Posting a poem at 3 p.m. today because I crawled into bed at 5 a.m. this morning after a long trip back from the school trip. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a chaperone, but I’m relieved to turn all those fantastic teenagers back over to their parents.
This fortune seemed to lend itself to rhyming couplets, so that’s what I went with. However, I am uncertain if there is a true rhyme for “failure” so the end, I felt, fell a little flat. Thus the title lol. Not to mention it somewhat describes my brain today.
Anyway, enjoy, and please let me know what you think!
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
Success walks hand in hand with failure.
It Hits a Little Flat By Michelle Garren-Flye
Let’s take a walk, come be my guest. When you get tired, we’ll take a rest.
Trust me, my intentions are pure! Deceits and cons could not be fewer.
One thing only I must confess I want your life to be a success.
Does my promise have no allure? Then you may be doomed to failure.
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
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
Finally, a fortune that makes a good title, too! And definitely one I enjoyed. Just yesterday I was thinking about all the things I want to do, places I want to go. And I was making some big plans. When I retire, I’m going to do as many of them as I can.
In the meantime, I had fun with this fortune. I think this poem spells out what I always imagined my retired life would be like. So here we go!
Photo and Poem Copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
Make Big Plans By Michelle Garren-Flye
Let’s make big plans for someday. Together we’ll travel round the world and stop where we want to play then spend each night curled
by a fireplace in some remote cabin on top of a mountain, who knows where? We just have to make it happen so we can breathe in all that fresh air
out on the sea, sailing in a big ship from country to country, shore to shore. Don’t doubt my ability to make this trip real—reality really doesn’t matter anymore.
ETA: It was brought to my attention that I neglected to attach the poem…it’s here now. Sorry about that!
Laughing is one of my favorite things to do. It’s good exercise, right? It’s also hard to make yourself do when you don’t feel it. In fact, I think making yourself cry is probably easier than making yourself laugh.
So, this fortune is right up there with “You’re more attractive when you smile” for me. Yeah, it’d be great to laugh everyday, but life sometimes doesn’t allow for that.
With that said, maybe my sonnet will sense.
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
Make sure to laugh everyday…it’s good for your health.
Lifestyle Choices By Michelle Garren-Flye
Why not just laugh and sing and play all day? It’s good for your health, your outlook, and life. Take a moment, is all I want to say, for merriment and to avoid the strife.
Love and life are difficult? Oh come on! I’m sure you can find a reason to laugh… Just find the funny stuff on which to fawn— wait, I’ll find it myself on your behalf.
Look, here’s a puppy playing on a meme, a cat in a bag, a man falling down. There is plenty more along the same theme! Use stuff like this to wipe away your frown.
A giggle or two is all that it takes. Laughter costs nothing, and fixes heartaches.
Welcome to Haiku Sunday! I’ve decided as an extra challenge to designate Sundays for haiku. No matter what the fortune, I must write a haiku inspired by it. Today’s was very difficult but I finally settled on my double-edged sword idea. The idea being that you’re likely to judge yourself either more or less harshly than you’d judge another person.
This is not my best haiku…and it even has a little joke of an extra syllable. Definitely not my best effort.
Photo and poem copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye.
It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others.
Double-edged Sword By Michelle Garren-Flye
double-edged sword cuts for and against self-judgment you wilt ‘neath its edge…s
BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye 