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

Fourth of July Weekend

"The Fourth of July should be celebrated with big hearts." - Camila Alves

family gathers
America celebrates
sparkles for freedom
©CVarsalona, 2024, haiku
 Fourth of July 2024

bursts reverberate
crowd cheers at dazzling sky show

noise scares little baby
until a family shares glow sticks
big hearts joyfully celebrate with one-year-old
©CVarsalona, 2024, cherita

Besides the fireworks, the family weekend was filled with other fun events:
my son's first gig as a standup comedian at a Fourth of July event
our little grandgirls enjoy the community pool and an indoor picnic
an afternoon trip to Middleburg, Virginia for lunch and ice cream with
both sets of grandparents

Now that the weekend is over, I send my Poetry Friday blog to my Floridian friend, Jan Godown Annino, who hosted the post 4th of July Roundup this weekend. She offers an interesting watermelon image from the Monticello, Florida watermelon parade, a link to the PBS 4th of July celebration, and poetry goodness from many Poetry Friday friends. Join me to celebrate with Jan at her blog Bookseedstudio.

SPARKLE ON with Poetry!

The Easter Triduum

Last night started the Sacred Tridum, a solemn three-day period leading to Easter Sunday. These final days of Lent are honored by my family each year. I offer a sigo poem from today's Good Friday service,  7 Last Words.

A sigo consists of three lines of 14-16 syllables each. Each line contains a pause near the middle. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer that five syllables. The first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a turn, and the third provides closure.  

 The Sacred Tridumm

Disciples gathered at the Lord's supper unaware

treachery brewed within, scourging, crowning with thorns, crucifixion

until Resurrection Sunday when a miracle evolved.

Draft©CVarsalona, March 2024, sigo

icon written by Julia Stankova

gathering of friends

sleeping not waiting

as requested

do we also not listen

not hear spoken words

time to awaken and renew commitment

©CVarsalona, March 2024, cherita

Thank you arjeha, aka Bob Hamera, for suggesting a sijo poem. 

I offer this Slice of Life to Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge.

Day 29. The month-long writing challenge is nearing an end. I am delighted to have met new slicers while chatting with writers who have become friends.

Introduction to the Poetryliscious Gallery Padlet

After days of on-off-spring rainstorms, my garden blooms with an array of perennials and some herbs that I thought perished last year, Hardened earth full of pumpkin-colored clay combined with overwatering during the humid summer led me to believe that I would not see my beautiful perennial and herb garden this spring. Little did I know that "Flowers whisper "Beauty" to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall." (Dr. Sun Wolf) => and return!

Since Nature nurtures its world. It is up to mankind to do its part by caring for our precious Earth. Seeing my blossoms standing tall in the sun, brings new life to my gardens, and hopes for a bright end of May. 

Join me to celebrate springtime in May at my Poetryliscious Gallery Padlet by clicking here. My padlet is a repository for a variety of poetic blossoms featuring the talents of a community of reflective poets, photographers, and artists across the globe who are inspired by nature during springtime. 

⁕

Please note that I will create a Poetryliscious Gallery online soon. In the meantime, you can see archived spring galleries, spanning 2014-2018 below by clicking on each title below.

2014

April Awakenings

2015

Spring's Symphony

2016

Spring's Seeds

2017

Springsations

2018

Sense-sational Spring

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The Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted this week by poet/children author, Carmelo Martino, at the blog  Teaching Authors. She has a sneak peek of STEAM Poetry and her original poem published in Imperfect II. Join me there for more poetry goodness.

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I am recovering from cataract surgery on the left eye this week so I need extra time to read colleagues' work. I will work on the Poetryliscious Gallery and post all work on my blog, Beyond LiteracyLink. I will also publicize the gallery and padlet on various social media sites.

Countdown to Christmas

The countdown begins. Lately, I am as busy as the North Pole elves trying to prepare for Christmas. I forget how few days are left to finish decorating, baking, and wrapping gifts-10 days exactly until Christmas Eve. 

Tonight, I spend time decorating a little more of the outside and inside spaces. It is a layering process so take a peek. Let's start at the front door. I invite you inside.

My Nonnie's plant cart from 70 years ago is on the left while Santa is on the right.

I enjoy making wreaths. Bow making is a new passion. 

The foyer is undergoing a second phase of decorating.

The flocked pencil tree is a new addition to my Christmas treasures.

 The chair is an antique piece but Santa and the elf are new.

Do you recognize this book or one like it from childhood days?

Books are an important part of my holiday season.

🌲🎄🌲

be my guest

I invite you inside

feel the spirit of Christmas

wishes come your way

for holiday happiness

from my heart to yours

©CV, 2021

🌲🎄🌲

Slice of Life Tuesday comes each week at Two Writing Teachers.

Enjoy the small moments of my holiday house decorating fun.

You can see Phase 1 of my holiday decorating fun here.

Sweet Summer Surprises

This summer there have been many wonderful gifts that bring joy: grandchildren frolicking, nature walks along a creek, new friends, and the soft sounds of poetry flooding the corridors of my heart. It's a new beginning in a new surrounding and quiet blessings come with sweet surprises along the way.

SURPRISE #1: After a nature walk with my grandgirls, I designed a digital collage of photographs I took during our walk. I blended them into a postcard similar to the turn-of-the-20th century ones I have in my collection. My thoughts are in the form of a dodoitsu but I took creative license in only using 4 syllables instead of 5 for the last line.

SURPRISE #2: The long-awaited, face-to-face meet-up with my next-town neighbor, Poetry Friday poet-librarian, Linda Mitchell. I was running late when the doorbell rang but that was fine. We hugged as old friends would after Linda extended an unexpected housewarming gift.

Lunch, chitchat, plans for future poetic outings, and meet-ups were part of the afternoon fun. Linda left with two boxes of professional texts for her teachers, Wonderopolis swag, and books for her library. I happily said goodby knowing that two more boxes were removed from my stack of unopened items. 

SURPRISE #3: Linda devised an on-the-spot poem swap for us. I would send her some photos of my antique collection of early 20th-century prints by the famous illustrator, Harrison Fisher. She would write ekphrastic poetry for each print. She suggested that I write about her cookie, brownie, and cupcake treats. I added in the digital artwork, and a selfie of us (which I call an ussie when it is more than one person). A story-poem evolved from the above picture prompt.

SURPRISE #4: I created memories that were encapsulated in digital art and poetry while Linda shared her poetic thoughts through ekphrastic skinnies that you can find at her blog post, Poetic Luncheon. 

SURPRISE #5: I happened upon the following quote by a 20th Century poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

"Poetry is eternal graffiti written in the heart of everyone."

Perhaps, Ferlinghetti meant that graffiti is a form of visual communication and poetry is the format to communicate the richness of what we see and feel. 

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Join me for the Poetry Friday Roundup at EFL teacher and writer Elisabeth Norton's blog, Unexpected Expectations. There's a party of poetic thoughts going on.

Summertime's Poetic Gift

"Summertime is always the best of what might be." 

With his key eye of an investigative journalist, author, essayist, Charles Bowden, penned the inspiration above. I sit back and read the line again noting what truth lies within the words. Summertime nourishes my soul. It brightens what is and saturates what might be with vivid colors, summer breezes, and leisurely days that free the spirit. Each summer, poet Tabatha Yeatts brings the best of summer wishes to the poetry world in a Summer Poem Swap exchange. I have previously shared my first poem swap with my far-away poet friend Iphigene Daradar. Today, I showcase creative expressions from Tabatha Yeatts herself. How lucky for me to be gifted with zentangle poems and artwork that Tabatha crafted from my own poems. 

Tabatha used my line "Everything around you is nature-scented", to "write a found poem about how our lives are a mix of the good and the bad". I find truth in that statement for life is a series of ups and downs. We find optimism and hope in the thought that life is a cycle and as Tabatha says, "we must find a way to be comfortable and at home with the duality of these aspects of life."

In the above digital poem, Tabatha's artwork compliments different aspects of life, from the words sweet and shadow to the images of the crescent moon and sun.

The second grouping of zentangle found poems center once again around my words, "Everything around you is bathed in beauty". Each found poem is lovingly created into digital artwork on marbleized paper.

Poem Swap Wishes

celebrating  summer you pause; welcome

a new season with new stories.

birthdays come and grow.

you reflect and write!

circle words and

one day leave

skyward and refreshed!

©CV, 2021

Now, I am off to celebrate the Poetry Friday Roundup at our host, Mary Lee Hahn's blog.

This week I was lucky to have the muse visit as did Mary Lee. 

You can find the fruits of my weeklong labor, a cherita and a definito poem.

Unearthed Cicadas

The sun was beating down from a clear sky. Following instructions, my husband and I scouted out areas by a large tree in the back of the brewery for an extended family gathering. I placed my purse on a weather-beaten picnic table like a miner staking his claim. Then,  I looked down to find a massive gathering of cicadas risen from their earthen tombs. Some were attempting to fly; others laying lifeless. It was a strange, eerie scene that we did not photograph in our haste to move.

Withing in the depths of dirt 

their winged bodies lay

in clumps of half-awake beings.

Waiting to unfold onto earth.

Quietly, they clustered,

Emerging from deep sleep below-surface

Only to be choked by intense heat.

Some attempting to fly

Edged their way forward

Hanging from worn picnic tables.

From the Washington Post

We moved quietly away

Worried these creatures would attack

But they were only interested in survival.

Those above ground huddled together.

Some flew away while others staggered 

On the ground in the dirt.

These large, bugged-eyed creatures

Huddled together like colonies of ants-

Such a sight to behold

that shocked me

but what a science lesson

it became for a toddler's mind.

As my granddaughter approached we looked quickly at the picnic area strewn with cicadas and peeked at the holes they dug. Hand in hand we walked away to a more pleasant sight that was bug-free. My hope is that she will remember her first sighting of these creatures seventeen years in her future. 

ᨖᨖᨖ

In 1689 Basho wrote:

閑さや (Stillness)

岩にしみ入る (seeping into the rocks)

蝉の声 (the cicada's voice)

ᨖᨖᨖ

life emerges

from a tiny hole

creeping outward

bug-eyed with wonder

they awake from slumber

unaware of what awaits

©CV, 2021, cherita

ᨖᨖᨖ

Join me at Two Writing Teachers for the Tuesday Slice of Life.

Winter's Embrace in Spring

A few weeks ago, I woke early startled by a raging windstorm that kicked up with enough might to drag furniture across the patio.  In the weeks that followed, thunder cracked and rainstorms broke with sudden fury until the sun decided to shine. I am amazed at the sudden shifts in weather that cause strong wind tunnels in our Northern Virginia community. 

These constant weather changes bring back thoughts on winter's embrace this year. It has had a sprinter-stance presence causing a "little winter" during springtime. Did you know that there is such a term? I did not, so I did some research. According to the Urban Dictionary, sprinter is the time in late winter/early spring when a few days feels like spring and then winter sneaks in again.

The Farmer's Almanac defines "little winter" as a dogwood winter in the middle of spring. I found that term appropriate since dogwood trees are just starting to bud in my neighborhood.  Having spring-like weather in winter excited me enough to plant early. Was I naive with an optimistic frame of mind? Mother Nature's sudden pattern change made me realize that she enjoys stirring the pot and mixing her seasons. 

Let's take a look at how Bob Hamera views on sprinter weather:

The above thought describes a WOW moment of a dogwood winter!

Photo from Farmer's Almanac

This photo shares the morning view after an April Sprinter in Pennsylvania.

April sprinter

Flurries spring into action

Bringing blankets of snow. 

Lay me down to sleep

While Spring plays hide 'n seek and

Flowers long for warmth.

©CV, 2021

 May the blossoms of spring stand tall and bring you bouquets of peace.

 Digital Art, ©CV, 2021, Virginia

"Sunny warmth, snow a memory, bleeding hearts debut! It just may be spring!"

-Linda Baie, 2021, Denver, Colorado

Poet and Children's Author, Irene Latham is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup this week. I am excited to join her and extend my gratitude to Janice Scully for notifying me that I am the lucky recipient of the Book Giveaway of D-39: A Robodog's Journey, a new novel in verse by Irene.