Showing posts with label Jill Elizabeth Arent Franclemont. Show all posts

Friday, July 27, 2012

My Guest Poet this week is:

Jill Elizabeth Arent Franclemont. I am delighted that Jill left corporate America to focus on her writing. You will see that she is quite talented. For more information about Jill, and her journey to becoming a writer, visit her lovely website:

All Things Jill-Elizabeth.

Jill's Book Recommendation
Where the Sidewalk Ends

The Quiet

I love when the world goes quiet and still;

When the spinning whirling twirling comes to a halt,

When everything stops, pauses,

ceases for a moment in time.

When everything is quiet.

Unlike many, this absence goes not give me a chill –

I am not afraid to be still.

Rather, I find it perfect, peaceful, sublime.

The eye of my storm.

If it were up to me, there would be mandatory silence

Enforced by the universe

At regular intervals throughout the day –

Null moments,
Required time to just sit and

be ruled by calm and patience;

No action allowed –

Empty time, devoid of work, absent all play.

My own little black hole.

I need time to just be – not be helpful

or be clever or be nice,

Not to worry about you or me or

the price of tea in China

But to just exist, lost in my own world, my own head,

Sitting in my own quiet dark mental corner,

facing the wall.

I am not a rock, don’t want to be alone forever,

am not made of ice;

No man is an island, and I am no man.

I need interaction too, need love and

conversation as much as water or bread.

I didn’t always. You gave me that, my love,

and I can never thank you enough.

But handfuls of placid moments,

scattered here and there

Are still a part of who I am,

Are essential to my psychological welfare.

Without them, I am not me.

Even with you.

© Jill Elizabeth Arent Franclemont

Jill Elizabeth Arent Franclemont, a former corporate attorney and government relations and health policy executive, walked away (well, skipped actually) from the big-city worlds of corporate and political America and headed for a more literary life (equally challenging, but infinitely more enjoyable). Visit Jill at All Things Jill-Elizabeth and leave a comment about her poem below.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Snail Graveyard

They know-
Somehow they know.

They know where to end up,

Where they are all supposed to die.
But how?

They're here-
All of them: alone, together.
Each found his way, his place,
His spot to die –
In peace.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Nowhere to Run (An Acrostic)

(Blind Alley, © Jill Arent, 2008)

Nowhere to Run (An Acrostic)

Never before, never again – or so I said;

trapped like a rat, a mad thing,

Over-eager to be free to be away to be out.

Why am I here again, stuck in this place,

Heart pounding, adrenaline racing -
Every sense on high alert,

waiting for the other shoe to drop,

Ready to run to escape to gnaw off my own arm.

Everywhere I look I see a wall.

The exits are not clearly marked,

the aisles are not clear;

Open windows all have bars,

open doors all have locks.

Running is not an option.

Until now I never thought “fight or flight”

was a literal choice;

Now I know better.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Magic, or You Can be Six Again

Outside the window

The pure white mountain

Is calling to us.

I hurry into my coat.

“Come on, Daddy!”

Up the hill we climb –

Sled in tow;

My daddy and I,

Ready to race down

The mountain of snow.

Afterwards

We run inside,

Rosy-cheeked

And laughing,

Sipping hot chocolate

And planning another run.

Monday, July 23, 2012

A Blur

It all goes so fast.

Things move, change, adapt, grow, stop, start –
How, why, where, what, when – who knows?
Movement is all I can see.

All that I do know –
The only thing that I can say with certainty –

Is that it comes and it goes
Always in motion,

In a blur – life, passing by.

Never waiting for us to catch up.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Who Am I?

Just in the nick of time,

I figured out that who I am does

not have to be who I was.

Looking backward, I was trapped in

selves that no longer fit.

Looking forward I am completely free,

which is a trap all its own.

Everything is possible – or is it?

In any given moment,

Someone, somewhere is stuck

between a rock and a hard place –

A sword and a stone.

When you don’t know

what you are looking for,

Rarely will you find it.

I see that now, and realize

There is no need to fear freedom or

worry about what I will find if I look.

Everything has a time, a place,

a reality of its own –

Reaching for it can only help.

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Friday, July 27, 2012

My Guest Poet this week is:

The Quiet

The Quiet