Thursday, November 22, 2018

Giving Thanks With a Love Poem



This will post on the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving, which I know only some of you celebrate. 

But even those who do not have the specific holiday of Thanksgiving certainly have times of giving thanks.  And in thinking about what kind of poetry arises with the giving of thanks, my mind came up with a love poem. 


While we don’t always couple thankfulness with love, they seem to me to be closely linked.  Sometimes, the link is obvious--there may be a person whom we love for whom we are deeply thankful. 

But even small, seemingly casual expressions of thanks, when genuine, are little expressions of love.  Love in lozenge form, if you will; mini mints of love which we may give on a daily basis.  

We can debate this. (I’m sure you can come up with instances of persons you have thanked whom you don’t much like.)   I still believe that any moment of genuine thanks is also a little (maybe very little) lozenge of love. 




But let me get to the prompt!

Which is to write a love poem. It may be about love offered in thanks (or not), and it may be about love offered to an object or non-human animal as much as to another human.  It may be about the love that one sometimes feels emanating from the universe or from the memory of your grandmother or from your own heart or your dearest partner, or the love you offer back to these.  



All I ask is that whatever you write is genuine.  (Even if genuinely tongue-in-cheek.) 

Happy Day. 

Manicddaily/Outlawyer, Karin Gustafson here. The pics above are all illustrations from recent (or coming) children’s books of mine--Melanie’s Twinkle, Does Melanie Like Melon?, Good Light Room and Little Dog and a Taste of Adventure; all available on Amazon.  I have recently published Momoir, Maybe, a book occasioned by the death of my mother. 


8 comments:

Sherry Blue Sky said...

What a lovely prompt, Karin. I LOVE your wonderful illustrations, and applaud your series of children's books. And your memoir. You are very productive.

Jim said...

This is great, thank you Karin, you worked hard. I will with credit to you post your lovely Puppy Love painting/drawing(??) in a bit. I finished and posted from here, the bathroom. Mrs. Jim is recouping from her bunionectomy surgery and I help her get in and out of the shower, etc.
My poem is true. Toto had a nice, happy long life with us. Eventually she died but went blind before that. I almost cried as I was reading Mrs. Jim the poem.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL,
..

Kerry O'Connor said...

This is such a lovely prompt, Karin. I love your drawings.

brudberg said...

I might be come in with one a little later... no Thanksgiving excuse here, just so much to do... :-)

brudberg said...

OK.. a little normal love poem... will get back later to read.

The Bizza said...

I used the cherita form, even though I'm conveying a feeling more than telling a story. I just like the format. :)

Marian said...

This is a lovely prompt, Karin. And it's really good to see you.

Kerry O'Connor said...

A very late entry from me.. I will share it again on Tuesday. Thanks, karin.