Monday, August 1, 2016

Self-portrait

Underneath
mother's worry lines
woman's dry skin

I feel girl's thumping heart
A work in progress,
still learning power of words
and fruits of imagination

My canvas:
deep roots beside moving tides
above white-cotton clouds
& tropical sun
licking the lake water 
with gusto



Me at the Scarborough Bluffs Marina over the long weekend
(My hubby thinks I'm a mermaid with legs)

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Quadrille - 44 word post, Hosted by Lillian.  We are asked to write a self-portrait.

Thanks for the visit!

30 comments:

  1. A mermaid with legs indeed! :) Love the parts about mother's worry lines, dry skin and a girl's heart! :) Especially love the last stanza. Wonderful strokes of the pen, my friend! :)

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  2. Love the picture Grace. It looks like you, De, and I have a mermaid club going. This is so poetic and lovely. I got so by-the-book on mine. Hey, retired engineer and chef - got to be point-by-point.

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    1. Let's have a mermaid club, smiles. Thanks Toni!

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  3. Rooted but still in the flow of things. I love your last stanza - beautiful poetic imagery and pleasant sounds. I could hear those tides moving besides the deep roots.

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  4. licking the lake water with gusto - I like that part! :)

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  5. We carry all of life's phases still within us. Woman, mother, girl. And a mermaid!

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  6. Gayle Walters RoseAugust 1, 2016 at 4:10 PM

    I like the snippet of you as a child still learning the ways of words...sweet. The contrast of the roots and the moving water gives the sense of continuing growth yet stability. I love that your hubby looks at you as a mermaid with legs! :)

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  7. Mermaids can have Silkie tendencies--you, or course just embrace the royal aspects; smile; you are Woman, & we dig listening to you roar.

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  8. Lovely... A mermaid with legs. He's a lucky guy.

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  9. Exudes a feminine quality that is so real. Beautiful!

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  10. "I feel girl's thumping heart" ... I can totally sense this about you.

    This is my favorite:
    "above white-cotton clouds
    & tropical sun
    licking the lake water
    with gusto"

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  11. Loved the second and third stanza.

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  12. The inner inspiration in this is exquisite, Grace. You write yourself well!

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  13. I love that thumping girl heart underneath it all and how you've structured this, that canvas.

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  14. Many layers as you flow away by the bay

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  15. Lovely photo. You look happy there by the water.:) I think we all still feel young at heart, no matter our age.

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  16. Lovely photo. You look happy there by the water.:) I think we all still feel young at heart, no matter our age.

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  17. aha...thumping and gusto; love them. lovely photo Grace, like your name :)

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  18. Such a lovely portrait of the nature in you, the woman, the child..always growing. And there you are...your hubby is lucky to have such a mermaid.

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  19. I love the opening lines, which I can identify with so well, Grace, and that phrase 'licking the lake water with gusto'!

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  20. A lovely self-portrait and photo. I can identify with you regarding "the girl's thumping heart" I enjoy your writing very much,,

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  21. Deep roots beside moving tides: love that mix of static and dynamic!

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  22. your husbands description of you made me smile.
    and i think the deep roots by moving tides makes for a great description - also I like the allusion to your family and their part in who you are.

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  23. I love the inclusion of the background / canvas!

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  24. Age is but a number. We never stop growing and knowing ourselves. :-)

    Happy day to you.

    ~Imelda

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  25. sMiLes mY FriEnd.. Grace..
    as sure i've mentioned
    bEfore what i've lEarned
    at 56.. as my Great Aunt
    Jettie taught ME dead
    at 47 in life..
    is we are only
    as young as we feel..
    could be 80 at 21..
    105 at 47.. or Jesus
    F. in Christ.. 16 at 56
    in even empirical evidence
    of pressing half a ton with
    legs 33 times like no other man
    does with his arms raised to air
    like a ballet dancer on an extremely
    difficult parallel leg press machine..
    even F in proving that on YouTube2..
    bottom line is this..
    science is based
    on functionally
    disabled cultural
    averages...
    human
    is
    based
    on GOD..
    i choose God
    and live life
    like no else
    but
    GOD..
    FEARLESS
    and ALIVE..
    Have a nice
    day WitH LOVE..
    MY friEnd.. no
    limits or
    expectations
    either.. just like
    that verse from
    Saint John that
    says others will
    come and do
    much greater
    works
    than
    the
    science
    of systemizing
    human limitations
    and expectations oF BEforE noW..:)

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  26. It's funny how, no matter how old we grow on the outside, we're still so young within. You captured that conflict so well!

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  27. There's a lot of layers here. The outside doesn't always show what's on the inside.

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