Wide Awake | NaPoWriMo Day 30

Copyright 2016, Elizabeth Bennefeld, photographer. All rights reserved.

sunny afternoon
no rabbits in the garden
nobody to chase

both our people are asleep
what’s to do with time that’s free?

Note: My husband requested a poem to go with his favorite photo of our dogs, The Scampers. The photo was taken in the spring of 2016, when they were four months old.

Starting Over | NaPoWriMo Day 28

new plants grow
from ancient seed
feelings aren’t forever

back to the roots
I never knew
growing up again

Just in Time | #NaPoWriMo Day 26

Goldilocks time
the second between dusk and night
when the stars come on

Rain on the Flowers | #NaPoWriMo Day 25

camera in hand
soon after the day begins…
tulips and raindrops
Copyright © 2021-04-25, by Elizabeth Bennefeld.

Looking West at Evening | #NaPoWriMo Day 24

waiting for the geese to fly overhead
dreams of going home
© Elizabeth Bennefeld, April 2021.

Transformed – NaPoWriMo Day 21

Truth
Reappears
As the days and hours flow
Night and daylight blend
Sunlight bows to moonlight
Flowers bloom in my imagination
Only to transform themselves
Rest for a time again
Melding reality with impossibilities
All has become new and beautiful
Tied together by love
I rejoice with this new world
Once a barren, endless plain
Now filled with possibilities

Image by Bessi from Pixabay

Sound Barriers – NaPoWriMo Day 20

sometimes life becomes
a bit too full of people
walls, motion, wind, light

hours feel like mere minutes
words turn into jumbled noise

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Tempted – NaPoWriMo Day 19

clear skies and sunshine
beckon those indoors to come
and play in the grass
meanwhile in growing shadows
water drops appear and freeze

May Day – NaPoWriMo Day 18

rain in the morning
snowfall starts at afternoon
sunshine at evening
water for the thirsty plants
next comes warmth for May Day blooms

Winter Storm Day – NaPoWriMo Day 17

rain, snow, and bluster
promise of a quiet day…
warm and cozy bed
surrounded by my pillows
piles of books and lots of tea

Image by kristamonique from Pixabay

Childhood Memories – NaPoWriMo Day 15

the sounds of childhood
uplifting music filled our home
Mom and Dad singing
of their desire, joy, and love…
their duet became a choir

Frozen Dew – NaPoWriMo Day 14

bunnies and sunshine
a mix-up of the seasons
winter in the spring
snow blankets on the tulips
frozen dewdrops on new grass

Sounds Surround Me – NaPoWriMo Day 13

distant sounds echo
police car sirens fleeing…
snowflakes come to rest

my puppy snores and resettles
birds sing their morning psalms

Image by myungho lee from Pixabay

Heart’s ease

apothecary roses
gift beauty to my eyes
and quiet to my soul
Copyright © Lizl Bennefeld, 2021-04-10.

Image by Suzanne Catty from Pixabay

Wednesday Thoughts – NaPoWriMo Day 7

“Serenity”

Stillness
Echoes loudly
Rousing the night
Eagerness and
Nostalgia come
In memories …
The passing of the
Years

flowers among
green grass and new snow
a fresh start

“Easter Basket”

alien eggs
waiting for their hatching…
decades to go

pollen and butterfly eggs
new generations
promises of
forever

open faces
looking toward the sun,
the flowers and me

green grass and tulip flowers
spiderwebs in morning’s dew
migrating birds
lovely day

Sanctuary – NaPoWriMo Day 5

autumn leaf on winter snow accompanying two lune — solitary leaf

one leaf on the snow
left behind
by December winds

sunlight on the leaf
makes a nest
shelter from the storm

The cold outside

cold fog and drizzle
standing water turns to ice
one more cup of tea

a distant dog keeps barking
just outside a closed door

Changing seasons

dawn’s soft colors
shades and shadows on the path
falling leaves
Copyright 2020-12-09, by Lizl Bennefeld.

Image by chunli chen from Pixabay

Signs of life — Poem a Day – 23 November 2020

at eight twenty-five
sunlight shines past distant trees
the first signs of life
through the misty glass I view
one car moving down the street

Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge 333 Life and View

Winter ornaments

leaves dance on the wind
celebrating with the snow
winter’s scattered art

Day 29 – On the occasion | Poem a Day (NaNoWriMo)

dragonfly on a Sweet William flower — dragonfly

BIRTHDAYS

measuring time—
twenty-five or thirty-some years
yet to go … or less
looking at past records
of family births and deaths

my dad felt a hundred years
was too long to stick around for
my mother thought that ninety-four
was quite a bit too short
neither was pleased

don’t know what I’ll think
when my world and I transform
when time becomes eternity
maybe I’ll notice, or perhaps I’ll
forget what came before

Day 9 – Wardrobe Salvage | Poem a Day (NaNoWriMo)

Prompt: article of clothing

kibbles…then dessert
threads tangled in teeth and paws
my sock in his mouth

Day 3 – Stage Fright | Poem a Day (NaNoWriMo)

standing on a stage
without a script or cue cards
feeling out of place

I wonder, what comes next?
when the final curtain drops?

Day 2 – Happily Ever After | Poem a Day (NaNoWriMo)

a view of a lake inlet from the top of a hill — At Peace

Happily Ever Afters

Live ever after
with the happilies you find
Cherish the memories
that leach the pain from grief
Turn from dead regrets
to each experience
of presence freely given,
in joy still received

Day 1 – Growing Up, Learning | Poem a Day (NaNoWriMo)

View of Village Cemetery — Hawley Cemetery – 2008

what’s the capitol
of the Peace Garden State?
where’s the garden at?

we learned all the answers there
working for Dad, clipping grass

When we were children (there were seven of us, and I am assuming that others got roped into this, each in their turn), Dad hired us during May and as needed during summer school vacations to maintain the grounds of the village cemetery where he was the groundskeeper and sexton. He didn’t retire until he was in his 90s. There was particular need for us children to prepare the cemetery for Memorial Day and to refurbish things after the influx of visitors during the following months. My brother Tim and I worked together, being close in age, and we would pass the time by challenging each other with such miscellanea as state and country capitols and other interesting trivia.

My mother died three years ago, this month, and my father followed her three-and-a-half months later. Their ashes are buried next to the family monument, near two siblings whose lives were measured in days.

Warming up for NaNoWriMo, Day 2

and why would I live
beyond all kin and kindness
absent to their eyes

so, one leaves a friendless warmth,
braving winter’s storms, to die

The many deaths of those most dear

within the past three years… Suddenly, I’m homesick

for a place I’ve never seen.

Mourning seems to come in waves. In the midst of happiness, remembered losses beg not to be forgotten. That’s a trap, I think. The insistence of the mind on revisiting those intense emotions, long after one has moved on. The bittersweet taste of loves and friends and family set aside until time ends, or else, renews all things.

Warming up for NaNoWriMo

I am once again planning to write 30 poems during November (NaNoWriMo)—hopefully, more than one a day, but we’ll see. November and December are cluttered months. Nonetheless…

Today’s and tomorrow’s poems are warm-up exercises. During this poem-a-day exercise, I am hoping not to resort to canned prompts, but to find poems in life as it happens.

the years and the days
ephemeral, but endless…
looking for the end

Sunday meditation

morning light
Syrphid’s shadow
wind’s caress

Retasting realities

bookshelves beside my rocking chair — Rewriting the World

So many years, to notice I’ve returned to the place from which I started. A journey not yet ended, but which will end in an hour … or months … or decades from this day. A journey not taken?

streams of thought

and kindnesses not looked for

barely noticed

I saved gratitude for the end

but, thinking now, it should not be left too late

to speak through silent words

written on a screen…a sheet of paper

or the sky’s clouds

gentle rain

tracks

in dust

before the earth is wrung dry

and cries for tears

to dampen it, again

perhaps there is a time…a moment

to stop the flow of thought and reason

to feel what is and mourn

what might have been—

to acknowledge the gaps

measures underweight

until the world’s too light

not to blow away

Day 27 Late-Season Snow #NaPoWriMo

cocker spaniel playing in the newly fallen April snow — Late-season Snow Storm

Prompt: “Take one of your poems and, in three places, insert a parenthetical comment…” I used only this much of the prompt found at Cuyahoga County Public Library website. Only three more days to go!

late-spring storm
{by now, I shouldn’t feel surprise}
snow on puppy legs…face…tail
{how did he get snow plastered THERE?}
don’t sit in my lap!
{ah, well! there’s towels}

Day 25 Springtime Joy #GloPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo

tulips in the side garden — Joy in Springtime

warm winds and raindrops
filling up the tulip cups…
sliding down long leaves

Copyright © 2019-04-25, by Lizl Bennefeld.

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