to-school mood, I blended mathematics with simple poetic formats to bring back the wonders of summer. I chose the Fiib poem format which has a syllable count following the Fibonacci series (1,1,2,3,5,8,13...)

Nostalgic Thoughts

sand

tucked

in toes

remnants of

sand-blown, childhood days

whirling in fabulous, sun-baked

shorelines, swishing alongside

a school of baby fish

©Carol Varsalona, 2024

Then, I found a lovely quote from a Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis poem that provided a title. You can read the rest of her poem here.

Nostalgia - that's the Autumn

Dreaming through September

Just a million lovely things

I always will remember.

There are many other simple formats for students to remember their summer memories. There is a haiku below.

Happily, we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures.

-Henry David Thoreau

For more poetic formats for students, please peruse the new book, Picture Perfect Poetry, An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students designed by Carol Labuzzetta. You can see my book review here. 

Carol Labuzzetta, editor self-publisher, poet

I turn to the Poetry Friday Roundup hosted by a fabulous author, poet, and nature lover, Buffy Silverman.

Slowdown Summer Overflows with Poetry

What started this afternoon continues throughout the night. Crackling noises, flashing lights, and sudden darkness break through the sky. I sit here remembering the flash announcements and the fear of traveling home amidst a terrifying twist of nature. Passing by a five-car accident, fire trucks, and police cars brought the reality of the situation. What I thought would be slowdown moments of summer's ending became Earth in motion. The severe thunderstorm moved from one section of the highway to another. Six hours later, rain continues to make its mark on life. With a deep care for life, I sit and read William Wordsworth's thoughts and ponder the magnitude of what poetry is.

"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." 

This summer during slowdown moments, the annual Summer Poetry Swap found its way into fellow Poetry Friday friends' hearts. Under the superb direction of Tabatha Yeatts, writing to my poetry swap friend, Denise Krebs, became a reality. Denise became a Grandma for the second time as I began my swap writing to her. I was overjoyed by the blessing of her little pink blossom, the growth of her grandson, and the surprise mailing she sent me. The crocheted pieces for my kitchen made me smile but the clever poem from Health itself was a joy. The gift held a special message "to ponder the bounty of living in full abundance". 

Then, after receiving Denise's poetry swap gift, I found mail from Tabatha Yeatts awaiting my read. She focused on my thoughts about 48 years of my married life and created a Golden Shovel poem using the strike line from Kahlil Gibran, one of my husband's and my favorite poets.

I look back on the torrential rainstorm that just calmed down and compare it to the artistic card that Tabatha sent me. Stilled tranquility appeals to me more than an intrepid storm. The power of poetry brings sensory thoughts flowing from the corners of my mind. 

🌅 

 For the August Challenge the Poetry Sisters, Tanita, Lauras, Mary Lee, Liz, Sara, and Kelly, invited writers to create an ekphrastic poem. I decided to use the artwork sent to me. #PoetryPals

Photo from @TwinDesigns

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Today's Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Susan Thomsen at

Chicken Spaghetti. She shares a funny poem that will make you smile so stop by.

🌅 

May a sense of peace and quiet fill your weekend as August hands the baton to September.

"Picture Perfect Poetry"

It's Back-to-School time. As a reading specialist and administrator, I like many other educators found the time to make classrooms and offices inviting. New and old book titles decorated my space.  In my unretirement days, I continue this practice. My library has many titles waiting for my little grandgirls who can always find a new book to read. As a consultant, I search for new children's books to read and review. My 7-year-old grandgirl assists me when I need a child reader involved in a review. As a reader for several years, she can tell me when a book is inviting.

I am pleased to introduce Picture Perfect Poetry, An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. My Poetry Friday friend, educator, and poet, Carol J. Labuzzetta, edited and published a gem of a poetry book for middle-grade students. Besides 5th-9th grade students, teachers, librarians, parents, and community members including homeschoolers will be delighted to read the never-published ekphrastic poetry in this book. Twenty-five author-photographers were inspired to capture a photo and write an accompanying poem for the book. An ekphrastic poem is a type of writing that involves creating original poetry or prose in response to a work of art, often a visual art. As an Indie publisher, Carol J. Labuzzetta spent considerable time producing this book so teachers and students could explore this type of poetry. Picture Perfect Poetry will become an excellent mentor text for the classroom library. 

An appealing part of the book is the addition of color. Each page pops with color. The photographs are beautifully presented, the layout is impressive, and the font format is universal. 

Ekphrastic Poem by Carol Labuzzetta

The book includes instructional resources found in the back matter. Different styles of poems are noted as well. Carol asked me if I would send a photograph without a poem to include in the book. It would become a prompt for writing. More extra photographs (without poems) are included for young writers to compose an Ekphrastic poem. 

Instructional resources are included in the back matter of the book, along with website references for each style of poem included in the anthology. In an interview with Jone MacCulloch Carol Labbuzzetta stated.

I wanted to provide a volume of Poetry that could be used as a mentor text, an instructional manual, or a self-instructive text for highly motivated students. Thus, I included back matter that could be reference easily by teachers, students, homeschool groups or anyone interested in writing poetry. 

Thank you, Carol, for your creativity, preparation, and perseverance in creating a unique poetry anthology centering on nature for young writers. I am honored that you chose three of my Ekphrastic poems for insertion in the book. Next week. I will share more on this gem of this book that blends poetry with photography. 

While this book was published during National Poetry Month due to medical issues, I was delayed in sharing a book review. Virginia's back-to-school opening is an opportunity to showcase Picture Perfect Poetry for classrooms and school libraries. Thank you, Carol Labuzzetta for bringing this amazing book into the world of Kidlit poetry.

It's Poetry Friday hosted by Rose Cappelli. She and her writing group studied line breaks and the revision process using a "Make it and Break it" exercise. She offers an inspiring beach scene photo to ignite her thoughts. 

Sunkissed Summer Days

It is almost the end of August. I have seen many sunkissed summer days alive with trees showcasing their colors, bees buzzing while circling gardens, and floral scents perfuming the air. On other days, nature painted the sky with dark gray swirls. In my mind, each summer day fluttered like a butterfly. I watched the flow of nature as I tried to recuperate. I stared at the glowing moon in an inked sky and the morning sun peeking through the clouds. Another season will soon be here. Leaf prints will scatter across sidewalks. Have you discovered the warmth and beauty of a sunkissed summer day?

There is still time to watch sunkissed summer days fill the air with various scents and settings. Will the ending days of summer gracefully transition to the next season?

Emily Dickinson reminds me

"How softly summer shuts, without the creaking of a door." 

Will Summer find herself resting among the leaves to create a carpet for the Earth?

It's Slice of Life Tuesday and I am happy to join Two Writing Teachers (late at usual).