Thursday, January 2, 2025

Poetry Friday - Fill Them Up

         It's Poetry Friday, and Mary Lee Hahn is hosting HERE at A(nother) Year of Reading.  Until you read her poem, you haven't seen anything, yet! Thanks for hosting, Mary Lee!

        I hope your holiday times have been filled with loving memories! Happy New Year!

  

            My family and I had a lovely holiday, and now it's a new year, when I am most often excited about what that will bring. However, when hearing news of yesterday's horrific tragedy in New Orleans, I am saddened by this beginning, sorry most for those whose loved ones were killed, sorry for those injured, for those who are witnesses, sad for those who now must take care of all of it to investigate, to assess what went terribly wrong. You all know some of those will miss any sort of calmness these coming weeks, maybe all the year. I am sad for everyone who had to hear this news. 
            I tried to write about it and it felt somehow that I was pre-empting those who were there and most affected. So, I have a box full of words, went to it, wanting to write something to start 2025. It's one of those prompts that one rarely knows what will emerge, but I had fun with it, a kind of day-dreaming about the subject. I'm sure that "THEY" will hold dreams for good times in 2025, too! You'll see!



                                                     Pet Bowl Stock photos by Vecteezy

Bowls-Defined

 

Bowls full-fill our lives,

 

Emptied by the hungry:

             Soup-slurpers

             Cereal-crunchers

             Tea-tasters,

Used by the organizers:

            Key-keepers

            Coin-savers

            Shell-collectors

Savored by the cooks:

           Sugar-sweeteners

           Cake-mixers

           Salt-pinchers

Chomped by the pets:

          Dog-lappers

          Fish-swimmers

          Cat-munchers

Created by the artists

         Wheel-turners

         Clay-bakers

         Pine needle weavers

Variety is the spice of life

         and bowls.

           Linda Baie ©



22 comments:

  1. Glad you went to your box… Yes, “variety is the spice of life” and you captured so much in your/our bowl, so many feelings and emotions— hunger and levity too, thanks Linda, Happy New Year!

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  2. Love your bowls! And I share your grief over yet another senseless tragedy. Happy New Year anyway! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com

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  3. Linda, it is so difficult to hear about the various tragedies that happen. As my husband and son watched the Sugar Bowl we talked about how many policemen must have been around the exterior and interior of the game. New Orleans was a horrid happening and I can see why you were starting to write about it. Your box certainly gave you plenty of ideas to write a delightful poem. "Bowls full-fill our lives" is a great opener. Have a wonderful weekend!

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  4. What generous bowls you imagined into being! I love the verbs you chose!

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  5. Thanks, everyone. I've been out & doing errands, hoping everyone is going to make it through the snow storm if it's coming your way!

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  6. I share your sadness at another senseless tragedy.
    "Bowls Defined" is a lovely poem. Who knew there were so many ways of looking at a bowl? Thanks for this full-filling way of looking at an ordinary object.

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  7. Well done! I love the way you got to this poem. It's a surprise and treat all in one. Happy New Year!

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  8. How fun of a box of words. And this poem made me smile.

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  9. "Created by the artists" indeed! I love functional art, and bowls are a great form! Thank you for this.

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  10. Really loved this Linda -- and a soft way to leave space for the grieving. Thank you for your grace.

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  11. Thank you, Linda. Boxes and bowls...great metaphors. xo

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  12. We need containers for our variety of feelings, and when they are all jumbled together, sometimes it helps to sort things out into rows of bowls and boxes before we can allow them to coexist again, as they must. I really love this as an meditation against overwhelm. Thank you, Linda.

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  13. Your poem sorts it all out. Wonderful word play!

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  14. Again, it has been a busy weekend doing a variety of chores at the bookstore! Thanks for your kind remarks everyone! I hope you're having a good weekend!

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  15. Love the bowl poem. It was very hard to wake up and hear the news from NO on New Year's day. I've tried to stay positive but it's hard when there is so much bad news. Using our words (boxes and bowls of them) is a great way to cope! Happy New Year!

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  16. Yes, it's hard to know where to begin when such a horrible crime has been committed. As always though, Linda, your compassion shines through and you offer rays of light. I smiled throughout my reading of your poem. Who knew I wanted to think so much about bowls? :)

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    1. Oops, that was me me — Karen Edmisten :)

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  17. Thanks, Carol & Karen. Now that I've written this I am seeing bowls in my home "everywhere"! They are handy! Hope everywhere is not too affected by this "snowstorm of the country"!

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  18. Linda, your bowls made me smile. Was "bowls" in your boxful of words? And that's what created this beauty? I love this opening line and reading it in two ways, with a dash or a hyphen: "Bowls full-fill our lives" It's all good! Fun poem.

    I appreciate your empathy and waiting to not preempt those who are affected by the New Orleans tragedy and the snow storm coming. Thank you.

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    1. Thanks much, Denise. Yes, "bowl" was the word! In the times I've written from a prompt word, it always surprises me that something appears when I begin to write. This was a pleasant time imagining!

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  19. Oh, this is wonderful! My favourite bowls are a set of vintage mixing bowls I found at a local antique store - every time I use them I think about the families that used them before me - who were they? What wonderful treats did they create? Bowls hold so much - literally and figuratively!

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    1. Yes, Jane, I agree! Bowls have memories, too! Maybe time to add to the poem? I love that you found the bowls!

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