Category: Life

Suspended

Suspended

That space in-between
neither awake nor sleep
Waiting, suspended
in limbo
yearning for the deep
 
The mind in overdrive
an uneasy qualm
Tossing and turning
with body contorting  
what medicine will calm?
 
Imagination racing
I say numbers backwards
and count some sheep
After trying all of the above
I did drift off to sleep 


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Merril is hosting D'Verse Poets Pub tonight and has promoted us with a time of Transition.
I have taken a poem that I wrote in 2019 and reworked it a little.  It fits the prompt.	

Image by Dmitriy from Pixabay

Jazz Singer

Jazz Singer

the room darkened
with only wax tapers
to shed light on the corner stage
an ivory tickler seated
in front of his music maker

silhouettes holding cancer sticks
seated at tiny tables
images hazy through
the billowy cloud
of secondhand smoke

the slow riff commanded silence
as the cool cat slipped into his alter ego
allowing the music
to consume his soul
and the words speak volumes



Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Grace is hosting D’Verse and wants us to ‘play with words’

Silver Threads – Poem of the Month – November 2022

Silver Threads

No road is straight and no hill is too steep
We walk a crooked mile every day
and climb obstacles only to be pushed back down
We stumble and trip, fall and rise
The fabric of our lives becomes worn and threadbare
We patch and repair making sure it stays strong
and sometimes even replace it in order to start again
in a new place and a new time
The arduous journey is never lost or forgotten
It is who we are and we are destined to follow a path forward
Sometimes we take a wrong turn and feel hopeless
but along the way we take the silver threads from our clouds
and weave them into the tapestry of our lives
Their light a gleaming reminder of how far we have come


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


Grace is hosting Open Link Night at D’Verse Poets

Dangerous Dance – A Quadrille

Dangerous Dance

What is this strange dance
that we always do
Where we circle each other like prey
Staring in silence
Strategizing and preparing
for the inevitable outcome
Throwing verbal darts
while we sidestep and taunt
until one eventually falls
unceremoniously
from the tracks of life 


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

Merril is hosting Monday Quadrille at D'Verse tonight.
The prompt word is "Track"
A quadrille is a poem of 44 words excluding the title

Image by Thomas Schroeder from Pixabay 

Nobody’s Fault

Nobody’s Fault

Shake the fading feelings from
Hands still refusing to let go
Forever remember lingering kisses
Cancel urges that no longer serve
All the while staying strong
Our only mistake was the taking of
Vows made in haste


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


Laura us hosting D’Verse Poets tonight. She has prompted us as follows:

Choose ONE of the lines below and write a stanza(s) taking each word as the start of each successive line i.e. the first word begins the first line, the second begins the second and so on. Basically, we are taking the horizontal line and making it vertical- its vaguely acrostic and I’m not sure if this form has a given name.

Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows
By freezing passion at its blossoming
I guard her beauty clean from rust

Quail from your downward darting kiss

Worry, Worry Not

Worry, Worry Not

Today I wondered
what is the point of life
when repetition
gives no pleasure?
Wake, work, sleep
Wake, work, sleep
Spinning plates on the top of poles
Keeping them simultaneously turning
Juggling balls in the air 
Making it through the day
only to repeat tomorrow
Rolling a proverbial snowball up the hill
when pushing its weight becomes
more and more laborious
Struggling to keep it on course
Before losing control

The end of the line
Will come into focus soon enough
as this journey is almost complete
Where would this road take me
Will I become one of the demented
or perhaps tragically taken?
Will I suffer a painful Illness or treatment?
or will I be wedded to pharmaceuticals
by the handful?
Will any of these events be acceptable to me?
Will I have any choices regarding the end of my days?

The doorbell rings and shakes 
me from the contemplations filling my head
My questions and concerns
gone in an instant
as the sun shines brightly from
little faces smiling up at me
Those dark and worrisome thoughts
are there for another day


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

Photo Pixabay

My Journey

My Journey

Looking back at the place from where I had come
I see the crooked road travelled
At times losing my way and falling victim
to those wishing me harm
Paying the price of my naïveté
Other times hitting road blocks
From choices made without intelligence
Wisdom not yet in residence 
But I keep going and the road straightens
when sharing the pavement 
The distractions lessen
and the weight of carriage shared
smooths bumps in the road
Look further on ahead,
there between truth and falsehood,
a little empty space. 
It is there that I know I have arrived

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


Punam from PaensUnplugged is guest hosting D’Verse Poets tonight and has shared
some of the beautiful works of Amrita Pritan.
Punam asked us to choose one of the lines she picked from Pritan's poems, and use
it as an epigraph for our poem or as a springboard.  The line I chose was:

Look further on ahead, there between truth and falsehood, a little empty space

A D’Verse Riddle





A D’Verse Riddle

Bald of pate, bar the wisp
With a noise to wake the dead
Pink and wrinkled, soft and squishy
It was worth the pain, you said

Need to gnaw, anything will do
Please don’t forget the ice
Colors excite and movement thrills
It’s all sugar and spice

Gingerly moving, hands hold tight
Never going to let go
Here comes the leap of faith 
Watch me now, here I grow


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



Bjorn is hosting D'Verse Poets 'Meet at the Bar' tonight and
he has prompted us with Riddle Poetry.  I gave it a try but
I think you can probably guess what it is I am writing about.
Let me know in the comments ts what you think it might be.
Thanks!

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

The Ground You Walk On

The Ground You Walk On

It is on this ground that I took my first steps
Unsure, shaking and stumbling
The road straight and narrow
Merciful to someone young and naïve
Over time it became uneven
With twists and turns
At times unnavigable
Bottomless potholes hidden
beneath puddles of rain
Deep cracks to trap and trip
Ensnaring those without caution
It was on the same ground
that I worshipped you
You, who would lead me along
with a promise
Never to be kept
This ground hard and unforgiving
Hurting my bones
Blistering my soles
I kissed this ground you walked on
And it led me on a road to nowhere


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

Ingrid is hosting D'Verse Poets tonight and has prompted us
with concrete poetry.
For this challenge, I want you to write a poem using only concrete nouns,
subject matter and imagery. For the purposes of this exercise, the
following words are banned: soul, love, lust, dreams, sorrow, suffering,
heartache, wonder, etc. 

Image by jplenio from Pixabay 
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