Barbara's Meanderings

My schedule for guest authors is filling up for both May and June and right now I have at least three more for May and June.:) If you are interested in being a guest author here, please contact me on Facebook and let me know. Or leave a comment here. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.:)

My daughters are worried still about swine flu. From what I could see there are only twenty people in the United States who have it. Please take precautions though. Washing your hands is really important as suggested by the CDC website. Also I suggest taking extra vitamin C and a very strong multivitamin. I don't care what doctors say, but I've been taking a very strong one for almost twenty years and it really works.:) I take Maxine Vitamins from Country Life. They are great for women and they do make one for men too. :)

Here is the poem for Day 26. The prompt was to write about a misunderstanding. Here is one that actually happened to me. If there is anything that is a little bit odd it has happened to me. The towing yesterday also happened to me and there is a postscript about that at the end of this post.

The Misunderstanding

We came in separate cars
The first mistake
You gave me your member
card to buy the tickets and
I bought two handing one to
the ticket taker and describing
you to her as that heavy guy
with a beard

I took my seat and saved
the seat next to me. Warding
off movie goers who looked
over at me with disdain as the
theater began to fill and mine,
a coveted front row seat was
next to an empty one on the
aisle I saved for you.
I waited, craning my neck to
see the back of the theater
Hoping you’d appear each
moment as the lights dimmed
and you still weren’t there.

When the movie ended and we
streamed into the lobby there
you were coming from the
theater next to mine
“Where were you”” I said after
a peck on your lips.
“I saw the movie.”
“But I left your ticket for you
with the ticket taker.”
“You did?”
“Yes, how did you not get it?”
“I went up to the ticket taker
and there was no ticket there.”
“What,” I said, “ where was it?”
“I just got another ticket and
saw the other movie.”

We walked up to the ticket taker
Eager to solve this mystery.
“Don’t you remember I said to give the
ticket to a man who looked like this one?”
I pointed to my husband. She said, “Oh
no, a man who fitted that description
came by and I gave him the ticket.”
"You mean there's another man who
looks like him?" We all laughed and
accepted the free tickets for next time
from the manager who told us this
was a first for him.
copyright 2009 by Barbara Ehrentreu

Here is the postscript to "Towing Our Car" poem. Yes, the AAA called us at 3AM and deposited the car at the right service station. My husband went to check on the car and our usual mechanic is looking at it. If you are interested in knowing more I will probably have some information on the next post.:)

Until the next time, this week I will be highlighting a new blog instead of interviewing a guest author on Thursday. It could be yours, if you have one. I have a few people in mind, but no winner yet.:)

Before I do that, though, here is my quote for Pompash Dar who is holding a Quotation Thursday on her blog!

"I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace."

Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

It's not about writing, but it expresses how I feel.:)

Today's prompt was to write a poem about work of any kind. Here is the Poem A Day for Day 22:

About Work

I remember those days
when the alarm awoke
me like a hammer slamming
onto my dreamless sleep
Demanding I begin the day
Pushing me into the vortex
of the rushing traffic as I
put on lipstick and turned
onto the highway – sometimes
the sun hadn’t risen yet.

The smell of chalk dust and
remnants of half-eaten
sandwiches left in lunch boxes
returns as I think back to
those days when my life
was ruled by the rules of
others. The feel of worn
wood under my fingers
The vomit green paint on
the walls I strived to hide
with children’s drawings and
writing, but it peeked through

The little nonsense each day
Culminating in time wasted
So much time spent worrying
Not enough given to the lost
and unfettered – the ones who
floundered in dark waters – who
would never be with their peers
Who would always have to crane
their necks to see the top step
they would never reach. Those who
dropped off - gave up the climb.

As I have given up the fight to change
what refuses to change – Too much
energy wasted when my young soul
could have been flying and writing
Instead of standing on hard wood trying
to cram the sum of knowledge into
inattentive minds washed clean of thought
while closed heads incapable of the
ability to dream set up thrones in judgement
It wouldn’t have been work without them.

Here is the prompt for today. Write about a regret you have. Here is mine:

What If

What if instead of ignoring the twinge
of desire I felt when I heard your name

we’d met before the years erased all
possibility and formed a bond from the

bits and pieces of shared experiences
and side by side friendship of friends’ children?

What if you’d come to my door with flowers
and we’d been wined and dined for the

triumph our mothers would have felt at our union
And maybe then we might have the passion

that came to the surface the day we met
years later like an unformed boil that needed

to come to a head. Instead of me sitting on your
lap with someone else’s baby and you flustered

by this sign of affection so long desired?
But the timing was wrong

I was a young new mother adrift in the life of
Sesame Street and diapers and you were living

the upper east side dream complete with modernized
four poster bed and significant other.

My childhood friend who cajoled and teased me
Your presence lost to me when we parted

Took separate paths and forged our own ways
Until the day your mother’s furniture crossed my door

The need to see you pushed me to call and your
excited voice to see me after all those years.

As if I were around the corner and we could meet
immediately and live out our childhood's fantasies

That coffee table with the delft tiles is gone now, but the
tiles remain a little worse for wear, the sofa sold before we left Kew Gardens

But I will always remember the look you gave me when we
were inches from a kiss and the cry of my child

reminded me that maybe it was too late
Maybe it was time to put away childish joys.

Read all the posts here. Mine will be there too.:)

Here are the Haikus:

Here is the prompt for today: rebirth.

"I want you to write a poem of rebirth. There are many different types of rebirth available, including the changing of the seasons, the beginning of the day, religious or spiritual rebirth,....." (from Poetic Asides with Robert Brewer)

Rebirth

The earth lays brown
covered with ice and snow
until the sun’s rays melts them
awakens the sleeping seeds
dormant within the rich
humus to begin the process
a milligram at a time until
the delicate embryo
sprouts a tender green
stem and pushes hard
imagine how strong the
effort to spring forward
free in the sunshine!

The new green shoot
cracks through struggling
toward the lightRushing
from the womb
of Mother Earth to feel the
touch of first sunlight
upon the newborn leaves.
copyright 2009 by Barbara Ehrentreu

I can't believe that April only has ten more days to go! I hope that you have enjoyed reading my poems and I encourage all of you to please write at least one poem and send it to me. I will post any that I receive. If you leave them in the comments I will put them all on the blog on April 30th, which is Poem in Your Pocket Day. You are supposed to bring a poem in your pocket and put it in someone else's pocket without them knowing it. :) It's kind of a surprise for your pocket.:) You print out your favorite poem and give it to someone or many someones during the day. It sounds like so much fun!!!

So I've just decided to have a contest of sorts. By April 30th I'll have posted thirty poems. I would love to know which one is your favorite. I'll send it around Facebook, but please let me know which poem you liked the most. I will post the one that has the most votes too!! More about this later in the week.:)

Our guest author for this week is John Wayne Cargile, who is an award winning newspaper writer and the author of the new novel: The Cry of the Cuckoos. He will be here Thursday, April 23rd and Friday, April 24th to answer your questions and comments. Anyone who posts a question or a comment will be in the drawing to receive Mr. Cargile's e-Book free if you are the winner of the drawing. :) This book is very timely, since it addresses right wing fundamentalist organizations. Save the date and drop by for this very unusual interview.:) On his website he has a few reviews of this book and his bio. It seems to me he has led a very interesting life, since he spent some time in the FBI. ( For the "24" fans) I'm looking forward to his being here.

Until the next time. Welcome to my new reader! Thank you to my older readers. Please start letting me know your favorite poem of all the ones I've posted here. Whoever gets the same poem as I picked will get a prize.:)

Earth Day is coming on Wednesday. I will be posting about it here for that day. Remember to try to observe it in any green way that you can.:) If you click on the badge here you will be taken to the website for Earth Day.

Welcome Katie and I'll start with the first thing that popped into my head after I read the synopsis.