This one is appropriate enough considering it’s my last day of my trip. I will soon take off my chaperone hat and put it on the shelf to collect dust. It’s been an interesting ride.
Hats off to teachers for all they do.
So I hope you enjoy my second (and hopefully last) bus poem.
Screen capture from Daily Fortune app
Don’t be sad because it’s over. Be happy because it happened.
Ode to the Chorus Trip By Michelle Garren-Flye
I have enjoyed your joyful noise; the journey was even fun: time spent with the girls and boys playing and singing in the sun.
And now it is time for home, It’s hard to say goodbye but we’ll be there before long so please don’t scream and cry.
You’ll sleep in your bed tonight! Remember the friends you’ve made, discoveries that came to light, and this brief time will not fade.
Not gonna lie. This isn’t my best effort. I’m on the road and have been up since six, will be up until 11 or so tonight. It’s one of those days. But I did manage to come up with a haibun inspired by this fortune.
Also, because I’m on the road and traveling with fortune cookies didn’t seem terribly convenient, I’m using an app called Daily Fortune. Here’s a screenshot of today’s fortune from the app:
screenshot from “Daily Fortune” app
Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.
About an Oak By Michelle Garren-Flye
Did you know the oak tree roots spread out as much as 90 feet around? Imagine them pushing soil, slicing slow motion through earth’s surface, past the reach of the canopy of the huge tree rising above. All to anchor and support the oak’s magnificence in one place all the days of its life. Standing still and racing along all at once.
Oak tree emerges Seasons’ passage grows your roots Anchors you in place
Before I talk about the poem I wrote, I will say that I am on the road for the next three days and so my blog may look a little different. I considered taking those three days off, but decided not to. I’ll still be writing my fortune cookie poems. I may be writing them on my phone, and I’ve made a different arrangement for fortunes than the literal cookies.
I was thinking this morning how very difficult this is. More difficult, I think, than any writing exercise I’ve ever given myself. I don’t know what fortune is going to come out of the cookie. I don’t know if it’s something I’ll be able to write a poem about.
I eat most of my fortune cookies in fear. But then I find peace when I post about it.
Enjoy my “Recipe for Happy”, inspired by today’s fortune.
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
It is better to have beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.
Recipe for Happy By Michelle Garren-Flye
Happy has three ingredients, a simple recipe: someone to love so you don’t feel lonely when the nights are dark and long and you need help feeling strong.
But that’s not all, no don’t think that! You need enough to eat but not make you fat. Pass on the fancy, the cakes and ale; bread, beans and bacon will not fail.
Finally, you just need a little bit of time: time to live and not be on an uphill climb. It’s not hard to find, if you look hard enough; get rid of the waste, the refuse, the fluff.
Of all these, love might be hard to find, but a cat will do, so never mind. Cutting calories is nothing new, and how you spend time is up to you.
This one reminded me of an Irish blessing, which got me thinking how many different ways there are to grow rich. And that led me to the actual thought of growing something, which led me to my little sonnet below. It’s practically a jingle, isn’t it?
Enjoy!
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
May you grow rich.
An Ad for a Money Tree By Michelle Garren-Flye
But why don’t you have a money tree yet? They’re growing on every corner street and they couldn’t be easier to get. It’s an investment whose price can’t be beat!
Perhaps you worry your tree will not yield enough harvest—true, there’s no guarantee… But just plant it and see if you can’t build trust enough for a great, prosperous tree.
Soil, water, and dreams are all it will require to grow tall and strong with many green leaves. In its shade you’ll soon find rest when you tire; all of your worry and care it relieves.
With a money tree, there’s never a hitch It is simply the best way to grow rich.
Haha! Finally a fortune I can work with! I both believe in this fortune…and don’t. Because while I try not to be a know-it-all and really don’t like those who are, I also think it’s possible someone may have something to say on something that they aren’t necessarily an expert on. Provided it’s a well-thought out opinion (and is regarded as opinion, not fact).
So, I took the viewpoint of an expert trying to hush up someone who’d like to have an opinion for this villanelle. And the villanelle form leant itself very well to this subject matter!
I hope you enjoy.
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
It is better not to speak of things you do not understand.
Greek to You By Michelle Garren-Flye
Quiet now please, it is best not to speak about these things you cannot understand; I know you know to you this is all Greek,
so don’t talk about it, just remain meek, and let those who do know get it in hand. Quiet now please, it is best not to speak!
Nope, don’t even utter a single squeak! Vital knowledge is too much to demand. I know you know to you this is all Greek.
Okay, okay, come on and take a peek… you might just as well know what we have planned, but quiet please, it is best not to speak.
You know we will not stand for your critique. Our plan, as you can see, is much too grand. I know you know to you this is all Greek.
Like a little hen, don’t open your beak; much better brains than yours are in command. Quiet now, please, it is best not to speak. You know I know to you this is all Greek.
Welcome to Haiku Sunday! No matter what the fortune is, I must turn it into a haiku.
Not to downplay the difficulty of this one, but do you know the one famous haiku where the last line is “refrigerator”? Well, I sort of did that with this one because the first word that popped into my head was a five-syllable word. Procrastination.
The other two lines weren’t that easy, but I’m fairly happy with the result.
Hope you enjoy!
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
Make serious decisions in the last few days of the month.
Seriously By Michelle Garren-Flye
opportune timing is everything this month procrastination
My counselor once told me that grief isn’t linear…but it does happen. It may loop back on itself so that when you thought you’d entered the acceptance phase, you suddenly find yourself set back to the anger.
So, while I agree with my fortune cookie to an extent, I also know it’s not a super simple process.
To make the writing of this poem even tougher on myself, I decided to do it as an acrostic poem. I’ve never actually managed one of those successfully. Until now. I think it worked. I probably need to rewrite it some but it’s not bad, actually.
Hope you enjoy!
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
Nature, time and patience are the three great healers
Going On By Michelle Garren-Flye
How long must this go on— every moment evokes agony of loss and heartbreak; remind me again that time is our greatest healer
and nature will help fade the clarity that loses its draw when harking back to previous eras only brings pain.
Help will come, but be patient, endure each day knowing authentic healing happens with living. Seasons pass, life does go on.
I was stuck on this one for a while, but I decided to try it as a villanelle. That worked. Sort of.
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
Never compare yourself to the best others can do, but to the best you can do.
Winning By Michelle Garren-Flye
I win again, don’t try to deny it! My victory doesn’t have to be scored; I won against myself, you should try it!
Numbers aren’t needed if I supply it… but there you go, acting like you’re bored. No matter, I win, you can’t deny it.
The world should rejoice with my win while it is still fresh; I’m ready to be adored! I won against myself, you should try it.
You can’t take it away or define it. I know I have won, my inner crowd roared! I win again, don’t try to deny it.
Now don’t worry about what that guy hit; his score doesn’t matter, it’s my record. I won against myself, you should try it.
For self-improvement this works, apply it and your faith in yourself will be restored. I win again, don’t try to deny it; I won against myself, you should try it.
Again, I drew a blank on this one. I felt a little bit targeted, actually, as I struggle every single day with this issue. Too many yesterdays behind me, too many tomorrows ahead. My lines are all crooked.
So this was a good exercise for me. Because my complaints are really fairly small and temporary.
I won’t lie, it started out as a sonnet, but the rhyme scheme didn’t work out, so I ended up making it a four-stanza quatrain poem.
Hope you enjoy!
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
Love yourself first and everything falls into line.
Loving Life By Michelle Garren-Flye
The wild, windy walk uncurled your hair, but don’t cry about life not being fair. Over the weekend you gained a pound, but that’s no reason to come unwound.
You had to skip dance class to mow the lawn, but it’s no use being sad or withdrawn. So what if your accountant says you may owe tax? Sometimes things fall through cracks.
After all, the walk was fun to take, And that pound came from a birthday cake. Your lawn looks green in today’s rain, and taxes were once paid in grain.
To be honest, you’re really not that bad! Loving life you do well, I might add. You’re doing good, everyone’s fine; all your ducks are in a line.
As soon as I read today’s fortune, I remembered one particular night. You see, I love to laugh, but sometimes I think I’ve forgotten how. Then I have a moment when laughter lights up my heart again. I know this fortune is true, but I don’t always know how to make it true for myself.
Maybe that’s how we all are, to a certain extent. Surviving day to day.
I can say that nine times out of ten, when I find myself in that warm light of laughter, it’s with my kids, the human beings I love most in this world. And that’s what this poem is about.
I chose to write it in haibun format, which was invented by Matsuo Basho, the master of the haiku. A haibun is a prose poem and a haiku smashed together. I’ve attempted them before. I think this one works, to a certain extent.
I hope you enjoy it, anyway!
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
laughter shall fuel your spirit’s engine By Michelle Garren-Flye
They dragged you out, these children who have grown into friends. You’re usually bathed and in bed by now. Tomorrows are always full. You have to be ready. But they want to have fun. They want you to have fun, but fun is not something you practice. There are too many tomorrows ahead, too many yesterdays behind.
The golf place is full, but you have a reservation. They serve beer, so you have some, hoppy smells tickling your nose hairs. The lights are bright, and there is a heater nearby so even though you’re outside in January and there will be snow tomorrow, you take off your coat. Frustration mounts with every golf swing, until your oldest son misses the ball entirely and yells, “Fun!”
And there it is, bubbling around you, the energy needed to fuel your spirit, as first you and then your children who are now adults and friends—your yesterdays and your tomorrows—shout it together, hurl it into the night air with the white golf balls hailing onto the astroturf:
giggling bubbles burble in your life spirit laughter is your peace
BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye 