My Take
DiVoran Lites
Nerds of the World Unite.
At eight fifty in the morning
Before the Library Opens
People gather silently, one by one,
To stand and wait:
Man in tee-shirt, woman in pony tail,
Care giver in scrubs,
Grandfather and child.
Let us ring around the rosy and be merry,
“Here we stand like birds in the wilderness,
Waiting for our food.”
My Take
DiVoran Lites
Let me sit on my porch
In the morning
In a town where true friends live
Let me hear the call of the freight train.
And a neighbor rooster who crows.
And thinks he is always king.
I hear an airplane
Droning West.
I see the birds
In our backyard
Flying, flittering landing,
Taking off.
Taking baths
Chirping from a
A telephone wire
The mocking bird and the blue jay
Steal one another’s calls
And Sand Hill Cranes fly south.
Photo credit for all pictures in the above post- Pixabay
DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn. She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”
My Take
DiVoran Lites
By DiVoran and Thea
DiVoran
When I put down my pen to scratch Thea’s ears.
I’m available.
When I wake up and pet her down at the end of the bed,
I’m available.
When I carry her in my arms on a tour of the house,
I’m available.
When I get out her play mouse on a long, soft line
I’m available.
When I hide treats in the folds of her soft red blanket,
I’m available.
Thea
When the back porch needs to be protected
I’m available.
When I offer her my ears to stroke,
I’m available.
When she needs to be awakened from a big bad dream,
I’m available.
When she needs purring to remember that that life is good,
I’m available.
When she needs the light of my bright yellow eyes,
I’m available.
DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn. She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”
Louise GIbson
From the Heart
Photo by Mark Daynes on Unsplash
As a child, who did you go to for answers?
As a teenager, who was your “go to” friend?
As an adult, do you have a mentor who helps you
find answers you seek?
You can engage the wisest person in the universe
as your councilor to the end.
(Without council, plans go awry,
but in the multitude of councilors.
they are established. Proverbs 15:22)
Move in the direction of life, not fear.
Stand on the promises of God, our Savior.
He promised to always be near.
If you are feeling “in the dark”,
look up to “The Light.”
Keep your eyes on the one who is invisible.
He will guide you safely through the night.
My Take
DiVoran Lites
I saw Daddy’s cigarettes behind the bar.
And thought of glamorous movie stars
Holding cigarettes in dainty poses
One Camel won’t be missed
But what if Daddy catches me?
What if Mother is disappointed in me?
I drew one cigarette from the pack
Snatched a book of matches
And ran the two blocks home from
The restaurant we owned.
Hunkered down in the tall grass
That hid me completely
Without thinking of the smoke
That must rise into the blue sky
Without thinking of the tinder dry grass
Catching fire and burning down the house
I took a drag
Coughed…coughed…coughed
Ground it out in the dirt.
Didn’t smoke again
Until eight years later
Beauty school in Albuquerque
And a big contest to test our hairstyling
So nervous
At Toddlehouse my teacher, Monique
Gave me a cigarette
Here this will calm you down
Is dizzy the same as calm?
Monique gave me a whole pack
Take these home and practice
My young husband and I shared the habit.
After three years I yearned for a child
I worked until my seventh month
Not smoking because even the smell
Made me nauseous
I stopped then, stopped for years
Through the birth of another child
And the move to Space Center country
And I started again.
By then we knew smoking killed people
One day Bill asked the Lord to
Take away his craving for cigarettes
He pulled the pack from his shirt pocket and
Threw it in the trash.
He never smoked again
I prayed too and eventually
God helped me quit
Neither of us ever smoked again
Nor wanted to.
Thank Jesus for His saving grace.
My Take
DiVoran Lites
Painting by DiVoran Lites
I like black, it goes with everything,
Makes me look pale and ethereal
Don’t like my coffee black, though.
Mother hated black because…
She had to sew a slew of tiny black buttons
On her Mother’s funeral dress.
Red was out for Mother, too,
Especially for church.
It was the color for floozies
I wear red to church
I wear black to church
It goes with everything.
I like to wear white.
I had a white nylon uniform when I
Worked in the beauty salon.
I washed it every night.
When I was pregnant I wore a halter
So my shoulders could help carry.
Black is the color of sleep
White is the all-color-ness of purity
Red is the color of our blood
Christ’s blood, too.
My Take
DiVoran Lites
My friends love tea parties and so do I.
Grandmother Marie left me her
Collection of fancy teacups and
Mother Dora gave me her creme1940-s
“Ovenware” Tea Pot with flowers on it.
Mother told me all the stories in her world.
I heard about when she was a young mother
With two small kiddies. Every day
She would cook oatmeal on a coal stove
Like the one she was cleaning
Just before she went into labor
And had to go to the hospital g-r-u-n-g-y…
In those days the men went away
And the women held down the fort
Dora kept a clean, uncluttered house
After every meal.
She washed and dried the dishes
She gathered eggs,
Milked the goat
At five years old, I got to sit on the front step
And drink a glass of hot foamy milk
Dora fed chickens and gathered eggs.
Sewed clothes, repaired clothes
Washed clothes
Hung them on the line
To be examined by the neighbors.
And Grandmother Marie.
Early every morning
Mother hurried with her work so
She could dress up and
Walk her children down the block to
A neighbor or neighbors
Wanting to save her own cleaning effort
She couldn’t stay long
She had letters to write
To Daddy who was at the front.
My Take
DiVoran Lites
I don’t know much about geese.
I know they are big birds with attitude.
I know they are wild or domestic.
I know there are a lot of them in some places.
I know Daddy bought a goose
To fatten for Thanksgiving
And kept it in the shed.
I was supposed to feed it,
But I thought too much and let the goose out
Daddy sent the kids to look for it
All we found was a hut woven of willow branches
Among the willow bushes
Next to Grape Greek.
Inside we saw a mat on the floor
And a picture of a woman
With an old fashioned hair-do
Propped nearby.
When we got home,
Daddy was perturbed, but didn’t punish.
In a big lake in Orlando where swans live too
Geese challenge people for the right of way
And you have to stand up for yourself
After all, God gave dominion did he not?
In that park we saw a woman filling
A plastic bag with large white eggs
Goose eggs or swan eggs?
And taking them to an official looking car.
Where were they going?
My Take
DiVoran Lites
I hear they have
Electric pencil sharpeners now
Bzzz and the point is made
When I was bored in grade-school
To amuse myself
I walked up front to the pencil sharpener
With my yellow number two.
Didn’t know there was another kind
Of pencil in the world
Nowadays I love to art
I have rainbows and lollipops of color in stick form
Inktense, watercolor, wax pastels,
Crayons, and colored pencils
Too many art supplies
But that’s because
Artists are art-store junkies
All my color sticks need to be
Sharpened periodically
I have many hand sharpeners
But for a tough job such as
A colored pencil with
A broken off head
I open to the secret on the linen closet wall
And hand grind the wood away
To expose the purple underneath
For stroking highlights into books,
Especially Holy Bibles on gossamer thin
Paper with light-catching golden edges.
I took this photo in October 2019 on the Newfound Gap highway in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The curve in the highway teases unknown sights to be seen… a bear crossing the road or simply another breathtaking mountain view.
I don’t have a story for this picture. I love lighthouses but haven’t taken any photos for quite some time. Fortunately, my photographer friend, Melody Hendrix shared this photo with me. A lighthouse is symbolic of light and direction, the opposite of those who stir up strife. Let’s strive to be a lighthouse!
