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Thursday, November 17, 2022

Poetry Friday - Still Smiling

  

        Poetry Friday is with Jama Rattigan HERE at her website, Jama's Alphabet Soup serving up a delicious poem of leftovers. Thanksgiving is on its way!  Thanks for hosting, Jama!


       I am traveling next week to be with my son and family for Thanksgiving and gratitude is on my mind. I've kept this poem from Your Daily Poem in a file titled "gratitude" and read it more than once during the year. It's a lesson to me for the best of living. I see that Mary Lee has commented which I almost never do. Now that I'm sharing one of Jayne Jaudon Ferrer's poems, perhaps I should comment more to tell her how much I enjoy waking up to a poem every morning. Here's the beginning of 

Some Days Most Things Go Well
                                        by Rob Baker

despite feeling puffy lately,
you’ve lost five pounds
                   —or gained five
but shrug it off
as an acceptable price
for good cake, wine,
and camaraderie;

all eighteen commute lights
glow green
                 —or red,
but the pauses
slow your pulse,

 
           the rest is HERE

         I wonder if you who have read this special poem might have one brief moment you 
would add in the comments, that small "something" where you are able 
to see the best of both worlds in it?

         My mail comes late, ugh,
           some days not until seven.
           But I have learned that
           when I walk the block
           to the locked group of boxes,
           my wonderful mailman, Mickey,
           is often there, still smiling
           after his long day,
           glad to chat and say "How are you?"
           excited to hand me
           the letters and magazines.
           Now I'm smiling while
           walking back home.
                               Linda Baie ©

  Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, however you celebrate!

       


25 comments:

  1. Linda, Baker's poem and your response are a wonderful addition to the thoughts that my yoga teacher introduced this week. A small pause signals the importance of slowing down my thoughts and progressing through the day with positivity. Thank you for your peaceful wish of thanksgiving and opening my day with gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

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  2. Ooh, I love silver linings! I've had one just now: I was locked out of a writing business email account and will have to wait to get the re-entry code. So...instead of doing work this morning, I am visiting Poetry Friday friends. Gratitude! xo

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  3. Oh, yes. I fell and broke my collarbone on one of the first bike rides of the season - but my son was there on his motorbike and could go get the ute, so I didn't have to ride home over bumpy tracks. (I started - but it was not pleasant.) And much as it's inconvenient, a broken bone doesn't hurt near as much as I've always feared - and it is so nice having more help around the house... And the ultimate bliss of my personal hairdressers.🙃

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  4. Oh, wonderful! Good morning Carol, Irene, & Kat! I can see this is going to be a wonderful day! It is 9 degrees here, snow & ice abound. But, I get to stay home and read all the PF posts & your uplifting comments! Thank you!

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  5. Rob Baker's poem makes me feel grateful to you for sharing it :)

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  6. Rob Baker's poem reminds me--in beautiful language--to accept things as neither good nor bad, but challenge myself to find the good, to be content. And so--it "feel like -5 degrees" here this a.m., so I am staying inside reading this and other poetry, a real treat.

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  7. I hadn't seen Rob's poem before and can see why you saved it and like to return to it. We do need to be reminded to look for the good and to be grateful for even small things. I'm smiling at your mailman poem. The fact that you even know his name is pretty cool (we've lived in our current house for 20+ years and don't know the names of our mailmen). Of course, this could be because our mailbox is a long way from our house, and we're never quite sure when he actually comes around.

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  8. Oh, what a wonderful poem! It's freeing, isn't it? Blessings in more than one outcome/place, if you're paying attention. Like you were, to write your lovely mailbox poem. Safe travels and wishing you & yours a cornucopia of fun and togetherness next week...xo

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  9. You have a "gratitude file." That is the first smile of this blog...but then, the poem by Rob Baker. Yes to the commute time as a blessing, yes to the unplanned silence. And, that walk to the mailbox...late. The beauty of a smile at the end of a long day. Hello to Mickey and to the mailbox from me. What Thanksgivings! I love them all.

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  10. I had forgotten my comment, so my small blessing is that I said something smart you chose to shine a light on! :-) Commenting takes a tiny bit of time, but it often means so much!

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  11. Thank you all, love reading your responses to the poem & your own 'brand' of gratitude. I am smiling, and after our snow storm, the sun is out!

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  12. Linda-- your poem is lovely. Thanks for the poetry, and the prompt! Hmm... one small moment for me is when something is out of season or we're out, but I can dig into my food preservation store and enjoy what I've saved. I always miss peach season in the winter, but not having fresh peaches means we get to enjoy canned peaches on our pancakes! Happy Poetry Friday!

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  13. I like the light heartedness in Baker's poem, reminds you to take that extra deep breath. And when I'm rushing off to teach in the morning and the traffic is slow, which usually coincides with being late, sometimes I sneak in a couple of extra ocean breaths at those long red lights. Delightful post Linda, and I like all the smiles from your mailman poem! Happiest of Thanksgiving to you and your family!

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  14. Linda these poems remind me of 'simple pleasures.' Recognising them and acknowledging our good fortune that they have occurred across our days, is important. They may be brief encounters, but if we pause to reflect, we are enriched. Thank you for the reminders.

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  15. ; or
    you find that your 35 years
    of experience as
    a teacher are now
    worth just $20 per hour
    ----but you are in demand,
    and each moment
    with the Saplings
    outside in a playground
    called the Grove
    is like leaping into
    a deep fluffy pile
    of 3-year-old gladness,
    essential goodness,
    and you are a
    millionaire.

    Thanks, Linda, for this!

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  16. Thanks, Sarah, Michelle, Alan, & Heidi, love reading about those "simple pleasures" you find.

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  17. I don't think I've seen this poem before, Linda, and I just love it. I saw something else this week (Where?? Why didn't I write it down??) that was basically a challenge to find the good in something, each day, something that might not be initially seen as "good." So serendipitous! (Or part of a "grand scheme ... or just the latest waves...") :) So, you and your poem are my "little something" today. I could bemoan my attention deficit and neglect of writing down all the little things I want to remember, or I can thank you for this bit of serendipity and the renewed resolve to keep a "redeemed moments" journal in the coming year. ❤️

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  18. Thank you for this lovely post about finding the good in small moments, even those that initially seem bad. What a lovely practice to have a gratitude file!

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  19. perfect prompt!
    this morning, a simple thing for me is the smell of fresh bread coming out of the oven - with the dawn

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  20. Hello! Rob Baker, the author of the poem, here. I received an email from the publisher of YDP telling my poem had been linked here, so, naturally, had to pop in for a peek :)

    Thanks so much, Linda, for selecting my poem to share with your group, and for using it as a chance for people to think of similar examples in their own lives. I enjoyed your poem about your mailman--turning grumbling at a late mail delivery into a refreshing encounter.

    Thanks to everyone else who commented, too, for your kind words and awesome variations on the poem's ideas. Very uplifting reading. You all have a great group here, so supportive and inspiring! I appreciate being a part of it this week!

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  21. Oh my, what a treat to hear from Karen, Rose, Patricia. Thank you for sharing a part of your own moments. And now, Rob, the one who blessed us with his poem & the idea that looking for treasures in the everyday should not be overlooked. Your poem, as I wrote, has meant much to me through the years, Rob. It is a pleasure to share it this week of gratitude! Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Linda! It means a lot to know that a poem I wrote has meant something to people! I don't really think of myself as a poet...more as someone who occasionally, almost accidentally, writes what is known as a poem :)

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    2. Well, even once in a while, this time you've made us smile! Thanks, again!

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  22. Lindsa thank you for sharing this poem - it really spoke to me, in a month I am calling 'slowvember' to remind myself to slow down and just be. Your response, too, is perfect.

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  23. I'm late in reading the PF posts, but that has turned out to be a blessing because I enjoyed not only Rob Baker's poem and yours, Linda, but also reading Rob's comments. What a wonderful blessing, so in keeping with the spirit of this post. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Linda!

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