The Only Way Out is Through

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Linking with Imaginary Gardens for the weekend mini challenge "Boats"

imagined by Kim

"We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear."

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

A wise poet once said, "The only way out is through",

 and when it comes to flooding that can be very true.

Sometimes you turn around and leave the way you came

and others it surrounds you and there is no quick escape.

You can start to wade through it or try to walk against the tide

but when it comes to flooding your better off with a boat ride.

So as you hold your two allotted bags and leave the home you knew

remember with most recoveries the only way out is through.

The view of our apartment before we were rescued out by boat.

(Keep in mind this is on stilts already.  That is how high the water was already!)

It seems that the only time I get in a boat is to escape flooding.  I went through this a year and a half ago and again recently with "Harvey".  You do not realize how powerful water can be until you see it rush through an area and take up the land like a raging giant. I have grown to have a very respectful fear of water.  Frankly sometimes I feel like moving to Arizona, but all my family is here and here is where I will stay, just not on the lower floor of these apartments.  So many people in this area are trying to completely start over their lives with new homes or gutting out and rebuilding the ones they are in.  So much loss and so much to do to renovate and move on.  It is much like true recovery, where one much face the problems at hand, dig through the rubble, endure the cleanup, and carry it through to completion.  Like so many solutions in life, truly the only way out is through.

My Love is Baptized by Immersion

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Linking with Imaginary Gardens for Rommy's challenge ~ Meme

The prompt is simple: grab a nearby book and flip to page 13 and go to the 7th line and use that sentence to find a quote that represents your love life.  You can also flip to the 7th page and go to the 13th line.  Take your pick, Come join the fun!

The closest book to me was: The Games by Ted Kosmatka

(The 13th page did not have enough lines, so I went with the 7th page)

Love, and a cough, cannot be hid. ~George Herbert 

This was my line: "The world around him retreated, became remote, irrelevant."



My Love is Baptized by Immersion,


My love is baptized by immersion it does not just linger at the water's edge
it dives in head first and reckless never concerned with what's up ahead
a simple christening with holy water just would never be the plan
it submerges all consuming into the deep love of another man
the world around it retreats becoming remote, irrelevant to what is true
for my love rises like surging flood waters diminishing the ground view
My love is baptized by immersion it does not wade in shallow waters safe
instead it plunges into distant oceans prepared for the greatest of tidal waves.

Change of Heart

Photo Credit

Linking with Poets United for Midweek Motif ~ Nature Her Words
Posted by Sumana

Sometimes Mother Nature has the answers when you do not even know the questions. ~Keith Wynn



I fear you have not truly been listening my dear
I have been speaking for centuries and
you are still sipping your coffee gone cold
behind that shroud of a paper 
without a response
nor even a glance
what did I just say?
No I did not just say it is cold in here
on the contrary it is getting quite warm
warmer than my heart can handle

there was a time you listened to my voice

loved the feel of my breath upon your face

you climbed my mountains 

did not want to cut my trees

I guess you have had a change of heart

your love for me has grown as cold

as my ice caps used to hold strong

I guess it is going to take something drastic

 to make you care again

to make you have a change of heart

I hope then you will truly listen

to my voice.

Bigger is Not Always Better

Photo Credit

Linking with dVerse for Poetics: Border
brought to us by Grace

"If no one ever took risks, Michaelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.

~ Neil Simon

Sometimes my mind needs a border collie to steer it in the right direction 

cause my sense of boundaries sometimes gets lost

you see agoraphobia runs in our family

my grandmother only left the house 

once a year to vote

my mother followed the same path

our summers growing up were weeks on end at home

when I was in my 30's I discovered I had a touch of it

on a grander level if you will

we went on a trip to Missouri and I suddenly felt 

anxiety and had no reason why

after a couple jots out of town after that

I realized that when I left town I had the symptoms

it was like agoraphobia on a larger plain

my grandmother could not leave the house

but I could not leave town

wow leave it to my dysfunctional brain

to do it on a broader range.

The Dance Floor

Google Images

Linking with Imaginary Gardens for Bits of Inspiration ~ Keep Dancing

Imagined by Susie 

Come join us!

How can we know the dancer from the dance? ~William Butler Yeats

Sometimes humanity resembles the dancers on a dance floor;

each busily perfecting their moves,

never seeing passed their own steps,

hoping to impress

all the others...

but it is in vain...

for all the others

are doing the same.

Rising Above

The tides are in our veins. ~Robinson Jeffers

Linking with Poet United for Midweek Motif ~Flood  hosted by Susan (Thank you Susan)



One morning in April of 2016, I woke up to look out the window and find that my apartment was in the middle of a lake.  Good thing I can swim was not my first thought...suddenly me and sailors could speak the same language and I am not talking about ship terms.  My car was in the rising waters and there was no saving it.  After a couple of days of being trapped and unable to leave on wheels there was an evacuation.

My Pinterest Photos

The good news is: 

after applying for FEMA help

being declined

appealing and trying again

because I don't give up easily

I finally was approved

and got help to purchase a car

after 6 months of a lot of walking 

and waiting for rides.

What did I learn from this?

Well, first of all it pays 

to not give up.

When a door closes

God opens a window.

Sometimes hardships

can turn out to be 

blessings in disguise.

No matter how bad 

you think you have it

there is someone else 

out there with a worse situation.
When tough times hit
people are usually very kind and giving

The lovely thing was that we met 

neighbors that we would never have

seen otherwise.

Now here is my poem for the prompt:

Rising Above

but

I am Always Thirsty,

My mother always said "don't drink
any more before bed"
but I was always thirsty
and had chocolate milk instead
my life has been a flood of lessons
some learned some not
and when it rains it pours
and when it's dry
well it's just plain hot
and one thing I have learned through time
is this
love and sustenance are a constant fix
for me there is a close correlation between
water and men 

sometimes they are a disaster at my door
but I sure can't live without them

and because of my deep seeded need for love

I always keep coming back for more

one drink is never enough

gotta have 8 glasses of water a day

to stay healthy that is what 

the doctor's say

but sometimes I wake up
to a flood at my door
and I wish I had listened
to my mother more!

Author's Note:
The only floods truly at my door are totally rain related. :-)

A Story to Tell

Photo Credit

Linking with Imaginary Gardens for the Weekend Mini Challenge: "Out of Your Own Words"

Imagined by Magaly Guerrero

To view the original poem and post click h e r e


I also devoted an entire blog to this title cause I am crazy that way....
click h e r e if you want to see for yourself. :-))

What a seagull never told you about why he flies away is the farther up you fly the broader the view you get of the shore you left behind.
Nature tells a story that one can hear loud and clear
but it is a message that cannot be heard with ears
it rings out through the flight of geese
that know when  it is the time to leave
it whispers with the current that carries man's debris
that heads to bigger waters floating to the sea
it's voice rises in the floods occuring on busy streets
because man would rather have a parking lot
than grass and tall strong trees
you see nature tells a story that belts out like a song
and if we truly listen we will know there is something wrong.



***********************
It is like nature is trying to call us from a cell phone and we are unable to truly hear....
so nature moves a little forward and says...
"can you hear me now?"