THIS WEEK'S QUOTE PROMPT:

My biggest excuse to others and myself was that I had writer's block, as if it was some kind of illness. Mary Garden

Monday, August 30, 2010

NEXT QUOTE PROMPT ON 9/13/10

Due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 6th, The Magnified Muse weekly quote prompt will not return until Monday, September 13th. Enjoy your holiday weekend and be safe!

#24 - The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. Maya Angelou

We spent the day looking
for a new place to live.
The heavy snows of winter, and
the summer grass that grows nonstop,
caused our minds to think of condos
or townhouses with no yard.
Dreaming of low maintenance,
we rode around for hours,
looking at this and looking at that.
And then, we came back to this house.

This house is perfect for us.
The size of the rooms,
the layout,
the neighborhood --
everything about it meets our needs.

And forgetting the grass,
forgetting the snow,
and forgetting everything we think we want,
this building has transformed itself
into more than four walls and a floor,
a front porch, a backyard, a roof over our heads.
In the three years we’ve lived here,
this house became something beautiful:
a place to share time with good friends,
a place to share play with our furry family,
a place to share life with each other
through the ups, the downs, the laughter and the tears.

Move? To where?
This simple building, this special place, is our home.

Monday, August 23, 2010

#23 - The faith that stands on authority is not faith. Ralph Waldo Emerson

RELIGION VERSUS FAITH

Religion is a community.
The outward affirmation
of spiritual devotion,
shared by some for the sake of being seen.

Faith is a communion.
The inward affirmation
of spiritual commitment,
shared with the only One who matters.

Given a choice,
I would rather have faith over religion.
Communing with my God
in the places He shines most brightly.
Having Him meet a need when least expected.
Believing He walks with me when I don’t seem Him.

Religion has its restrictions,
but faith has no limits or boundaries.
Neither does God.

Monday, August 16, 2010

#22 - Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. Les Brown

BENEATH THE POND

Beneath the frozen pond
a dream lay dormant.
Just below the surface,
a thin layer of ice
separates it from me.
The fear of falling through
keeps me from claiming it as my own.

The pond water has melted.
The dream is well within my reach
just beneath the surface,
but I make no rescue attempt.
The fear of drowning
keeps me from claiming it as my own.

The seasons have revolved again.
My dream now sits on the bottom
of the pond, mired in the muck.
The senseless fear of defeat
before the battle even began
makes this dream impossible to reclaim.
Were it not for the phobia of self-doubt,
the dream could have taken me anywhere.

Monday, August 9, 2010

#21 - This world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Dwight D. Eisenhower

With the A Muse Fuse Poem-A-Day Challenge behind us, it’s time to return to our weekly poetry quote prompts here at The Magnified Muse. We’re starting our new season off with a quote by President Dwight Eisenhower made in his farewell address to the American people on January 17, 1961. The sentiments he expressed 49 years ago seem even more relevant today. Follow wherever this prompt takes you, be inspired by it, and post your own poem under Comments.

WHERE IS IT WRITTEN?

The patriots died for this land to be free.
But where is it written that we can’t disagree
without hurting each other by violent displays,
and inflicting our damage in the ugliest ways?

And where is written that we must be the same;
and if we are different, we should bow as if shamed?
And what gives us freedom to taunt and abuse
another one’s freedom to express his own views?

There is violence in words, born of anger and fear.
And when someone’s not like us, we don’t want to hear
the opinions they have or what they may believe.
And this lack of respect is where hate is conceived.

And it only grows stronger, blinding all of our eyes
to the best we could offer for everyone’s lives.
But we can’t get beyond how we both disagree,
and the chance to move forward is a chance that won’t be.

I’m afraid for this country and how hatred abounds
when opposite viewpoints can’t find common ground.
Free speech doesn’t mean that our thoughts must conform.
So, where is it written that hate is the norm?