Category: History

Blog, History

Time Stands Still – Rima Dissoluta

by  • 
Le Vieux Port – Marseille

Time Stands Still

Seventeen in nineteen sixty nine
Hair blonde, straight and long
all the way down to the waist
Skirt tiny with a pleat
Way above the knees

Limbs stretched supple, lean and fine
Pushing through the throng
A girl on a mission makes haste 
Never missing a beat
Excusez-moi if you please

Le Vieux Port, Marseille, said the sign
heart skipping it won’t be long
She’ll see him, not a moment to waste
Slipping into her seat
Waiting fifty three years, a breeze


Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Sanaa is hosting D'Verse Poets tonight and has prompted us with
a French form called Rima Dissoluta.  It is a poem of three five line
stanzas and the rhymes would work as follows:

(1-a, 2-b, 3-c, 4-d, 5-e) (6-a, 7-b, 8-c, 9-d, 10-e) (11-a, 12-b, 13-c, 14-d, 15-e)

I lived in Marseille when I was younger and have fond memories
Blog, History

The House on the Hill

by  • 

The House on the Hill

The old house on the hill
was a magical place to a young child
Conjuring visions of grandeur
from a time gone by
Imagining winding staircases
and huge chandeliers
Surely an attic filled with treasures
An old rocking horse, beloved train set
and dusty photographs
How I wished to explore
the expansive home
but it was not meant to be
and remained an enigma

The iron railing fence and huge gate
always locked and foreboding
Mounds of leaves from ancient trees
picked up by chilly winds
Only on rare occasions did we see her,
the old lady who lived there
Glimpses through the window of a face
with grey hair pulled tight in a bun
How we would giggle and make up stories
of her being a witch who would snatch 
up small children and eat them for supper
All so long ago but those memories still fresh
as I picked up the Sold sign and turned the key 


Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Photo by Nathan Walker on Unsplash

Laura is hosting D'Verse Poets tonight and has prompted us as follows

For this Poetics Prompt I want us to be voyeurs, peeping through windows and doors of a house One that has no family connections, no memories of our own to call upon .

  • conjure an imaginary house of any size, any place, any age
  • fill it with an imaginary person/people past or present, or ghosts,  or leave it empty with its history
  • make it literal but move into the metaphorical if you wish
Blog, History

Mushroom Cloud

by  • 

Mushroom Cloud

An early August morning
A day like any other
beginning for many
ending for thousands
Enola Gay released and
Little Boy was on his descent
Exploding above earth
at eight sixteen am
Burning, killing, obliterating
instantly
His mushroom cloud
rising back towards the sky
Quickly spreading outwards
Continuing his destruction
Warnings, given
Believed, perhaps
Doubted, likely
Heeded, not

 
Copyright © 2021 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Sarah is hosting D'Verse Poets tonight and has
prompted us with "Mushroom" and encouraged us to
use it however we wish.

This poem is about the dropping of the
Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945

Photo courtesy of Live Science
Blog, History

Unknown Soldier

by  • 
Photo from Bayeux Cemetery, Normandy

Unknown Soldier

Here lies a body
of a soldier unknown
A brave warrior
snatched from this life
to serve with honor
and distinction
What of you young man?
Were you married
with a pretty wife
and babies in arms?
Were you maybe
a drafted teenager?
A son of proud parents
who will cry forever more
We shed tears of sadness
to see your unmarked grave
never knowing
what might have been
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

Laura is hosting Tuesday Poetics at D'Verse tonight
and has prompted us with the graves of those we do not know.
We have been asked to choose from the following;

Choose the character from the Norris or the Longfellow poem or even one of Captain Cat’s old seasalts (follow the link above to the text – its near the beginning)

OR find a similar poem that introduces a deceased character for you to fill in or posit the details

OR pick a name from a headstone in any churchyard or cemetery
bring the deceased to life by letting them speak (first person) or speak with them (2nd person) or speak about them (3rd person)
it is NOT the whole life story that is required but the essence of the person’s character and life
Meter and rhyme is entirely your own choice

Word Prompts:

Honor - Word of the Day
Distinction - RDP
Blog, History

Fire Festival – Up Helly Aa

by  • 

Fire Festival

Once more
the night of fire
returns
Transforming
personalities
Exploring
Experimenting
with hidden desires
and identities
The fierceness
of the festival
Mesmerizing
Magical
Rejoicing
Winter’s end
 

 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

In response to Sue Vincent's Weekly Write/Photo
Challenge.  Her photo reminded me of the Viking
Fire Festivals in Scotland.

Read more about Up Helly Aa It is an annual
Viking Fire Festival in the Shetland Isles off the
east coast of Scotland in the North Sea.
Blog, History

Color Outside The Lines

by  • 

Color Outside The Lines

We breathe the same air
and bleed the same blood
You see what I see
It sticks in your craw
and we will disagree
 
Your skin is light
And mine is dark
Our pigments differing
Geography determined
Tempers simmering
 
The Mighty Whitey
Ruled the roost
We lived under your thumb
Fearing the whip
Taken from whence we come
 
We still pay the price
For not being like you
We melt in the same pot
Freedom long since coming
We still ain’t got what you got
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

Anmol (alias Ha) is hosting D’Verse Poets
tonight.  we are celebrating Black History Month
and he has prompted us to write a poem either
using one that he suggested or one of our choosing.

I was inspired by the following
Langston Hughes Poem

"Poet to Bigot"

I have done so little
For You
And you have done so little
For me
That we have good reason
Never to agree

I, however,
Have such meagre
Power,
Clutching at a
Moment
While you control
An hour

But your hour is
A stone

My moment
is a flower

Image by geir fløde from Pixabay 
Blog, History

Rock of Ages

by  • 

Rock of Ages

As daylight kissed
the flowery fields
and the sun rose
over the hill
the planted stones
trembled once more
and birds scattered
amid their shrill
 
Ancient rocks
worn with age
standing in position
testing time
Shifting and leaning
with each shudder
of earth’s movement
and continuing rhyme
 
 
 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

In response to Sue Vincent's Weekly
Write/Photo Challenge

Word Prompt

Daylight - RDP

Blog, History

Enough Already

by  • 

Enough Already

A year wished
to be forgotten
from the first
January day
Testing strength
and perseverance
Love and hate
An existence put
on hiatus while
hidden horrors
played Russian roulette
with hearts and minds
Slaves to medicines
and opinions                            
Mixed feelings haunting
and undermining 
Toying and tricking
Tripping and taunting
with theoretical tripe
Praying for this
year to end
 
 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

Word Prompts:

Year - Stream of Consciousness
Hiatus - Word of the Day
Theoretical - FOWC
Mixed Feelings - RDP


Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Blog, History

Kindred Spirit

by  • 

Kindred Spirit

My kindred spirit
we grew at the same time
but thousands
of miles apart
Destiny brought
us together
eventually and
a chance to restart
 
A connection
from our distant history
Knowing you
but how?
Lovers, perhaps
Yet it is a cruel love
One of deep emotion
Then and now
 
Could it be
Master and slave
from centuries past?
Crime and punishment
Why else would
love be so jagged?
Hearts that will never mend
Hidden in its diminishment
 
Is a lesson to be learned
this time around?
I ask as I heal myself
in silence, alone
I am no slave to anyone
At any time
This treatment
I can no longer condone
 
 
Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing ©

Prompts

How do we heal ourselves - OctPoWriMo
Jagged - WotD
Mend - RDP
Kindred - Christine' daily writing prompt
Go Dog Go Cafe
Promote Yourself Monday 
Go Dog Go Cafe

Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay 

	    

	    	

	    	
	

	


	
 

 





		
		
					

			
			
			







	
	
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