Writers Unite (poetry assignment)

Writers group, what a delight
Meeting with like minded people
Sharing the written word

Janet pens inspirational poetry
Bev journals from the heart
Sue's writing a quilling book
Andy's contains environmental issues

Glynis, our fearless leader
Teaches this motley crew
With passion, perfection and love

Who am I amongst these
A unique scribe- a story teller
God directs my pen
As words flow onto paper

I'm not like anyone else
Nor do I plan to be
Content with who I am

The Tale of a Man Names Lou

Once, in a land of Lubadoo

There lived a man that folks called Lou

Now Lou, in everybody’s eyes

Was perceived to be very wise

And often times with nodding head

They all agreed to what Lou said.

Lou lived in a gray castle tall

And roses climbed the old stone wall

In lovely red, year after year

The bloom of roses would appear

And many paused to gaze in awe

At the red roses that they saw

One day in restless discontent

Lou stopped to smell their perfumed scent

He shouted, “Hear what I’ll tell you

These red roses are really blue!”

Folks shook there heads at what Lou said

For how can blue one day be red?

But Lou walked up and down the street

And every day he would repeat
 That what was red is really blue

And slowly folks agreed with Lou

For wasn’t Lou still, after all

The wise man in that castle tall?

Then came that sad and solemn day

When Lou was old and passed away

The mourners stood out on the street

Where rose-petals fell at their feet
 They told their children ‘here lived Lou

Who taught us red is really blue’

Now no one questions anymore

What they had all believed before

As generation rise and fall

Blue roses climb the castle wall

It seems they never, ever knew

These roses were not always blue

Time’s centuries have come about

And no one stops to think or doubt

For who can say red is not blue?

Nobody here has heard of Lou

Or how one day he simply said

'These roses are not really red'

…and visitors are mystified

To hear folk speak with love and pride

At these blue roses; how they’ve grown

Year after year against the stone

For no one here remembers Lou
Or wonders that red is not blue

The moral of this little tale

Is simply this; Truth does not fail

Though generations come and go

The truth remains unchanged and so

Before we teach that red is blue

We should make sure that it is true

Be careful then that none deceive

Lest generations thus believe

A vile untruth told to be true

For those red roses are not blue

Yet everyone within their youth

Were taught what others thought was truth

This is the poem I wrote for our homework assignment.

Of Friends...

After all is said and done

And this small life draws to an end

Our dearest worth upon this earth

Must surely be that of a friend

Life’s road yawns into the unknown

With many a trying twist and bend

Yet darkest miles are warm with smiles

If we can share them with a friend

‘To have a friend we must be one’

This truth is surely ages-old

And oh, the measure of its treasure

Cannot in humble words be told

For friends, in spite of us, are true

Seeing beyond the veil of skin

They weep and laugh and pray with you

To fill the empty cup within

…so, after all is said and done

Regardless of what life may send

The dearest, rarest, purest wealth

Is ever found within a friend

© Janet Martin

I re-posted this from my other blog:)

You guys are the best<3

Dedicated to my dear friends at Writer's Unite. 

You enrich my life more than mere word can tell.

Thank-you.

Hello all,

I am posting the link to a few things I was going to share...My experience of 'life in a small town' and also the poem being published in the Nov. edition of Wisdom Crieth Without.

Park Street in July.I stayed with My Grandma one summer when I was 15. That is my experience of 'small town life'. *Crash, mentioned in the poem got married a few years ago and resides in Elmira:)

This is the poem in the magazine. They told me I would get a complimentary copy and ten dollars!

Time's Swift Ride...a sonnet

Story Sparker...(Homework for June) by Janet

*Story Sparker

How many times did she need to say it? Suppressing the urge to scream at the man, Kelly tossed her auburn hair back and bit the bullet.
“Thank you for doing this.”
Her pasted on smile did not match the ache in her heart. It had been three years. Three years spent faking; pretending; lying. She felt as if her head would explode.

Her forced gratitude as he lay aside the tea towel did not distract him from his cause.

‘No amount of planning can prepare you for the real deal.’ She suddenly recalled her co-worker’s words the week before her wedding. Words she could not grasp at the moment, but three years later, fully understood.

His unflinching glare devoured her attempt at a cool composure. Ignoring her feigned gratitude he repeated the question, “Do you love me? Say it. Go ahead and repeat what you said!”

Her hands shook as she twisted the dish cloth and wiped the counter for the fifth time, trying to steady her voice. “I simply said, yes, I love you, but I don’t like you…anymore”.

There! She had said it. Her words hit hard, like a hammer driving in the reality of hopeless despair.

The silence hung between them, an invisible wall fortified by years of tears, tempers and torment.

How does one begin again? Words cannot be unspoken and years cannot be undone. The ticking clock offered no counsel. The sun fell in golden bars across the wooden kitchen floor where they stood miles apart.

Never in a million years had she dreamed that it would be like this. Never, in her wildest dreams had she fathomed the depths that bitterness and resentment could fill. She studied the face that once she had memorized in crazy fantasies and now approached with uncertainty and…fear?

Home… the word played on her tongue and she rolled it in her cheek trying to feel it; home…the word that should suggest heaven conjured confusing suggestions of hell.

Her eyes wandered to the framed needlework above the door, lovingly stitched by a starry-eyed teenage dreamer ‘Home, sweet home’.

Tears fell, in golden shatters on the sun-patched floor…

Story Sparker homework.

How many times did she need to say it? Suppressing the urge to scream at the foolish man, Kelly tossed her auburn hair back and bit the bullet. "Thank you for doing this."
Her pasted on smile did not match the ache in her heart. It had been three years. Three years spent faking; pretending ; lying. She felt as if her head would explode.
     Just because he had given her a gift, like so many times before; did not make the past go away. How could her father not see that his actions had repercussions that would affect his whole family for years to come? Even worse was the guilt she felt in keeping his secret. It made Kelly feel like she also was betraying the very people who trusted and loved her.
    Her father was sitting in his chair watching TV, a glass of whiskey in his hand. She looked at him and for the first time saw not her father but a cruel and vindictive man.  Kelly decided she needed to leave the room to try to come to terms with the rage that was slowly building inside her skull. A walk in the garden might help clear her thoughts. "What to do next? If I tell the truth what would be gained? What would be lost?"
    As she paced the garden paths she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. "I'm just so angry, how could he make me do this? Why did he make me do this? How could this man that supposedly loved me put me through this for all these years? So many questions...
    She sat down on one the wicker chairs across from the pool, scared and also strangely calmed by the realization of who her father really was. She took a look around at the huge estate and all the many things that her fathers indiscretions had bought. Kelly thought about how this secret was slowly destroying her. "I have been bought just like the chair I am sitting in." She needed to do something. Her life had to change. She would take the chance and let the truth be known. It was the only way to save what was left of her sanity. Walking to her car and picking up her cell phone she made the call...

Thingamajigs and More Great Grammar Tips

For anyone who missed Writers Unite this past Friday, here is the agenda and an overview of what you missed. Who knew nouns could be so exciting?

Agenda                Writers Unite   

February 3rd, 2012

1.                 Welcome & Prayer

2.                 Get snacks, etc. Thank you Rosemary – snacks

3.                 Introduce any new members (sign clipboard) and outline what we do

4.                 Collection ($2) and update – treasurer’s report

5.                 Anyone had anything published or pending publication since last month?

6.                 Computer/blogging - Amanda - worksheets. Logo?

7.                 Homework sharing ( - bring a piece of work [WIP] along with the following: Working Title; audience; where you are submitting with details about the publisher/editor or periodical OR an idea of where you would like to submit. You have to tell us why it fits this particular market or publisher. This can be poetry, a chapter or portion of a chapter from a novel, an article, a short story, devotion, photograph with appropriate caption or story; song [must be played/sung after reading!] 

8.                 We will wait until next meeting to talk about INSCRIBE and other writing organizations

9.                  Grammatically speaking -  Round 2 (below) 8 Parts of Speech – focus on Nouns!

10.            CD presentation. Commando Reconstructing of Non-Fiction Manuscripts – Don Bastien (No time)

11.            Next meeting date?  _13th - April ? NOT Good Friday_____________

12.            Snacks?         Amanda - April

Eight Parts of Speech

1. Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas.

2. Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns.

3. Verbs are words that show an action or a state of being.

4. Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns.

5. Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

6. Prepositions are words that describe the relationship between a noun or pronoun and some other word or element in the rest of the sentence.

7. Conjunctions are words that join two or more words, phrases, or clauses.

8. Interjections are words that show emotion

Noun Notes!

What Is a Noun?

Everything You Wanted to Know

Look around you.

Everything that you see, you can name.

What do you see? A computer, the living room, Amanda, Bev, desk, chair, keys, etc

Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas.

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Types of Noun

COMMON:

These name general, nonspecific people, places, things, or ideas. They start with a lowercase letter unless they begin a sentence.

For example: writer, city, class, religion, book, shoe

PROPER: These name specific people, places, things, or ideas. They always start with a capital letter.

For example: Victor Hugo, Paris, Disneyland, Christianity, Janet Martin,

ABSTRACT: These are the opposite of concrete. They name something that you cannot perceive with your five senses - something that does not physically exist.

For example: happiness, freedom, Christianity

CONCRETE: These name something that you can perceive with your five senses - something that physically exists.

For example: cat, chocolate, Martha

COUNTABLE: Yep. You guessed it. These can be counted, and they use both the singular and the plural forms. Anything that you can make plural is a countable noun.

For example: clock/clocks, David/Davids, poem/poems

UNCOUNTABLE: These cannot be counted. Since they cannot be counted, they only use the singular form. For example: milk, rice, water

*Note that you would never ask for milks, rices, or waters!

COMPOUND: These are made up of two or more smaller words.

For example: tablecloth, haircut, applesauce, baseball

COLLECTIVE: These are singular nouns that refer to a group of things as one whole.

For example: class, audience, family

SINGULAR: These refer to one person, place, thing, or idea.

For example: box, face, road, ball

PLURAL: These refer to more than one person, place, thing, or idea. They generally end in with an s.

For example: boxes, faces, roads, balls

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NOUN 'Jobs'

Out of all eight of the parts of speech, the noun performs the most jobs in a sentence.

SUBJECT: whom or what the sentence is about

e.g. Mary kicked the ball.

DIRECT OBJECT: - receives the action of the verb

e.g. Mary kicked the ball.

INDIRECT OBJECT:- receives the direct object

e.g. Mary kicked Jimmy the ball.

OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION: the noun or pronoun after a preposition

e.g. Mary kicked the ball at Jimmy.

PREDICATE NOMINATIVE: renames the subject, always after a linking verb

e.g. Mary is a soccer player.

OBJECT COMPLEMENT: completes the direct object

e.g. They named the baby Becky.