Apt Riposte

The sword within the hottest flame
Is tested by the perfervid heat
When removed, it is full fearsome,
An object of searing white-hot beauty.
Quenched in frosty waters, then
Withdrawn, it becomes a weapon
Designated to banish foul atrocity
Protecting what is noble with honor.
If thus, each beating heart resolved,
Earth would more a place of love –
Continue with many fewer problems,
And an overflowing soul of kindness.

Prompt: Create something with myriad layers of meaning. See if your audience can penetrate the veneer.

Extremely Thankful:
I made it through the night and day, though extremely ill.
Wookie is an aspiring nursemaid.
Sleep is a tonic.
I scrounged up some caffeine without Diet Cokes.
Reba and Alex called me.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Haphazard Creative. In the sidebar, you will find three ways to follow the site. Choose yours, or come back as time allows you. Comments, likes, shares, suggestions, thoughts are sought and welcomed. May God bless and keep you and yours in every way.

All work on Chronicles and Haphazard Creative is © Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Valuing Everyone

We need to be gentle,
Remember we are, as are
Others – only human –
Worthy of love and respect.
Our hearts are fragile –
From being often broken;
Our capacity for love
Though limitless – sometimes –
Encounters walls unscalable.
We shall not close our lives
To opportunity, possibility;
We continue sharing compassion,
Devotion, emotion, and kindness.
We embrace those varied abilities,
Gifts, passions, skills, talents,
Which might encourage, inspire,
Someone else to begin releasing
Their greatness to help all those
Who hope, somehow, to change
Our world into a more loving place.

Prompt: In such times as these, it is best to accentuate our commonalities. Create something to nurture lovingkindness between those with differences.

Gratitude Rocks:
Copy editing, which I thoroughly enjoy.
The fact that I am writing more recently.
Surviving solitude.
Total PA.
Layers, necessary when trying to curb the use of electricity.

Thank you for visiting Haphazard Creative. I am in the midst of a Creativity Project where I attempt to make at least one post daily. I accomplished that goal for all of 2020, despite the pandemic. Most days, I post a prompt that might inspire you to create something of your own. If you wish to follow the site, there are available means in the sidebar. Also, please: like posts, comment, share and make suggestions. I intend what I am doing to be inclusive.

Everything on Haphazard Creative is © Jo Ann J. A. Jordan.

Dim to Dimple

When the sun goes down
Shadows daunting fall,
The past so often
Comes beckoning to call
Those souls away
Who little more do share
In love’s escapades,
And clean, crisp, alible air.
Some unready speed
For the light to recall life
Like a vision vaguely seen,
Bringing to heart precious
Dreams that lift the soul;
Pushing shadows back
Reminding minds there
Exists so little a lack
Each day living means
Joining an adventure
Both pleasant and grim, plus
A majority, in between.
Creativity, love, success
Lift heads, hearts, reaching
Out, grasping the joy of living,
Banishing atrocious dreams,
Fulfilling those that delight.

Prompt: Create something going dark to light, sadness to joy, or failure to success.

Gratitude:
My working with Alex on his script.
Having enough.
Being here.
Technology.
Analog.

Thank you for visiting haphazardcreative.com. I hope you will follow the site by using one of the three ways listed in the sidebar, or if you wish, come back soon. Comments, likes, shares, suggestions are welcome. I hope you have a blessed day!

Everything on Haphazard Creative is © Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Future Turning

Today, as here it stands,
May be a day different
Than our buoyant hope,
Or even resilient want.
To address it with our best
We may need to lay hands
Upon the selves we cherish,
Calling out a presence before
Undiscovered, unrecognized.
The quiet fortitude barely known
May stand us good stead through
Hours we otherwise could scarce
Share or even envision to be.
No fearsome ancestor could
Reveal the complications
Suddenly become a reality,
Humanity a bit further than
Itself has gone, so now we catch on.
Dreams, hardly hidden shimmer
With creative promise to emerge;
We walking briskly forward, ready,
Assuming the future ours to consume;
This moment belongs to us,
Who bravely overtake what was,
Reaching beyond ourselves to greatness.

Prompt: The pandemic, quarantine, has changed many things. Likely, we will never go back to what was. Create something that goes forward with all the colors of experience you can manage.

Always Grateful:
Writing survives.
Books entertain, inform, carry me on.
I caught some extra quiet today.
The cuckoo clock that calls me to attend to time.
Tribble and Wookie force me to go outdoors.

Thank you for visiting. If you wish, follow methods are in the sidebar. Your comments, likes, shares, suggestions, and thoughts are fantastic encouragement.

Learning, Living

Beginning: I was love,
Softness in words, deeds,
Meeting incessant needs.
Time taught: The world,
A hard place to fall;
My mistakes, misdeeds
Caused cruel stinging pain.
Learning: Reading, writing,
Were who I quickly became.
Maladies: Kept home, taught
A body could be a traitor.
Determination: A semblance
Of the best salvaged from rest.
Passions: Love came easily
For music and dance,
Building stories better than my life,
Writing poems at every chance.
World: Water was my element,
I flirted with the hungry magic –
Of fire, at many campsites.
School: Lessons were not hard,
I studied gruelingly, but kids,
Were often less than kind,
I hurt but pursued devotedly,
A well-educated mind.
Romance: When invaded,
I embraced it and have
Never really let it go,
I have loved occasionally,
And lost much the same,
Only bits of my heart
Have remained with those
Who my passion claimed.
Tragedy: I learned a mind
Could be shattered and
After, rearranged, though
Never working quite right;
Certain God does miracles,
And pieces can be fashioned –
Into something precious, if
One lives long enough to grow.
Mission: I try to learn how to
Illustrate lessons I come to know,
Loving those who cross my path
But I often mess up on the way;
I tried, learned it is okay to be me.

I wrote the poem above in my journal. It was much different.

As a PROMPT: Take something you have created, either long past or recently, and do a critical and exhaustive reworking. I usually say calm and ignore your inner critic, but you should allow it out to play at this time.

GRATITUDE:
Time spent on the phone with my son, Alex.
My being an editor.
My ability as a writer.
WordPress: It saved my MSN Spaces blog by transferring it to Chronicles.
I woke up early enough to put the Explorer out of the rain so the leak would not cause problems.

You know the drill, do as you will.