The Thin Line

“Love me or hate me, both are in my favour. If you love me, I'll always be in your heart... If you hate me, I'll always be in your mind.”

― William Shakespeare


Love and hate.  Opposite (yet equally intense) emotions that drive us to act irrationally, cloud our thinking and render judgement null and void.   Throughout history love and hate wreaked havoc on cultures, ignited wars and also inspired great works of art and poetry.  They both make our hearts beat fiercely in our chest and our palms sweat.  Opposite but perhaps not so different in the end.

As the saying goes "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference"


I invite you to explore this thin line, to walk the edge of it with your words, to seek out the places that cut through the skin of expectations.   Perhaps consider what lurks on the other side.


Word & Topic Prompts:

Passion
Intensity
Red
Duality
Limits (pushing)
Consuming
Indifference


Please share the link to your poem (or post your poem) in the comments below.  We're looking forward to reading your work.

Jenny Astramowicz is a writer, poet and aspiring wellness coach.  She resides in San Francisco where she works at the local university and trains for endurance events.  Her long term dream is to live in France with her two cats.

Not all who wander are lost...

#OctPoWriMo  #NaPoWriMo #NaNoWriMo #Poetsonthepage

Find her on  Google +  Twitter Instagram

You can read her poetry at https://zwabisabi.blogspot.com

                 

Poetry Prompts: Habits and Routines

Click the image to view the book on Amazon

As 2018 began, I (like many people) began examining my habits and looking for ways I can improved. I'd been watching as a former student of mine posted photos throughout the past couple of years of her bullet journal. (If you're not familiar with bullet journals, you can read about them HERE.) After a bit of serious reflection, I came to a singular conclusion. 

I have no idea how to set goals.

I am really skilled at ACHIEVING goals, but they have rarely been goals I set for myself. They have been imposed on me by my parents, my teachers, and my bosses. When faced with setting my own goals, I have looked back to what was comfortable, what was familiar. I went back to school. I took a class online or at my local community college. 

I decided to start a bullet journal as a way to teach myself to set goals and create habits to help me achieve them. While perusing lots of bullet journal ideas on Pinterest, I came across a spread labeled "My Level 10 Life". It was colorful and graphic and piqued my curiosity, so I googled the phrase and discovered it originated in Hal Elrod's book "The Miracle Morning". 

Not one to believe in coincidence, I knew I had to get my hands on this book and read it. What I found there made so much sense to me and was written in a way that appealed to my current frame of mind. I am going to take a chance and give his method a try. 

The Prompt: What habits are ingrained in you? Are you building any new habits? What is your morning or evening routine? Is there a ritual that you practice that works for you? Write about your habits and routines and see where it takes you. There's bound to be poetry hidden somewhere in our routines!

Word Prompts:
habit
routine
ritual
practice
goals

Please share the link to your poem in the comments below. Or go ahead and post your poem. We're looking forward to reading your work.

I wish you words,
Amy McGrath

**Note: As I was hunting down the image for this prompt, I found a variation of Miracle Morning that is now next on my reading list. I'll share it here because some of you may also find it of use.

Click the image to view the book on Amazon

From the Heart

Every sixty seconds, the heart pumps almost five quarts of blood through the body. This hard-working, fist-sized, ten-ounce, blood-filled muscle has been romanticized by songs, poems, and expressions, and has become the universal symbol for love.

Heart references take on multiple meanings that reveal more about one’s temperament, mood, and behavior than about the physical heart.  The emotional side of the heart has become an integral part of our vocabulary.

She was there in a heartbeat.

He has a heart of gold.

You’re all heart.

We had a heart-to-heart talk.

I had my heart set on it.

Have a heart!

Cross your heart?

I love you with all my heart. 

Heart of hearts; heartbroken; heartfelt; change of heart; heartrending; heart throbbing; heartened; fainthearted; pure of heart; cold-hearted. 

Historically, the heart has played an important part in the beliefs of many cultures.  In ancient times, the Chinese related it to the center for happiness. The Greeks were convinced it was the seat of the spirit.  And, though no one is certain of the precise origin of the heart’s association with love, the Egyptians believed that both intellect and emotions originated from the heart.

Poetry Prompt:
Write a poem that uses the heart as a metaphor or symbol. And/Or tell a story of love. Include some of the heart references above if you wish. You may even want to present your poem to your Valentine.

Suggested Form:
From Shadow Poetry, try a Constanza, which was created by Connie Marcum Wong.
"Five or more 3-line stanzas. Each line has a set meter of eight syllables. The first lines of all the stanzas can be read successively as an independent poem, with the rest of the poem weaved in to express a deeper meaning. The first lines convey a theme written in monorhyme, while the second and third lines of each stanza rhyme together.

Rhyme scheme: a/b/b, a/c/c, a/d/d, a/e/e, a/f/f.........etc."

Click here for examples.

It would make our hearts sing if you share the link to your poem in the comments below. Or, if you'd prefer, post your poem in the comments. We're looking forward to reading your work. With all our hearts.

~ xoAnnis ~

Annis Cassells is a writer, poet, life coach, and teacher.  She divides her time between Bakersfield, California and Coos Bay, Oregon. She is a member of Writers of Kern, a branch of the California Writers Club. See Annis’s blogs at www.thedaymaker.blogspot.com and www.poemsbyannis.blogspot.com and her website at www.connectionsandconversations.com