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About Maggie C

Stained glass artist, writer, respecter of life.

Vice and Virtue

apples

I am greedy for your charity.
I lust after your chastity.
While some may call me slothful,
I prefer “procrastinatory.”

I admit I’m green with envy at
your temperate humility.
and yet I take great pride in times
my wrath yields to civility.

I’m a glutton for your kindness.
You’re impatient with my pride.
I am sinful, you are virtuous.
You’re Jekyll, I am Hyde.

If you offered me an apple,
in the garden we could hide
With your heavenly companionship,
it’d be one hell of a ride.


Inspired by the dVerse Poetics challenge to write a poem based on the seven virtues (charity, chastity, kindness, temperance, diligence, patience and humility), and the seven deadly sins (greed, lust, envy, gluttony, sloth, wrath and pride). 

on wings

chicken

Scissors in one hand, hen in the other, a couple of quick snips and the wing tips swirl to the ground. Keeps ‘em from ‘flying the coop’, the farmer says. He releases the hen. She takes a moment to regain her balance, then runs to the opposite side of the pen where she flaps and clucks her objections. Isn’t it rather cruel to clip their wings, I wonder? Nah, the farmer says. It doesn’t hurt them, and ‘sides, if they don’t like it, they can leave. The farmer chuckles at the irony of his own joke and reaches for another hen.

boundless sky beckons
anticipation takes flight
gravity prevails


dVerse Haibun Monday — Complexity of Freedom

Five Years Cancer Free!

I seldom (maybe never?) reblog someone else’s post, but this one from Susie Lindau is so inspiring, I think it needs sharing. Congratulations, Susie!

Susie Lindau's avatarSusie Lindau's Wild Ride

Five Years Cancer Free! Inspiring Breast Cancer Stories to give others hope. Inspiration, Relationships, Friendships #Health #Breastcancer #inspiration #relationships #Friendships #cancer

Whew! Talk about a breast cancer marathon. From the shocking diagnosis to my double boobectomies, the implants of my bionic boobs and subsequent challenges of taking estrogen-suppressing and depressing pills, I’ve finally crossed the five-year finish line. Hang on while I catch my breath.

I couldn’t have done it without you, my readers, my family, and friends who cheered me on every step of the way. This blog has been a life-saver. Literally.

When I posted my first Boob Report in May of 2013, I recounted the shock of learning I had cancer. It included the hilarity of simultaneous scheduling madness by two Evelyns, each on different phone calls and ears. What wasn’t funny was the misinformation that I hadn’t been in for a mammogram for three years. It was enough to freak out with the alarm of a phone call after a routine exam, but three years?

I…

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WPC – Last Call

The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge will be ending as of this month, so for the final wrap up I am sharing some of my favorite photos that I have taken over the years. Some you may have seen on this blog before, some not. I hope you enjoy them. 

wpc fave4

wpc fave2

wpc fave3

wpc fave1

wpc fave5


The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: All-Time Favorites

Street Names

From the dVerse blog for Tuesday Poetics: May 29, 2018: “Here’s what I want you to use tonight as inspiration for your poem. I’ve listed some street names for you, and I want you to imagine what the street is like…or who might live there…or how the name came about.”

The street name I selected from the list is Buttgarden Street.


garden

We pass this way most every day,
my faithful dog and I,
and on this street a man we meet,
his mutt heeled at his side.

We greet as neighbors tend to do
a nod and friendly hi.
Our dogs sniff at their private parts;
we turn a modest eye.

A garden for the neighborhood
some volunteers commenced,
fronts this street for several feet
behind a cyclone fence.

“I wish they’d put this somewhere else,”
my neighbor groused aloud.
“This used to be a quiet street.
Now every day’s a crowd.”

True, many gardeners come each day
to tend their tidy beds.
With backs bent low, they weed and sow,
as blood runs to their heads.

Perhaps someday we’ll see green stalks
of veggies grown with care.
But until then there’s just a crop
of butts up in the air.

Rush Hour

traffic1

I should have taken the I-5 freeway, I tell myself even as I commit to the onramp of I-84 East. Traffic is at a crawl as drivers jockey to merge into the three eastbound lanes. I choose the center lane. A red Volvo in front of me switches to the left lane even though it, too, is at a near standstill. My line begins to move and I pull past the Volvo. I bet they’re sorry they changed lanes. I smile smugly. A mile later, my lane slows, and cars are passing on both sides. The Volvo, now in the right lane, zooms past me. That’s okay. It’s not a race. I stay in the middle lane. Dance with the one that brung ya, right?

drivers on their marks
finish lines are self-described
bring your own trophy

For the next six miles, traffic ebbs and flows. Compulsively, I check my progress against cars on either side of me. No, it’s not a race, but there’s that nagging need to prove that I chose the best lane. I reach my exit and check my rear view mirror as I ease over to the off ramp. The red Volvo is right behind me. Ha! For all its lane changing, I still came out in front. Had it been a race – which of course it wasn’t – I would have won. Yep… dance with the one that brung ya. Fidelity always pays off. Until it doesn’t.

crows raise strident voice
choruses of morning birds
solos every one


Haibun Monday: Silent Sounds