Body, Mind, Spirit

On Writing Poetry

[johnthomasdodds]

Sunday Morning Read

P.E.W.S. “To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.” -Henri Frédéric Amiel Comes a Time is a collection of poems and essays exploring the aging process -senescence, and the attributes - essence that make us who we fundamentally are. Available on Amazon & Kindle PEWS Notwithstanding the pickling and pruning of the…

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[johnthomasdodds]

There's A Seasonal Thing

There’s A Seasonal Thing

“What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one’s faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one’s memories.” – W. Somerset Maugham Comes a Time is a collection of poems and essays exploring the aging process -senescence, and the attributes - essence that make us who we fundamentally are. Available on Amazon & Kindle There’s a seasonal thing about this life we…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Men As They Age

Men As They Age

“Men are like wine – some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.” – Pope John XX111 Comes a Time is a collection of poems and essays exploring the aging process -senescence, and the attributes - essence that make us who we fundamentally are. Available on Amazon & Kindle Men as they age some turn into cooks as if the less they have to do, the more they are able to do, in the art of…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Re-tire, Re-tread, Re-make

“Age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel.” – Gabriel García Márquez Comes a Time is a collection of poems and essays exploring the aging process -senescence, and the attributes - essence that make us who we fundamentally are. Available on Amazon & Kindle Re-tire Re-tread Re-make time comes when you need to stop expanding in the universal scheme of things whoadown, slow down, leave…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Ageing Vacillates

“By the time you’re eighty years old you’ve learned everything. You only have to remember it.” – George Burns Comes a Time is a collection of poems and essays exploring the aging process -senescence, and the attributes - essence that make us who we fundamentally are. Available on Amazon & Kindle Aging vacillates between acceptance and intolerance or is it that we reach a stage of…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Sunday Morning Read

A Coming of Age Comes a Time is a collection of poems and essays exploring the aging process -senescence, and the attributes - essence that make us who we fundamentally are. Available on Amazon & Kindle A Coming of Age As a certifiable Septuagenarian no longer capable of dividing but still alive and metabolically active, I now, on occasion, think about aging and growing old. I suppose it…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Sunday Morning Read

A Sneaky Twitch of an Itch An Abstract/Concrete challenge for your Grandchildren to draw what an Itch looks like! A Sneaky Twitch of an Itch I know an Itch named Sneaky He’s longer than a finger’s reach He’s faster than a swat and just when you find his favorite spot he simply disappears You can’t tickle the Sneaky Itch away, he’ll simply hide behind your laughter, and as soon as you say good…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Sunday Morning Read

BORN TO BE A TAMALE Chapter 11 Campo De Fútbol Lorena informed Amador her son would not be able to come to Tijuana for several days. Working at the Continental Maritime of San Diego shipyards in Barrio Logan he was unable to break free. Pancho only ever made the trip at Amador’s request to help familia cross over. He would be there as soon as he could manage it. In the meantime Chuy became a…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Sunday Morning Read

BORN TO BE A TAMALE Chapter 10 Las Canelas: The Cinnamon Amador was up at first light, as he was every day to feed the cabras y pollos and milk the last few vacas hembras remaining from what was once a prideful herd of vacas. When Chuy joined him on the front veranda Amador had ready a couple cups of pajarete; a popular morning desayuno Amador prepared with fresh cow’s milk, chocolate, sugar,…

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[johnthomasdodds]

When Dawn Breaks Across the Stillness of the Night

When Dawn Breaks Across the Stillness of the Night

Published in Ageing Beautifully in Light of You “If I had tried to find you, you would have never appeared outside my dreams, and I would have been forever at a loss for words.” When dawn breaks across the stillness of the night and daylight filters through dreams of all we have pleasured and pained we are there for each other unboundedly wrapped in arms and legs, anchored to the soft and…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Sunday Morning Read

BORN TO BE A TAMALE Chapter 9 Tío Amador Arias Trejo Chuy, was tall for his age compared to the average Mexican male, with a well-developed physique from working since receiving his first communion and becoming a soldier of Christ. As a young boy he understood his shaved head kept the ubiquitous lice at bay, but as a teenager he let it grow to ponytail length like the Huichol Indians who…

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[johnthomasdodds]

I Want to Paint a Picture in Words

I Want to Paint a Picture in Words

Georgia O’Keefe I want to paint a picture with words for you to look upon in wonder at the texture, the composition, the blending of content with color and awe. I want to write a poem that you would want to frame and hang on a wall. Possibly crocheted or, etched into a shellacked heart. A poem that could be engraved on a floor mat welcoming you to my home. The ultimate of course would be my…

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[johnthomasdodds]

A Long Lineage of Poet Saints

A Long Lineage of Poet Saints

On writing poetry continued. Caravaggio’s St. Jerome A Long Lineage Of Poet Saints Coming from a long lineage of poet saints the forgotten offspring of Mira the laughter of God the remnants of Rumi It is not that I have heard God whispering in my ear, or feel the Spirit laying down beside me in a lover’s embrace It is that I have penned already, and forever to be repeated, the sigh that…

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[johnthomasdodds]

God's Gift to Aging Poets

God’s Gift to Aging Poets

On Writing Poetry The Poor Poet 1835 by Spitzweg God’s Gift To Aging Poets God’s gift to aging poets is convenient lapses of memory, without which scraps of paper scribbles, and scratched out rhymes would inundate the mind leaving nothing behind. if all the poets within you lined up on parade, each would have book in hand written in sand for the waves of time to wash away every poem ever…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Sunday Morning Read

BORN TO BE A TAMALE Buscando El Sueño Americano Searching For The American Dream Chapter 8 Adios Hombre Twenty years was a long time when tied to the heartstrings of casa and familia, and for a young man with a sweet taste for the Promised Land on his lips it must have seemed like a lifetime. Jesus Ramos Rios was born under el signo de la cruz, the sign of the cross, a ritual blessing that…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Forever is a Joshua Tree

Forever is a Joshua Tree

Father's Day Musings Joshua Tree National Park Pete Saloutos Forever is a Joshua tree here is music for you the nugget of you to while away the other side of knowing you never after the gold just the panning of it the mechanics dredging layers of shale the dust the gold dust the panning of it rewarding as a chainsaw primed to clear the land here is music of a time with you forever now for…

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[johnthomasdodds]

Crayons

Father’s Day Musings Crayons Draw me the hum of small talk; copper whispers on a Big Chief scribbler sky lined with expectations from a sleepless eye. Draw me little whispers. Faintly voiced grumblings of a withered old Indian talking to no one listening. Tight little whispers spreading the dust of loud days like a warm quilt over children, who tire with clouds in their eyes. Before a bird…

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