Dreams

I wake pondering where time went. My laptop is on my lap just where I left it last night. I don't remember not finishing my Poetry Friday post. Night must have shifted into morning like the speed of lightning. I rise surprised. What happened? 

All I remember is being exhausted by the events of yesterday. A visit to the eye specialist left me numb. Shocked by the news of a possible retina tear on top of the husband's condition. The word, CANCER, dug deeper into my thoughts. My reaction was to find a way to handle both issues, my eye and his disease. Thoughts rattled in my mind. 

Breathe in-Breathe out-Meditate! These are ways to reduce the stress that blackens the room. I found a quote from someone who understood the challenges of life. 

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two breaths, or turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.

- Etty Hillesum, Dutch Jewish author who was murdered in  Auschwitz during WW II

DREAMS

jagged edges

of night dreams

haunt me

back and forth

they sway

slipping away

into reality

f e a r

may find its nooks

But h o p e

becomes IMPLANTED in my HEART!

©CVarsalona, February, 2025

The above poem was originally written during Laura Shovan's Annual February Poetry Project and refined this morning. I was to write about a dream, positive, negative, or just strange - about a moment in this year's political history?

My first thought was world tensions mount. Illness adds to sleepless nights.

Did you know that politics are keeping American up at night? Nearly 60% of adults struggle to fall asleep due to political worries. - 50AASM

After reading about Etty Hillesum caught in the midst of the Holocaust, I want to learn more about her writings.

 

A new day begins. I will remember to breathe and meditate on my spiritual journey to wholeness (My Spiritual Journey post on Wholeness is here. Thank you, slicer/poet, Denise Krebs for adding my blog post for the group to read.)

Thank you Margaret Simon, host of Poetry Friday,

for the support you have provided the past two months.

I am very late for the Poetry Friday Roundup but

I am off the mark lately. I will make the rounds this weekend.

For now, I am headed to an retina specialist.

The above Poetry Firday umage was created by Margaret Simon.

Day 8 of the March SOLSC #SOL25

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for the space to write 

with a worldwide group of educators.

Spiritual Journey to Wholeness/#SOL25

On this day of howling winds, I am pondering the Spiritual Journey Thursday theme of wholeness suggested by our host, Denise Krebs at Dare To Care. I am preoccupied as a caregiver for my husband who is battling a rare form of cancer in the pancreas and liver. I feel unsure of what the days ahead will be like so wholeness is something I would like to strive for.

What is Wholeness?

It is not the charred pieces of prolonged challenges that breaks my hearts. It is not the damaged bits of aloneness or the stirring unsettled pressures of worry and discontent. Wholeness is like a puzzle coming together with patience (another something I need to acquire).

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, wholeness is the quality of being or feeling complete and not divided or damaged. In a spiritual sense, wholeness is the Unseen Hand gathering the broken or damaged pieces of my journey and binding them together. Support is needed to continue my journey of faith and hope and bringing healing moments to the assorted chipped pieces. 

I found this beautiful quote by Maya Angelou and penned a draft poem that moves me from sadness to a renewed outlook. ⬇

Nothing can dim the light that shines from within. - Maya Angelou

Nessessity

healing the dark sadness of nothing

requires a light within that can

not be dim

it must fill the

everyday moments with bright light

slowly opening that

portal which shines

and restores the soul from

unwanted stress to newness within

draft ©CVarsalona, 2025

Golden Shovel from Maya Angelo

A New Day Awakens

on a winter day an azure blue sky looks down on life

whispy cloud-cushions prepare for flight

as angels circulate sprinkling earth with warmth to awaken life

nature floods earth

with the spirit of wholeness

the journey continues 

draft ©CVarsalona, 2025

Photo from Margaret Simon for This Photo Wants to be a Poem

Day 6 of the March SOLSC #SOL25

11 years of Writing Slices of Life

Poetry Sisters' February Challenge

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” —Vivian Greene

-From a snow day to a freezing rain one-

This month, the Poetry Sisters' invited writers and poets to their February Challenge that asked for a "____ is a Word " poem, originated by Nikki Grimes. See  Nikki's thoughts on the form she created here.  

I am late joining Poetry Friday this week but am happy to sit alone in the quiet and write a post with the hashtag #PoetryPals.

Today is Poetry Friday hosted by the wonderful Denise Krebs who is also participating in the Poetry Sisters' February Challenge. She has two different poems that have not only wordplay but voice. See her blog, Dare To Care, where the Poetry Friday Roundup is a happening.

-It is difficult lately to try to write while having to care for my husband at the same time. I will try to make the rounds as much as I can.

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

🌅 

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.

Invitation to Write Breathings of Your Heart

It is National Poetry Month and I, like many friends, am writing poetry from the heart. Renowned poet, William Wordsworth stated: "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart," reminding me to let my mind and spirit fill the page with heart-felt thoughts. 

This month's annual Poetry Friday community project, the Progressive Poem, organized by slicer Margaret Simon, is centered around a no-choice-need-to-escape from a child's perspective. Are you intrigued?  In this story poem, you will see examples of writers breathing life into their couplets. Each set of couplets is written by a different writer. It is filled with imagery, emotion, and hope so far. When writing Day 14's couple, I reflected on my experience as a reading specialist and districtwide administrator who listened to poignant stories from children. The narratives were full of struggles, hardships, and in many cases flight from their homelands. The children told their stories in person and/or on paper. The Progressive Poem is filled with imagery, emotion, and hope from the eyes of a child. You can read the story unfolding here and continue to read new lines each day until the end of the month.

I enjoy creating galleries of artistic expressions and showcasing the writing of others along with mine. Please accept my invitation as slicers arjeha and Denise Krebs have done. Their work is on the Poetry Parad Padlet. Click here.

INVITATION

Please consider offering one image poem (see arjeha's below)

FOR

I'm off to join Two Writing Teachers Tuesday Slice of Life, a reflective community of worldwide writers. 

Life Awakens in Spring

It's springtime in Virginia, a time to celebrate nature's transition to warmer weather and the burst of cherry blossom trees. In between sunshine moments, gray April showers sprinkle crystalline drops as nature takes center stage There are many reasons to celebrate springtime. For Poetry Friday nature lovers, poetry love is in the air. It swooshes across the open sky, echoes nature sounds, and opens hearts to the beauty of a spring day that quietly whispers in the wind. 

Morning Springs Open
morning light
streams in
unfolding spring's verdant palette of green
hidden buds buried in earthen soil sprout
breathe in
nature's perfume
peace surrounds
©CVarsalona, 2024, trinet poem


Are you ready to sing praises for a spring morning?
I invite you to be creative.
Snap a spring photo that speaks to you.
Write a poem and mesh the two together.

JOIN ME at The
Padlet, the container for my next
Poetry Parade Gallery of Artistic Expressions

Thank you, Denise Krebs, for being the first colleague to add your spring image poem to the Poetry Parade Padlet.

_____________

I am now ready to join the Poetry Friday Roundup with this week's Poetry Friday host, poet-educator friend Jone Rush MacCulloch. She is sharing a fabulous interview with Carol Labuzzetta, the publisher of a new anthology, Picture Perfect Poetry: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. I am honored to have several poems and a nature photo in Carol Labuzzetta's book.

echoes of spring

Let yourself become living poetry!

-Rumi

Yesterday, spring was in its glory. Warmth swaddled earth. Birds chirped their song of praise and the woods showcased its bent-over limbs. While walking I noticed little wishweeds anchoring the path, waiting for gentle hands to send their white, feathery tufts parachuting into the calmness of afternoon. 

be silent.

listen to the sounds of earth

whispering grasses call

rippling creek burbles

be present in its movement

springsations echo

©CV, 2023, haibun

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

May you find peace in your spring days!

I invite you to add your poetic thoughts to the online Springsations Gallery. Vol. 2.

You can see some of the artistic expressions in the gallery by clicking here.

The sample below shares two slicers' image poems, Denise Krebs and arjeha.

I join Two Writing Teachers for the Tuesday Slice of Life.

#SOL22 March Musings Day 29: Rambling Autobiography

I was born in a small town populated by many Italian immigrants and their descendants along the New York State Erie Canal. Not until I was in graduate school did I know that my mother immigrated from Italy in 1921 with my Nonnie when she was a baby. I grew up adoring my Nonnie and spent peaceful summers learning about baking and gardening and taking weekly walks to the library. While I did not buy anything during those summer months, my Nonnie saved her money to purchase me a Katy Keene comic book. From then on, I fell in love with fashion and thought I might pursue fashion design like my mother did but my photographer uncle and mother insisted that I should go to a four-year college. My dream to become a creative person who wrote poetry and studied photography grew from then on. When in graduate school studying curriculum development, my professor asked me to start a reading program for young delinquent boys in a reform school in the country. From there I followed a calling to help others become lifelong readers. My favorite places were different reading corners inside or nature-inspired areas for writing outside. I can still sense the peace emanating from my alone time with a book or pen and paper. While in high school, I started dating a young man on and off this high school/college romance was not sustainable so I continued to search for love until I met my husband when I least expected romance. While walking with one crutch into a birthday party love struck. We conversed about my painful skiing accident and how I fainted in the hospital after being driven from Massachusetts to my hometown of Syracuse, New York. I became familiar with pain and while I was geographically unsuitable for my love interest, love did grow. I gave my heart to him a couple of years later. During the years that followed in a small village on Long Island, New York, we grew in faith as a family of four experiencing heartaches and joy. Becoming resilient through challenges became important when I once had non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2003. Remission became a blessed word that brought us eventually to the second chapter of life in our beautiful new build in Virginia. Here, we live with my family which is filled with two amazing little grandgirls. Life is fragile and uncertain but "in family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony" (Friedrich Nietzsche)  

✍

Thank you, Fran Haley, for your awesome rambling autobiography that was inspired by Denise Krebs who took Linda Rief's rambling autobiography and made the following starters for a quick write lesson. 

I was born…
I adore…
I bought…
I have…
I never…
One of my…
When I was (age)…
My favorite place…
I can still (sense)…
I dated…
I fainted…
I gave…
I once had…
I am…
I want to…

✍

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers.

Gratitude Month at Spiritual Journey Thursday

November is here, wrapped in morning frost and universal thoughts on the importance of gratitude in our lives. National Gratitude Month with its mission of "encouraging us to embrace the power of gratitude" pops up on my screen. An email from Denise Krebs who resides in Bahrain pings. As the host of Spiritual Journey Thursday, Denise chooses gratitude as our monthly topic, shares her original small poems of gratitude, and encourages the community writers to write #gratikus and #gratitudepoems throughout the month.

I start with an inspirational quote that opens my month of writing with a positive touch.

November's shifting winds inspire me to create digital art and write a blackjack poem.

I turn to scripture to find a verse on thanks: 

"Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"  -2 Corinthians 9:15

and YouTube for an uplifting song of thanks:

I add my gratiku (gratitude + haiku) for each day of November 2021

during Gratitude Month.

 motherly love

memories of kitchen sweets

pass the cinnamon

©CV, 2021

(grateful for my Nonnie who taught my mother to bake who taught me to bake

and now, I teach my 4-year-old granddaughter

who also bakes at home with her mother, my daughter)

During the month of November, fill your heart with gratitude each day and send it forward into the crisp, cool wind. For now, join the Spiritual Journey Thursday community at Denise Krebs' blog as we fill the universe with gratitude and poetic goodness.