Words dancing in my head

DAY DREAMS

I’d like to write enough to use
Words dancing in my head,
With all the things I have to say –
said.

I’d like to have a million bucks,
And spend it as I thought,
With all the things I’ve wished to buy –
bought.

I wish that all delicious food
Would not increase my weight,
With all the things I like to eat –
ate.

I wish there was a tape somewhere
When my guitar’s re-strung,
With all the songs I love to sing –
sung.

I’d like to break old habits now,
Of writing-trends I’ve kept,
With all the missing hours of sleep –
slept.

If I could satisfy my dreams,
I hope I would not gloat,
With all the things I wish to write –
wrote.

7/21/05 Phyllis DeWitt-VanVleck

Inspired by Mary Sadler

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Nature and art

    POETRY IN MOTION

 

Describing a scene of beauty,                                        

With phrases and words on a pad,                                         

I brought the same to canvas,                         

Painted with colors I had.                               

 

My brush tipped  dazzling dew-drops

Catching the sun’s warm ray,                                            

On a flower’s satiny petals,                           

Before the drops melted away.                              

 

It unfolded a sleepy flower,                                

And a bumble-bee in flight.                           

It also painted the gauzy wings;

As the words in this poem might.                           

 

The colorful golden petals

Can almost emit a scent.

My brush made them so descriptive . . .

Just as this poem is meant.

 

Your mind can walk in a painting.

Its design is felt in your heart.

And poetry evokes emotions

As an art-form counterpart.

 

There’s flow and grace and beauty,

And those who observe, will find,

They’re the same in poem and painting,

When viewed with heart and mind.

 

8/19/04         Phyllis DeWitt-VanVleck

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A smile is your caress

  NO NEED OF WORDS

 

No need of words have we, my dear,

A smile is your caress.

You give it freely when you’re near.

No need of words have we, my dear,

For our love’s nurtured year by year,

And I could never love you less.

No need of words have we, my dear,

A smile is your caress.

 

8/30/95      Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

 

2’nd … Indiana 1995

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Words

          MY AFFAIR

 

I have a love affair with words.

I love the way they sound,

And I let them roll off my tongue

When no one is around.

 

And, oh, how I’m inclined to rhyme

Since I was just a child,

Keeping note pads filled with words

And certain phrases filed.

 

I love the early morning hours

When mind is fresh and bright,

To put my words together

And work my rhymes just right.

 

I’ve tried to write in other forms

Like those called Blank and Free,

But  lose control of mind and pen,

And rhyme possesses me.

 

When I see words like frolicsome

And prance or captivates,

It’s such a welcome challenge

To find them rhyming mates.

 

As I live my daily routine,

A sound, a smell, a sight

Set poetry gears in motion

Which run from morn ’til night.

 

A piece of paper isn’t safe

If I’m around with pen.

My hand was trained for writing verse

Since I was nine or ten.

 

Oh, woe is me, I just went blank!

What rhymes with billet-doux?

I need a fix of phrase or word,

Please help!  Merci-beaucoup.

 

10/20/90    Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

 

4’th … PAW (in Pa) – 1991

5’th … PAW (in Pa) – 1992

4’th … Indiana NPD – 2000

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My dad played the Fiddle

            PAPA’S VIOLIN

 

When Papa played the violin

          Mom rolled the rug away

We children smiled because she knew

          We’d rather dance than play

As Papa raised the tempo

          Our feet kept cadenced time

Mama often sang along

          With words in perfect rhyme

We’d dance until the music stopped

          Then fall into a chair

While Papa changed the tempo

          With expertise quite rare

It seemed he knew a million tunes

          At least I thought he did

But that was admiration

          Through the heart of a kid

Yet, he could play forever

          And without one repeat

The music slow or lively

          With melody so sweet

From concert music and old tunes

          To music of the day

Two-step, waltz, and hoedown

          Oh, how sweet he’d play

He could set your heart soaring

          On his concert violin

The room so still you could hear

          The soft drop of a pin

But then with quick transition

          The tempo changed once more

From violin to fiddle

          And our feet caressed the floor

That little box of polished wood

          With strings and resined bow

Made music that pleased angels

          Or inspired heel and toe

But that was just acoustics

          And guaranteed to please

What really made that box sing

          Was Papa’s expertise

 

 

6/11/90        Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

 

6’th … Indiana NPD 1999

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