I always loved Sunday Mornings!

"Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door. " ~Saul Bellow


"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose." ~From the television show The Wonder Years

"Patsy, I had to think over night about my words for you...try these and see what comes to mind. Good Luck and I can't wait to read it!"~ Sunshine ( blue, chickens, soft, walk, surprise, coffee, smile, garlic, truck, always)

Last week I talked about words and how some words bring a picture to your mind. I did receive several lists of words from People who read my blog that day. One lists was special to me as it reminded me of a time way back yonder when I was just a teenager. Today's first poem is a story of those long ago Sunday mornings. Thanks Sunshine for your gift of words. These words actually inspired more than one poem. The first one is from a special memory. The second one.. well I know one night that I hunted green horses so I'm figuring if tequila made me look for green horses, It could make some poor soul look for blue chickens. Have a great Sunday!
Patsy





Sunday Morning Tips



Sunrise found me at the chicken pen
stealing fresh eggs from the hens
Scratching in the early morning
sunshine for their own breakfast
of fresh earth worms.
Slipping quietly back into the kitchen.
I could still smell the Garlic bread
from last nights spaghetti supper.
Stumbling over his left out toy truck,
I leaned close to his blond head
resting on his pillow and whispered
to my brother that we should surprise
our parents.
With a soft chuckle and a smile
he hopped from his bed.
"You wake up curly," I said
nodding towards the baby girl
And I'll start the coffee.
I had everything ready by the time
they appeared, their blue eyes shining.
Happy that I asked them for their help.
"Walk slow now", I warned
as they carried the trays.
He hurried to knock
upon the closed bedroom door.
Tiny fist barely making any noise.
His plate of toast held above his head.
She right behind him, grinning
with a tray of butter and jelly.
I always came last
with plates of grits and eggs,
And bacon or sausage if we had any.
"OH my goodness!" Daddy said.
Opening the door in his robe.
"Look Mama!" he said
as if truly surprised.
"Good Job" I told my helpers
as they ate in the kitchen.
"Good job" I told them again
as they carried emptied dishes.
"Excellent Job" I told myself
smiling a sneaky smile
on those Sunday mornings that
I slipped all three of the dollar tips
into my front pocket!


Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-26-2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Blue Chickens


" Just try to Walk quietly.
You have to be real sneaky
to surprise blue Chickens.
Leave the old truck
Parked at the bar and always
carry a little garlic for bait.
Blue Chickens don't eat Just anything.
They aren't easy to catch"
you told me with a sleepy smile.
Almost as hard to catch
as pink elephants I thought
to myself as I covered you
with a soft blanket.
Your tequila snores
echoing through out the room.
Blue Chickens indeed
I muttered, reaching for my coffee..
Maybe I can figure out a way
to write your Blue Chickens into a poem!

written By:
Patricia Sawyer
10-26-2008


As I was looking this over I realized that My siblings were going to swear I stole their tip Money when they were small.....I did.... I confess.... I took the dollar bills and divided whatever change there was between the two of you.. I think Daddy knew it. That's why he always put three dollars and four quarters. No easy way to divide that. Except for three dollars for me and two quarters each for y'all.. Now you are both welcome for being allowed to help me and Y'all did good! I love Y'all!
Patsy

A Gift of Words.

"oh my! you are just incredibly talented! you got me there, i was hooked by your post and i got to read it. ^^ Now try this, i wish to see what will be the result.." ~ webloglearner
http://www.blogger.com/profile/12022359549820472945


"A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket." ~Charles Peguy

"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one." ~Baltasar Gracián


I Love a gift of words. Yesterday I did a post on writing from word lists. I was tickled pink this morning to find a list of words left for me in the comments section. I sat down right then and wrote the poem I am sharing with you today. This is a spooky time of year when witches and spells are everywhere. Please enjoy being a part of a witches dream! I also visited the blog of webloglearner and invite you to visit it as well. A link is above, Just below the first quote of today. Thanks again for the list! Today enjoy the spirit of being scared. Say Boo! to someone you love. Laugh together and be glad for the chance to calm each others real fears. Talk with someone you trust about the things that really frighten you. And stay away from the twisting twirling Grape vines! Have a wonderful day.
Patsy



The Witches Dream

The Grapes hung in violet clusters
upon the twisted vine.
I should have been in bed.
Sleep covering me
like a warm blanket.
A ring of sugar plums
my only dream.
But No, I had seen
the Poster advertising grapes.
I had promised myself
only to steal what I could eat.
Never to be caught.
No evidence you see
except for a full belly.
No evidence, no crime!
I would do no time!
But Oh what a wicked game.
How those vines twisted,
twirling around my feet.
Holding me tight and still
No matter how I kicked.
My cry from the amethyst orchard unheard.
She came then carrying her Brass
cauldron as if it weighted naught.
A black cat hurrying along beside
with secret spices in a special black sack.
It was plain that I was the ingredient
and the witch was about To Cook.
She gathered things from secret spots
she looked into a book. She turned
and looked into my eyes.
My body shook and shook
and then a crash from by my bed
as I jumped up on the floor.
Feet cold, heart racing, a cold sweat.
Knowing it only a nightmare,
I patted my Purple cluster filled tummy
and crawled right back into the witches dream.

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-23-2008

with a word lists of- grapes, feet, book, cry, kick, sleep,eat, ring , blanket, poster
provided by webloglearner.

Word Bank Writing ~ Not as easy as it sounds.

"I never knew what was meant by choice of words. It was one word or none."~ Robert Frost



"The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly…Once you've got some words looking back at you, you can take two or three - throw them away and look for others."~ Bernard Malamud

"Writing is an adventure." Winston Churchill

Today is Wednesday and so, as y'all who come here often know, Y'all will get to read some poetry of mine today. I am posting two poems today. These poems were written from word banks: Or lists of words chosen by some one else and sent to me. Sounds easy huh. It's not as easy as you think. Sometimes words just don't even sound good with each other with you read them. I always start by reading the list aloud to myself. I like to hear words spoken. I guess I am a listener. I think my family who read this are laughing right now. They all are shaking their heads and saying," A listener my behind! A talker and a fool and thinks she's a writer: but she is not a listener." What I mean is that I want my poems to SOUND a certain way. I would rather read one of my poems aloud myself than have someone else do it. They often don't read them like I would. So as I was saying some words don't sound good together.


I am a sucker for words though. I like to get a lists of words and try to write from it. I had a story on here a while back called Something Old~ Something New! That story was written from a word bank. When I read a word I get a mental image. Certain words when read together form an even more vivid image. Such as the three words Fountain, Farmer, and Cabbage. You will find these three words in one of tonight's poems. But My favorite Poem ever written from a word bank is Caustic View. It also the first poem shared with Y'all tonight. Enjoy it! Now go ahead, send me a list of at least ten words. I will always give it a try at writing something from them. And they do have to be words an average person would know. Not words from some rare word dictionary. Those I will only look up. Have a wonderful day!
Patsy



Caustic View

Fitting my eye to the keyhole
I peak into the elegant room.
I have an amazing view.
Beyond the table still holding
the remains of last nights
gourmet meal, with flecks
of spilled pepper shining
on the snowy linens.
To the rumpled bed,
it's fluffy pillow tossed,
unwanted onto the plush gray
of the floor.
The hands on the bedside clock
sit still as it rests there unwound.
Finally a movement on the terrace
attracts my eye and I jerk away
from the key hole and scream.
I must confide that I only wanted to peak
at the beauty from the orient. I never expected
My eye to discover the caustic view
of her dainty neck noosed
and her beautiful body
twirling in the predawn light.


Written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-18-2008


The word list for this poem was~ Caustic, keyhole, elegant,beyond, gourmet, pepper, pillow, clock, terrace, attracts, confide, orient.
This list was from a poetry contest held by Polaja on the Allpoetry.com sight.



Ripples of Fear

Resting near the fountain
I could see the Farmer
tending his Cabbage.
"Oh how quaint"
I thought to myself.
My Mean heart quickening.
With not a ripple of remorse
I carefully aimed My Bicycle
and careened down the Hill.
The rigid handlebars striking
his belly with a horrifying splat.
It was with great fortitude that he
remained upright and turned
to me with a haunted look and said
"I guess you just qualified for the
meanest way to heighten ones senses!"
But it was his weirdly wicked smile
that sent the ripples of fear
down My suddenly rigid spine.

written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-21-2008

the word list for this poem was~ Cabbage, Careen, Careful,
Farmer, Fortitude, Fountain, Haunting, Heighten,
Horrify, Quaint, Qualified, Quickening,
Remorse, Rigid, Ripple

This list was also from Allpoetry.com and was a contest held by: Pamela A Lamppa

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

"Early detection is key, And if I hadn't found my lump early, I don't know what would have been. I am still here and I want to encourage women to do that on a regular basis."
~ Olivia Newton-John

"But when this happens to you - and I think other people would identify with this - suddenly, colors are brighter. You see everything." ~ Lynn Redgrave

"When other women have this same operation, it doesn't make any headlines. But the fact that I was the wife of the President put it in headlines and brought before the public this particular experience I was going through. It made a lot of women realize that it could happen to them. I'm sure I've saved at least one person—maybe more." ~Betty Ford


I knew I wasn't supposed to be listening. I also knew that Mama and Grandma were talking about something that they considered important. Reuben was driving his trucks around on the floor right in front of them. I was sitting quietly under the table trying to look like I was playing with my Barbies. I'm pretty sure I was doing a good job since they weren't really paying me any attention. They glanced at Reuben every now and again but they weren't looking my way. I had already slipped my pencil and a scrap of paper out. I was writing.

They didn't want us to understand them. I knew that because they were spelling. Well actually Mama was spelling to Aunt Frankie on the phone. Grandma had already whispered everything to Mama when she had first come walking across the yard. I had seen her stop first at Aunt Lucy's house. I had been sitting in the china berry tree when I saw her crossing the field. She was walking kinda fast for Grandma so I knew something was wrong. I also knew that she would come on to our house next so I hurried to get my stuff and get settled under the table.

I thought I knew the word Mama spelled. C~A~N~C~E~R I was almost sure that I had heard that word before. Mr Isle from down the road had had that. He had died after being sick for just a short while. His daughters rode our school bus. I wrote the word down and looked at it. Then I heard another word I knew ~ breast~ I knew what that was. All Girls had them. All boys had them too but I knew mine would grow and My brothers' would not. I didn't know why that was true. Just that it was. I was smart. I saw almost everything that happened around me and let me tell you. I was nosy too.. I didn't miss anything said or spelled anywhere close to me. I wanted to go get the encyclopedia and look up this word they kept spelling but I was scared I would miss something. So I sat there quiet and listened.

Finally the story unfolded that My aunt Rose had been to the Doctor and they had told her that she had this thing they spelled. I saw tears gather in Mama's eyes. I knew it was bad. I wanted to cry myself. I worried about who would take care of my cousins if their Mama was sick. I wondered if we could catch this thing from her. I slipped away to sneak the ~C~ encyclopedia. I slipped it into my barbie case, carefully pushing the others together so that no one would notice it missing. I hurried to my room and closed myself in my closet. Settling myself down on the floor I began to look for the word I written while under the table.

Cancer~ Breast Cancer~ When Aunt Rose first got sick, many many women died from breast cancer. It was an almost surety that they would die. But before they died they would undergo the trauma of having both breast removed. Months and months of Radiation and Chemo therapy. Aunt Rose was the first person I ever knew who had breast cancer. Aunt Rose went through so many things in those days when the doctors really didn't know much about how to treat cancer and research had just begun on breast cancer. I know they removed her breasts. I learned that by listening to her daughter and my oldest brother when they thought they were having a private conversation. But she lived. I was amazed that she could live without breasts.
To a young child some things seem impossible.

I tried to see a difference in Aunt Rose. I convinced Mama to let me walk down to the store and get an ice cream. I Opened the cooler and peaked at her through the swirling frosty fog that rose from the hatch lid. She was sitting in the built in chair on the end of the stores old counter. She looked tired and a little white around the eyes. She smiled at me and asked me if I had seen the new Dolls in the Store window. She knew I loved dolls. I couldn't tell she had cancer. But I knew it And I Hated it. I had read all about it in the encyclopedia and I had been to the school library and looked it up. I still thought she would die right away. I loved Aunt Rose. I wanted her to be cured. I wanted her to have her breasts back. I wanted her to live.

Aunt Rose lived many many years after she was first diagnosed with Cancer. She would go into remission for a while then it would come back. You could always tell when she was taking chemo. She would wear a pink hat/scarf thing . It sat lopsided on her head and yet it became her. I would see her at the school picking up her Grand kids and she would be smiling. Her pink hat sitting sideways on her head. I believe she treasured every day continuing to tend her children then her Grandchildren. Teaching herself to play Guitar. Learning to do ceramics. Living long enough to take care of Uncle Neal until he died. Then following close behind.

Many more women in my life had cancer and died and yet Aunt Rose lived on for many years. Aunt Agnes lived only three months after she found a tiny lump. My one time best friend Pam Richardson lived almost six months deciding not to have surgery or take any treatments when they told her that the cancer had already spread into her lymph nodes before she ever felt a lump. Apparently she had a fast growing type of cancer. My friend Thim fighting for four years only to die last year. Just Last week Mrs. Jo Anne passing away after a two year battle. So Many wonderful Ladies that Cancer has taken from my life.

I could also give a list of names of breast cancer survivors. But the one thing all the survivors have in common is early detection. I have to tell you that I went kicking and screaming but I did have a mammogram this year. I gave the Doctor hell and swore I wasn't going to have it. But in the end even I have sense enough to know that I need to do my part to make sure I don't have Breast cancer.

I had heard that it hurt. It didn't hurt really, it was a little uncomfortable for my arm in one of the poses they twisted me into. If you have never had a mammogram, talk with your health care provider. They have guidelines as to how old you should be and how often you should have them. There are new treatments now. Many more women survive than ever before. I encourage all ladies to do their part to prevent breast cancer. Do self checks. Teach your spouse
to be aware of changes in your body. Visit your Doctor regularly. Quit smoking! Have Mammograms!

I want to encourage all Women to have a mammogram this year. Men please encourage the ladies in your life to take an active roll in their health. Have a wonderful day!
Patsy

Today is Grouch Day!

"I'm really 95 percent Mr. Rogers, and only 5 percent Oscar the Grouch."
~ George Steinbrenner

"I don't mind playing absolute bastards... I just don't want to play the grouch. "
~ Hume Cronyn

"A grouch escapes so many little annoyances that it almost pays to be one. "
~ Kin Hubbard

Today is National Grouch Day. I know a few of those. I mean I think we all know someone who acts as if they have been sucking pickles. Or Maybe sat on a cactus. One of those folks that is almost never happy. There is at least one in every neighborhood. I know who she is in my Neighborhood. You know you know one. At least one besides the famous one who lives on Sesame Street next to big Bird and Elmo. You know that green Guy in the garbage can!


"A Grouch's mission in life is to be as miserable and grouchy as possible, and pass that feeling on to everyone else. Only then will a Grouch feel in touch with his or her world and be happy. Yet, even though a Grouch may show happiness at anyone's misfortune (including his or her own), a Grouch would never admit to being happy. Such is the stability of a Grouch's life: so balanced, and yet so unbalanced. "
~ Quoted from ~ muppet.wikia.com


I could give you a list so Long.... But then again I will pass on that. My Brothers know which
of them are grouches. I don't have to call them by name. I wonder if being a grouch is inherited? I bet it is. Or at the very least it is catchable. I caught it from my children and my honey. Or either I caught it from my Wives- in - Law! I will accept that My grouchy children caught it from me.


I know my own self to be a grumpy grouch at times. I usually wake up in the grouch mode when I am going to be in that kind of Mood. I try to be fair to all around me by giving them fair warning that I woke up mean today. They always wanna ask silly things like why? or How can you wake up mean? Now I ask you all , wouldn't it, given that I have already warned a person, make more sense to go away and let me stew in my own mean old wicked grouchiness? Why? Oh why do those I am trying so hard to not choke have to ask me stuff? I have been sucking pickles. I have sat on a cactus.. Go away and let me Grump! I tried to write a grouch poem. But being grouchy, I don't like it much! But I do hope you enjoy it.

Grouchy Me!

I think I had a nightmare
as I was waking up today.
I dreamed I was a grouch
mean as anything and everything.
A wicked women!

I snapped at my Honey
I tried to bite my dog.
I yelled at my kids
but too late their all grown.
A mean Old Mama!

I cried out at myself.
Stop being such a bore.
Too my surprise I answered.
You have always been a grouch!
Stop whining!
A whining wicked woman?

I gave myself a good shake.
And a firm talking to too.
It Can't be all my fault. I'll blame someone.
Then I remembered why I am a grouch.
A grouchy pouty pitiful woman.

And I snapped at my Honey.
I bit my dogs all three.
I yelled at the kids and the grandkids too.
I wrote it all down. Just to share with you.
Be a grouch today! Blame someone else.
Growl at them all. Throw something.
That's what we grouches do!
Grouchy grumpy mean Old ME!

written By: Patricia Sawyer
10-15-2008


Even though today is National Grouch day. I hope that today you will try to find reasons to be pleased by the ones in your life. I also hope that you will let others know how much you love them and how much you would miss then were they to be suddenly gone from your life. I myself have to fight not to be grouchy in this expensive and turbulent world we all now share.
Gas prices, food prices and the constant daily bad news from around the world tends to make us all want to hide in our own little world and be grouchy. Please be kind to the ones who share your life. Even if they are a Grouch! Have a great Day!
Patsy

Have you seen what THEY are wearing now?

"Men want the same thing from their underwear that they want from women: a little bit of support, and a little bit of freedom." ~ Jerry Seinfeld

"This morning when I put on my underwear I could hear the fruit-of-the-loom guys laughing at me." ~ Rodney Dangerfield


"I don't believe in the after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear. "
~ Woody Allen


Underwear

Soft, pink satin,
Baby blue with lace.
Underwear, underwear every place.


Hot red silk
Plain white cotton
Underwear here even I had forgotten.

Black and slinky,
Is that a thong?
Underwear like that almost seems wrong.


Blue with Purple polka dots
Roses scattered over lime.
Underwear like that could never, ever be mine!

Written By: Patricia Sawyer
3-4-2008



Good Wednesday to All of you! Today's poem is called underwear. When I was writing this poem I wondered what My Grandmas would think if they walked through The local stores and saw all the frilly lacy TINY TINY Tiny items called underwear.

The first thong I ever saw got left by a visitor in our home and I thought it was some weird new hair thing. I was about to try it in my own hair when one of the kids yelled out that it was panties.

I remember standing there with My hand on my hip and this tiny lacy green stringy thing hanging on one finger saying~ " You expect me to believe that this here is Drawers?" " No Mama, " she replied, "not Drawers, it's a thong." First of all I was trying to figure out how this tiny scrap of lace covered any body's butt, and secondly how did my child that I had worked so hard to protect, know about these things called thongs.

Women used to wear long drawers that came slap down to their ankles. Even after they became smaller they only had a choice of one or two colors and the underwear covered your whole butt.

Men had a choice too. Boxers or briefs. Then came bikini panties and many more colors. Now you can get barely there underwear and any color imagined.

Women and Men can also get the bikinis and the hipsters and yes they even make thongs for men.. I pray that no Man I knows wears them and if they too, Please don't ever tell me..


I was looking for some underwear myself a few weeks ago and had to go into that section. There were two young girls there with Pants that swung low on their hips and their String was pulled up around their waist. I knew then they were wearing a thong. I was glad though to see the back of theirs.. for you see, Now If I ever decide to buy me one of those tiny little lace scraps.. I will know how to put it on.

This world has changed very quickly. Not just the underwear but everything. I know what My Grandmas would think. They would call the drawers scandalous. They would say people have no morals. I have been here for the changes and even I find some of them overwhelming.

Revisit your youth today. Was there something you wanted but your parents thought was shameful? I'm sure there was. Did you get it anyway. Do you still have it? Was it worth it?
Have a great Day!
Patsy

A writing Class~ A Piece of Cake?

“The whole of life is in each moment, not in the past, not in the future - and thus a true haiku is important because it is a moment of total and genuine awareness of the reality of the Now.”
~ Robert Spiess (New and Selected Speculations on Haiku)

“Haiku has developed as a poem which expresses deep feelings for nature, including human beings. This follows the traditional idea that man is part of the natural world and should live in harmony with it. This differs from the Western way of thinking, in which man is regarded as independent of and perhaps superior to the rest of nature.”~ Sono Uchida President of the haiku International Association.

“Haiku forces us to get out of the loops and worries or depressing thoughts by demanding that we use our senses to explore what is around the body at this very second.” ~Jane Reichhold


A few months ago I was happily searching for writing classes to take free on-line. I found a lot of sights that of course had some catch ~ They were free after you paid to join. ~They were free if you bought a book. ~ Basically they weren't free.

Then I found the Allpoetry sight. And they had a whole section called learn. I was tickled to death. They had a whole lists of classes. And if there were a catch I couldn't find it.. ~ They do offer an up-grade on their sight for some small fee but you are welcomed to take the classes for free.~ I decided right then that I was going to take them all. After all, I love poetry and I made A's in school. I mean how hard can it really be.?!? I was even going to be sensible. I was going to take them two or three at the time. No need to be hoggish since I was pretty sure I had this class thing whipped.

I began with Dark Poetry which I had never written. I have only one more poem to write for that class. I have done very well there.. I have found that I have a dark side that also loves to write. I have enjoyed the class and am proud of myself for trying something new.

I also signed up for a class that teaches you to write for children. I am about half through that class. I loved it to begin with~ But all my kids are grown. I will finish the class but I'm not in a real hurry. My interest has changed.

The third class I signed up for was a Beginners Haiku writing class. I remembered Haiku from high school. I knew this class would be easy. I figured I'd knock the eighteen classes out in eighteen or twenty days. Depending on how slow the teacher was. Oh Boy was I ever WRONG!
First of all I had to forget everything I ever learned about writing Haiku. Forget the syllable counting and the story in three lines rules we learned in school. I want y'all to know ~ I who thought I could write anything~ have struggled with this class. I have wrote Haiku for years. I have won contests for Haiku. I love Haiku. I didn't know the first thing about Haiku. I even told Dave that I didn't think the teacher liked me. As if he could know me enough to decide. I cried. I cursed. Y'all know I cursed a lot when he said "do it again please!" and then I cursed some more when he said, " almost but not quiet. One more time."

Finally, after a few months of writing and re-writing and reading and studying. I am doing well in a Beginners Haiku class. So much for me knocking that class out quick. So much for me having any of them "whipped". I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. Nor as good at writing Haiku as my teachers in school assured me I was. But I am learning. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. I have learned that every Haiku should have an A Ha moment.. They should also cause the reader to think. I am sharing some of my Haiku with you tonight. Haiku also are not supposed to have titles.. I have given these titles only to keep them straight for myself ~And because a sight that I post a lot of my work on won't take anything without a title.
Please enjoy.



Quail
sleeping quail~
soft snores forgotten
under a blanket of Gravy

In the Cemetery
an old cemetery
tilted gravestones thrusting
~ a Hare nibbles grass

Hissing Grass
vigilant reptile
Rippled over the rocks
Hissing Grass swirls


Into the River
mourners squawk~
Red tailed Hawk follows
Daisies downstream


Clean Slate
driftwood drawn words~
sandy slate washed clean
under waves of the sea.


Haiku written By:Patricia Sawyer
9-4-2008 and 10-1-2008


I hope Y'all have enjoyed my Haiku today. Maybe you can even imagine what image I was thinking of as I wrote some of them. I hope that every day you find something poetic in your own life. Something to have an AH Ha moment of your own. Enjoy life. Live it to the fullest that you can. Take a good, long, close, look at the world around you. You might be surprised at what you see. Have a great day!
Patsy