An Honor and an Anniversary

Recently I was informed that Dancing with Pens has been named to the 100 Best Poetry Blogs by Accredited Colleges Online.  It's a wonderful honor, and a great anniversary present as March 2010 is the one year anniversay of my blog!  I'm listed at #84 under Emotional and Inspirational poetry.  Woohoo!

If you are interested, you may find the article, here: 
http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2010/100-best-poetry-blogs/

I also wanted to take this time to express my gratitude and appreciation to everyone who has visited over the last year.  Your support and comments mean the world to me.  Whenever I have a down day, or feel that my writing is working, I read the wonderful words you have left and am inspired all over again.  Thank you for a fabulous year, and here's hoping that 2010 is even better.

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As Least As Much

When my life counts down
to that final time – that final hour,
what will I wonder; what will I wish
I had not left yet undone?

I would wonder why
my “someday” never came,
why I left so late (was it too late),
the dreams of my heart -
to visit the birthplaces of my ancestors,
to create beauty wherever I could;

I will wonder for what
I shall be remembered -
a good friend,
a beloved child
a loving heart?

I will wish
for someone special
to hold my hand and guide
my journey homeward;

and, I shall hope
the passing of my life has meant
at least as much
as the flutter
of a butterfly’s wings.

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Spring 2010

Spring arrived in Oklahoma with a flock of robins and a snowstorm.  The robins took shelter under the carport, snuggling under the leaves next to the house and would fly out into the storm whenever anyone walked out the front door.  You could see them take shelter under the cars parked in the drive, puffed up to about twice their normal size, looking for all the world like a bunch of grumpy old men in brown suits and red waistcoats.  The expression on their faces looked so much like Walter Matthau in the movie, Grumpy Old Men, that I had to laugh every time I saw them. 

Fortunately, the snowstorm only lasted about 30 hours.  The last gasping breath of winter expired on Sunday.  Everything started melting, and now I'm surrounded by a sodden marsh that once was yard.  But, the robins were out in force, bouncing across the ground, scratching for food and looking much happier. 

I guess even the birds get fooled by the weather sometimes!

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Quote for the Day:

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things:  to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.  ~Mary Oliver


"Considering the ways in which so many of us waste our time, what would be wrong with a world in which everybody were writing poems? After all, there’s a significant service to humanity in spending time doing no harm. While you’re writing your poem, there’s one less scoundrel in the world. And I’d like a world, wouldn’t you, in which people actually took time to think about what they were saying? It would be, I’m certain, a more peaceful, more reasonable place. I don’t think there could ever be too many poets. By writing poetry, even those poems that fail and fail miserably, we honor and affirm life. We say ‘We loved the earth but could not stay." ~ Ted Kooser, The Poetry Home Repair Manual

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