My Journey Continues

My Journey Continues
By Candace Shultz

Imagine
that you
are eating your
favorite cookies and there's
only one left. Now imagine
that you've been running a marathon
and you've just crossed the finish line.
The dismay. The exhilaration! That's me right now.

Some days my feet dragged me down the hallway
into my bedroom and to my desk where I dilly-dallied
on the internet until an hour before bed. Then I'd stare
at the blank screen and the blinking cursor with a blank face
and blank mind until I made myself actually write something, anything. I'd listen
to the hum of my computer as I scrambled for a mix of words
that would fit a picture of my life into a frame. Not perfect. Just me.

Other days I'd hurry to my desk, words and phrases just fighting to be released,
to be heard. Whether pen and paper or keyboard and computer, my creativity craved
an outlet. Ideas and words overflowed my mind. My muse was throwing a
party and everyone was invited. I just had to weed out the
people I didn't like. I need more days like that: days
of inspiration, days of creativity, and days where I've rediscovered
my passion for the written word. My written words.

National Poetry Month has come to an end.
I ate the last cookie. I finished
the race. The best part? I
now have thirty new poems.
Whether good or bad,
it doesn't matter.
My journey
continues.

I am a Mother and I Love to Read

I had trouble coming up with ideas today, so I searched for poetry prompts and found the "I AM" prompt. I've actually done this prompt before (I can't remember if it was in high school or college), but I want to do it again because life changes so much through the years. Click on this link for reference to the "I AM" poetry prompt.

I am a Mother and I Love to Read

By Candace Shultz

I am a mother and I love to read.
I wonder what my life would be like if I were another person.
I hear the voices of strangers who know me.
I see tigers in my past, present, and future.
I want to be content in my own body.
I am a mother and I love to read.

I pretend to be a giant stuffed caterpillar giving kisses to my giggling baby.
I feel her arms around my neck and her sloppy kisses on my cheek.
I touch my husband's hands as he holds me in my sleep.

I worry every time my baby falls.
I cry when my husband has to leave on deployment.
I am a mother and I love to read.

I understand that no one is perfect.
I say that God is real.
I dream of becoming a published writer.
I try to clean the house, I really do.
I hope that I don't screw up my daughter.
I am a mother and I love to read.

Here is the poem I wrote years ago based on this same prompt.

“I Am”

I am a young woman reaching my ink-stained fingertips to touch a lonely, bright star in the soft, dark sky.

I am worried, yet carefree.

I wonder if my grandfather looks down on me from heaven, his eyes bright with encouragement.

I hear the soft whispering of delicate leaves as the wind tickles the trees.

I see a horse running through the trees towards freedom.

I want to run my fingers along the rough, ancient buildings of Italy and to sink my toes in the sandy beach.

I am a young woman reaching my ink-stained fingertips to touch a lonely, bright star in the soft, dark sky.

I pretend that the world is beautiful without horrors and pain.

I feel that everyone has hope and can achieve their dreams.

I touch puffy clouds that disappear in my hand.

I worry about everything.

I cry when I lose a friend.

I am a young woman reaching my ink-stained fingertips to touch a lonely, bright star in the soft, dark sky.

I understand that life is not fair.

I say that we should not give up anyway.

I dream that I am happy in my future.

I try to do the best that I can do.

I hope that my smile and kindness affects at least one person who will then give happiness to others.

I am a young woman reaching my ink-stained fingertips to touch a lonely, bright star in the soft, dark sky.

Meow Like a Cat, Cry Like a Baby

Meow Like a Cat, Cry Like a Baby

By Candace Shultz

Have you ever seen a baby act like a cat?

My baby behaves like that.

She "paws" at the window screen

Scratches at the door

Wiggles when you shake her treats

Crawls on the floor

She cries when she wants some food
Ignores you when you say her name

Stands up to reach her toys

See? They're just the same.

She'll play with a box or string

Instead of her own toy

And if you turn the vacuum on

She'll run from all the noise

Sometimes she'll play peek-a-boo

And she'll nibble on my hair

But if you have something to do

She'll make sure to be right there

It's just so funny to see the similarity

Between a cat and my cute little baby. 

All in a Day's Work

All in a Day's Work
By Candace Shultz

There are so many things I need to do.
Here, I've listed just a few:
Clean the dishes, wash some clothes,
Trim the nails on my toes,
Scrub the bathroom, log receipts,
Clean my desk, wash the sheets,
Sweep and mop every floor,
Go to the grocery store,
Pay the bills, visit the library,
Then after dinner, I'll exercise maybe.
But instead of doing all my chores,
I'm improving my Angry Birds' scores.

BINGO

BINGO
By Candace Shultz

B is for the beginning when I'm excited to play the game.

I is for the ink that's used to daub circles on my cards.

N is for all the numbers called that match all of mine.

G is for my giddiness as I get closer to the win.

O is for having one number left when someone else calls bingo.

Ghosts in My Shower

I woke up to the

sound of the shower running,

but no one was there.

When I was a teenager, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard the shower running, but when I went to the bathroom, no one was in the shower. I checked all the rooms and everyone was sleeping. Spooky. Even spookier? The owner who lived there before us was an old lady who died in the bathtub. 

A Mother's Reality

A Mother's Reality

By Candace Shultz

When you fall down and

hit your head, I want to cry

with you, but I don't.

Guilt eats at my heart that I

couldn't protect you from pain.

I can't protect you

from everything, but I can

keep calm and comfort

you. I can hug you and kiss

you and distract you with games.

I'd do anything

to take away your sorrow.

I am your mother.

Your pain is my pain, but I

will be strong for both of us.

One Fine Spring Day

One Fine Spring Day

By Candace Shultz

We stroll through the town

Under the shade of the blooming trees.

We gaze at the flowers

As we enjoy the warmth of the sun.

A gentle breeze flows through my hair

And tickles my noise with fragrant blossoms.

I smile and sigh and sneeze.

Then I sneeze and sneeze and sneeze.

My eyes start to burn.

My throat begins to itch.

My nose drips and drips.

And I sneeze and sneeze and sneeze.

This Isn't a Poem

This Isn't a Poem

By Candace Shultz

I'm not writing a poem today.

You can't make me. No way!

I will run, and I will play,

But I won't write a poem, no matter what you say.

The playground is calling my name

Where all the kids are playing a game.

But school is making life so lame.

I'm stuck inside, and you're to blame.

I didn't do my homework,

So you went berserk,

And now there you lurk

At your desk waiting for my masterwork.

Now I'm really getting bored

As I look toward

The window at my horde

Of friends. I'm really feeling ignored.

Well, maybe I'll admit

That perhaps I shouldn't omit

My homework, but only if you'll permit

Me to go outside to do my skit.

Here's my poem. Yes, it's true.

I wrote this poem all for you.

I hope you'll forgive me for my few

Misdeeds. Now I bid you adieu. 

Apologies

Sometimes I get mad,

But I know when I am wrong.

I apologize.

Sleeping like a Baby

Sleeping like a Baby

By Candace Shultz

Let her go,

This I know,

But still I want to see

What's wrong with my baby.

Let her cry.

Ten minutes go by,

And still she's not sleeping,

So now I'll take a peep in.

She looks at me as I walk in,

Then she pulls to standing.

I check her diaper, sing a song,

And lay her down. Then not too long,

She's fast asleep again.

Just Keep Running

I've been dieting lately to lose all the weight I gained during pregnancy. It's hard work to eat less and exercise more. Sometimes I feel great about myself and what I've accomplished so far. I lost 12 pounds in 6 weeks. Other times I just feel so hungry that I can only think about the negative things: I gained a pound back in the last three weeks because I got off track on my diet and exercise. So today I wrote a poem about my struggle with diet and exercise.

Just Keep Running

By Candace Shultz

I listen to my stomach growl

And try to ignore the pain,

But everything entices me

To just eat and eat and eat.

Eat that bag of Doritos,

Eat that chocolate bar,

Eat that slice of pizza,

Just enjoy them all.

Some days I give in.

Other days I am strong,

But thinking about food all day

Just seems so wrong.

Then I try to exercise to burn off all that weight,

But sometimes I have to fight myself

To put down my book or game.

Why do something tedious

When I can relax instead?

Other times, I run and run and run and run,

Yet I still don't get too far.

All that exercise means nothing

If I still don't lose the weight.

So goodbye to all that yummy food

And all that extra free time.

I must ignore the grumbling

And get up from the couch.

I'll run and run and run and run

And hope to feel fit in time.

Death, He Welcomes Me

As I thought about what to write today, a line popped into my head: I looked in the mirror and Death stared back at me. From that line, this poem just unfolded itself into its current form.


Death, He Welcomes Me

By Candace Shultz

As a child,
I climbed a tree and Death climbed up with me.
I swam in the ocean and Death swam after me.
I rode my bike down a hill and Death rode close behind.

As a teenager,
I drove a car and Death sat next to me.
I went to a party and Death was holding a beer.
I laughed in the face of danger and Death laughed back at me.

As an adult,

I kept myself busy with work, family, and friends,

But even though I tried to forget him, Death would lurk around.

I'd look in the mirror and find Death staring back at me.

Now that I'm older,

I watch my grandchildren as I rock in my chair and Death sits by my side.

I smile at all my family and Death reaches for my hand.

I close my eyes and see my old friend Death as he welcomes me.

A Than Bauk Poem - A Dieter's Failure

Today the poem technique I used is Than Bauk. You can find some information here. Basically, there are three lines with four syllables each. Each line should have a rhyme, but instead of rhyming at the end you rhyme on the fourth syllable of the first line, third syllable of the second line, and second syllable of the last line.

A Dieter's Failure

By Candace Shultz

It's true that I

have failed my goal

to. . .  Pie! Oh yum!

Lack of Inspiration

Inspiration will

not come to me today, so

this is all you get.

At least it's a haiku!

Snowball Technique

The following poem is a snowball, another OULIPO technique, in which each line has one word and each word has one extra letter than the previous line. I like this technique, but it becomes much harder as you add on the letters. You can go to this link to learn more about the snowball technique.



I
do
not
know
peace.

Sneaky,
gradual
measures
destroyed
everything.

Hatemongers
masterminded
destituteness,
depravednesses,
destructiveness.

The Roadstead Not Taken - An N+7 Poem

I like to try new poetry forms sometimes. I found a poetic technique called OULIPO that combines mathematics and poetry. More specifically, I used the N+7 rule in which you use a poem already created and change each of the nouns in that poem with a noun that's seven nouns away in a dictionary. I decided to use Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken. I referenced the 2006 version of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus. 

The Roadstead Not Taken

By Candace Shultz

Two roadsteads diverged in a yellow woodcraft,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one travesty, long I stood

And looked down onrush as far as I could

To where it bent in the underproduction;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better clamshell

Because it was grassy and wanted weathering,

Though as for that the past there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morpheme equally lay

In league no stepparent had trodden blackbird.

Oh, I marked the first sergeant for another daylight saving time!

Yet knowing how weak force leads on to weak force

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a signatory

Somewhere ageratum and ageratum hence:

Two roadsteads diverged in a woodcraft, and I,

I took the onrush less traveled by,

And that has made all the digest. 

In my opinion, I think N+7 just turns out really weird. Though I love math just as much as creative writing, I don't think I'll be combining them in the N+7 way again. However, I might try one of OULIPO's other techniques.

Techie Haikus

My husband convinced me to enter a techie haiku contest on ThinkGeek. Here are the haikus I'm thinking about entering into the contest. 

Oh, hello Kirby.

Wait...what?...Please don't suck me in!

I have no powers!

~ ~ ~

It's happened again.

I stare at my computer.

The blue screen of death.

~ ~ ~

Joshua Jackson?

I love Joshua Jackson!

I miss watching Fringe.

~ ~ ~

20 68 61 69 6b 75

Translation:

( haiku) 

written in Hexadecimal Code

My husband helped me with the last haiku. I wanted to write haiku in binary code, but it wasn't working out, so he told me to write it in hexadecimal code instead.

Clerihew - Sheldon Cooper

This poem is for all The Big Bang Theory fans out there!

Sheldon Cooper

Is in a stupor.

Even though he's sick, Penny won't take pity.

She refuses to sing "Soft Kitty."

Limerick - Quit Monkeying Around

Quit Monkeying Around

By Candace Shultz

I once knew a guy from the zoo.

He kissed a girl monkey or two.

"Cut it out," I said.

He wiggled instead

And threw a big chunk of his poo.

Limerick - Old Mother Hubba Hubba

I've never written a limerick, so I gave it a try yesterday. The following poem is my first limerick ever. My husband came up with the title. 

Old Mother Hubba Hubba

By Candace Shultz

There once was a Grandma who read

A book of romance in her bed.

The words were obscene,

For her just routine,

So she jumped on her husband instead.

I dedicate this poem to my Grandma. 

A Daughter's Sonnet

I finished my sonnet! I hope you enjoy reading it.

A Daughter's Sonnet

By Candace Shultz

I wish that I could see my dad today

And tell him he was never there for me.

The truth is that he never cared to be.

It doesn't matter what he wants to say,

For all those years of tears he has to pay

For shirking his responsibility

And treating me as though I am debris.

Denying me will never be okay.

But I don't want to be like him at all,

So I forgive my dad. Rejecting him

Will only hurt me more. My anger's there,

But I release my pain to God and call

For peace between my dad and me to bring

An end to bitter ways and long despair.

Clerihew - Mr. and Mrs. Carter

I'm still working on my sonnet, and I really hope for it to be completed tomorrow. So today I will share with you two clerihew poems that go together. Mr. and Mrs. Carter are characters from my imagination.

Mr. Jerry Carter

Made a barter.

He lost all his money and wanted a gold knife,

So he traded for it by selling his wife.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mrs. Mary Carter

Was sold in a barter,

But she left her husband in laughter

Because she took all his money and lived happily ever after.

Cleo and Me

Today I worked on a poem for two hours until my husband said it was 10:30 pm, but I still hadn't finished the poem. I started out with one idea, scratched the idea partway through, then went with an entirely different idea. I often want to be perfect when I write, so I edit as I go along, which really means that I stare at my paper as I run through various sentences in my mind until I finally write down one line 10 minutes later. Obviously my work will not be perfect, so I know I should just write and write and write, and then edit later.

Long story short, I didn't finish the poem I was working on today. I decided to write a sonnet, so it's taking a lot more work than my previous poems.

But do not be sad, my dear readers, for I will still share a poem with you. I delved into my old journal of poetry. When I say old, I mean one that's over 10 years old. I am sharing with you a rewrite of one of my very first poems. I say "rewrite" because I had lost the original and rewrote what I could remember. I think I wrote this poem when I was around 10 or 11 years old.

Cleo and Me

By Candace Shultz

I have a cat

Who is not fat.

She likes to always wear a hat

Only when she sees my Uncle Pat.

Her name is Cleo,

And she likes a cat named Leo.

I look forward to seeing her every day,

But my mom usually tells me to go out and play,

So I go to the bay

While Cleo is having fun playing in the hay.

She really loves the Lord,

And she won't touch a sword,

So when she gets bored

We jump in the beautiful white Ford.

When Cleo and I have nothing to do,

We go outside and play with Sue.

To have fun, we dye our hair

And show our parents to give them a scare.

Now that Cleo is a special friend,

My poem to you has come to an end.

Sleeping Haiku

I decided to write haiku today. The day just whizzed by, and it's about time for bed, so I think haiku about sleeping or waking would be appropriate. Since today is Day 6 of National Poetry Month, I'll share 6 haiku.

Bleary-eyed, I wake

Though not of my own accord.

Damn you, alarm clock.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oh fluffy pillow,

Where I love to rest my head

And sleep the night through.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I don't make the bed.

I just haphazardly throw

The blankets on me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I shiver from cold,

So I cuddle my husband

And take all his warmth.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I long for my bed,

To stretch out my legs and sleep,

To blissfully dream.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I should clean the house,

But my body says to sleep,

So I nap instead.

Because You Love Me

Because You Love Me

By Candace Shultz

I snuggle to your chest

And sleep in your arms.

I walk when you hold my hands.

I trust you.

You feed me when I'm hungry,

Bundle me up when I am cold.

You rock me when I'm crying.

I need you.

I laugh when you tickle me

And smile at your coos.

I cherish every hug and kiss

Because I love you.

I trust you with my life.

I need you every day.

I love you with all my heart.

Can we go outside and play?

Clerihew - Little Bo Peep

Little Bo Peep

Was tired of sheep,

So she lost them one by one

And went into town to have some fun.

Cinquain - Baby

Baby

By Candace Shultz

Baby

Sweet, curious

Crawling, standing, walking

Each stage just a fleeting moment

Toddler

Cinquain - Notebook

April is National Poetry Month! I've decided to write a new poem for each day of this month. Today I tried to write a cinquain for the first time. You can go to this website for examples and descriptions of a cinquain.

Notebook
By Candace Shultz

Notebook

Crisp, white pages

A blank slate for ideas

Becomes tattooed and worn with use

Journal