Navigating Reality: Touch of Hope

Photographer: March-Olivier Jodoin at Unsplash

"Today...I open my heart's hand to allow the touch of hope.”

Julia Cameron

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I feel the sorrow of loss and grief

Wondering if flowers feel the same

While wilting in the heat?

Summer heat reminds me that

Your hand no longer gently holds mine

But there is hope waiting

Beyond my spinning dreams. 

Today under an azure sky, nature

Splendidly welcomed morning's peace.

I opened my bleeding heart to life and

Felt the warmth of nature's healing

Peeking through the slats on the shades.

I accept the invitation to indulge in life

Because where there is an open heart

Possibilities open as well!

CVarsalona, draft, 2025

I shall carry this thought throughout the day with hope for peace to settle in.

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This month, the Poetry Sisters, Tanita at{fiction, instead of lies}, Laura at Laura Purdie Salas, Tricia at The Miss Ruphius Effect, Sara at Read Write Believe, Mary Lee Hahn at Another Year of Reading, and Liz at Liz Garton Scanlon, invited  writers to write a couple of couplets and make a raccontino. I am glad they explained the format that I have never tried before. A raccontino is a form that follows these rules: composed of couplets (any number) even-numbered lines that share the same end rhyme, the title and last words of the odd-numbered lines tell a story. I must admit that I struggled with this poetic format.

Silent Disease

Would I have known

What the future planned

When my heart was full of sorrow

And there were multiple demands?

Caregiver was the title given

But I could not withstand

The extent of sorrow

Nor could I understand.

There was a trip to take,

A birthday treat that was grand

To a place of ease

A beach filled with sand,

Summering during winter's end,

Yet you could not fully stand.

Life withered over our last days

Until what was left was in God's hands.

draft ©CVarsalona, 2025

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A Special Thank You To:

Jama Rattigan for lifting my heart and helping me navigate my reality with a special gift, Healing After Loss by Martha W. Hickman. This book inspires me to write about my journey with a touch of hope that summer will open my heart to joy.

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A new poetry friend, Shirley Thacker, shared a lovely poetry swap filled with poetic goodness. She sent me her book, Wind Beneath the Pines, that provides various types of poems which she wrote. This book is special because it comes from the heart. Shirley's husband urged her to "write the stories-the tales about life" and so she did. I am thrilled that Shirley shared her love of poetry with me in such a special way. You can read more about Shirley at Jone Rush MacCulloch's blog. Click here to read Jone's Interview with Shirley. I enjoyed Shirley's poems especially Grandchildren. Her six-word  poems shared her wisdom.

Courage each

Day, walking

Life's road

©Shirley Thacker

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I have lingered a long time trying to make sense of life while piecing the raccontino poem together. I gardened outside with the sun's warmth. Hope touched me, yet I still am unsure how to navigate reality. Healing after loss is a process. I am determined to continue this journey with stride. I thank family, friends, and the poetry community for their support. 

Now I turn my attention to the Poetry Friday Roundup that is hosted this week by one of the Poetry Sisters, Tanita Davis. This week she penned two poems and provided her process. I look forward to reading the contributions of all those who are adding their poems to the Roundup but I go at a slow pace these days.

In ending, I decided to take Shirley Thacker's 6 word poem 

Courage each

Day, walking

Life's road

and write Golden Shovel as inspiration to be present in life daily.

Finding courage

is not easy on each

summer day

perhaps walking

will provide life's

journey a new road

©CVarsalona, 2025

Beautiful Change

"Spring is a reminder of how beautiful change can truly be."

-unknown author

This Wednesday, Margaret Simon, posted a beautiful rainbow collage collection, Lake Fausse Pointe trail photo that she photographed (see below). You can also see Margaret's draft poem here. She asked those interested to write a small poem and post it on her blog, This Photo Wants to be a Photo.

I started writing #smallpoems to match Margaret's photo with the quick write below.

Photo by Margaret Simon

A Seasonal Unveiling

spring quietly flowered

rainbow colors adorned trails

winter stepped back

new arrivals made their way

©CV, 2023, quick write, small poem

Then, I decided to write etherees for this month's writing challenge from the Poetry Princesses. This ten-line form begins with a single syllable, and each line expands by one syllable until the tenth line has ten. The Poetry Princesses continued with their 2023 theme of transformation. You can find written etherees from the Poetry Sisters and others at Tanita Davis' blog site: fiction, instead of lies!}. They will also be on social media under the hashtag, #PoetrySisters.

Spring

flowered

gracing earth's

well-trodden path.

Winter sighed, stepped back, 

gently passed its baton, 

urging seasonal changes. 

Windsong breathed in freshness; exhaled

softly tossing nature's artifacts.

Spring smiled and prepared to awaken life.

©CV, 2023, etheree poem

I also wrote a modified etheree for last week's Poetry Friday & 16th Annual March #SOLSC! #SOL23 Day 23. You can access that here. I planned on refining it but I never found the time to do so.

Spring is a season of renewal and hope. May springtime 2023  open doors to new possibilities.

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It's time to join Poetry Friday Roundup. Thank you author/poet/educator, Mary Lee Hahn, for hosting Poetry Friday this week. Click here.

Logo by Linda Mitchell

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for providing a meeting place for reflective writers around the globe. I am offering this slice for Day 30 of the 16th Annual SOLSC! #SOL23 March Writing Challenge.