Poetry Sunday ~ When Darkness Calls

When Darkness Calls

I crawled onto the naked floor:

wet from tears I cried before.

Clawing, clenching, my nails they bled

for want of need for to be fed.

I heard the solemn cries above

shedding droplets of forlorn love.

I saw a ray as it streamed on by.

passed my wavering longing eye.

In the gallant bristled light

Tis' where I knew I had to fight.

Slithering in the dark too long

I seek the edge of rhythmic song.

Darkness sought me when I was low

played the game of revelries blow.

Believing he had the promising cure,

I fell for Lucifer's haunting lure.

His nails felt like a warm embrace;

his fire lit my empty face.

Parts of me they tingled within,

leading me down the road of sin.

It felt so right, so warm and true,

betrayal a game I never knew.

Lies, deceit the blackened stares

with him my guide I had no cares.

When he had me in his clutch,

reality hit me; I lost too much.

I begged I pleaded for simple release

I wanted refuge, my inner peace.

It was that moment I felt a hand

reach from Heaven and make me stand.

Brought me forth from the darkened night,

into the morn of a new dawns light.

Anguish and pain were in the pit

while Lucifer he growled and spit.

Trying to tug me back into his realm

where he alone could man the helm.

As sweat rolled down my chafing cheek,

returned my strength no longer weak.

Angels of grace were at my feet

True Light of love our eyes did meet.

I am the master of my own domain

Truth will abide in Light I'll remain.

No longer a victim, I'm on the mend

Thanks to the Lord my newfound friend.

Quotation Saturday

PEOPLE

Who is wise?  He that learns from everyone.  Who is powerful?  He that governs his passions.  Who is rich?  He that is content.  Who is that?  Nobody. 

~Benjamin Franklin

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.  

~Winston Churchill

If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others.  

~Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld

Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me the sunlight expands my blood?  Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?  
~Walt Whitman

PATIENCE

How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young? 

~Paul Sweeney

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. 

~John Quincy Adams

One moment of patience may ward off great disaster.  One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life. 

~Chinese Proverb

Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience.  Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.  ~Michel de Montaigne

PROMISES

Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible. 

~Hannah Arendt

When a man takes an oath... he's holding his own self in his own hands.  Like water.  And if he opens his fingers then - he needn't hope to find himself again.  

~Robert Bolt

Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters.  This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting. 

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once.  

~Norman Vincent Peale

TRUST

One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life.  

~E.M. Forster

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.  

~Frank Crane

Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. 

~Charles Krauthammer

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. 

~William Shakespeare

Poetry Sunday ~ Drought

Drought

I look across the fields so bare

Pivots racing for drought to spare.

Boughs they bend seeking relief

From the suns scorching grief.

Grass is burnt in umber bliss

Green it sleeps the moisture miss

Blades are thorns piercing the skin

I’m lost in thought for the state I’m in.

Summer fun has been sucked dry

The heat it drinks tears I cry.

Thankful for a warm swift breeze

It only drains the towering trees.

Shade is welcome; there I sit

Watching as the bugs all flit

Mosquitoes have all lost their bite

Crickets are still they silence the night.

Come forth rain and spare us wrath,

As summer sun has marked its path.

The season is slowly nearing an end

Up to heaven rain prayers I send.

Quotation Saturday

Phil. 4: 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

***

SANITY

A man who is "of sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.
~Paul Valéry


The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
~Rita Mae Brown


Temporary madness may be necessary in some cases, to cleanse and renovate the mind; just as a fit of illness is to carry off the humours of the body.
~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare


Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtasked.
~Oliver W. Holmes, Sr


No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.
~Aristotle

MORALITY

The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.
~Michel de Montaigne, translated


We have two kinds of morality side by side: one which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom preach.
~Bertrand Russell


It is with flowers, as with moral qualities: the bright-coloured are sometimes poisonous; but, I believe, never the sweet-smelling.
~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare


What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike.
~Alfred North Whitehead

VIRTUES

Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one, and must ask Knowledge to show her the pathway that leads to her goal. 
~Horace Mann


Virtue is praised, but hated. People run from it, for it is ice-cold and in this world you have to keep your feet warm.
~Denis Diderot


Modesty and unselfishness - these are virtues which men praise - and pass by.
 ~André Maurois


Do not be troubled because you have not great virtues. God made a million spears of grass where He made one tree. The earth is fringed and carpeted, not with forests, but with grasses. Only have enough of little virtues and common fidelities, and you need not mourn because you are neither a hero or a saint. ~Henry Ward Beecher


It is hardly respectable to be good nowadays.
~Edith Sitwell

FAITH

Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch.
~E.M. Forster


Faith is courage; it is creative while despair is always destructive.
~David S. Muzzey


He who has faith has... an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well - even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.
~B.C. Forbes


Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.
~Victor Hugo


As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.
~Emmanuel


In these trying times, faith is knowing a brighter tomorrow lives right around the corner.
~ Joni Zipp

Poetry Sunday ~ I See What You Do

I see what you do

In the dark hours as you surf through

Pages upon pages I know what you do.

Do you think that you can hide

All from me to whom you abide?

You gave your soul to me I see

Now it lies in jeopardy.

You cannot peek nor can you thrust

Sorry my son, there’s no room for lust.

I am the ruler to whom you bow

Was it all for naught, you ruin it now?

Lay your trust into able hands

We can make it through the stands.

I gave you freedom of which I can take back

For the ignorance of all you lack.

Secrets are storms waiting to rise

Unleashing pain from the skies.

Know that nothing is hidden from me

Each step you take, I always see.

Quotation Saturday

TRUST

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.
~Frank Crane


I trust everyone. I just don't trust the devil inside them.
~Troy Kennedy-Martin


People ask me why it's so hard to trust people,
and I ask them why is it so hard to keep a promise?
~author unknown


I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you”
~Friedrich Nietzesche


Trust is like a river. Sometimes you can go with the flow. At other times it drives you downstream at full force, spitting you out on the shore!
~ Joni Zipp

TRUTH

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please - you can never have both.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson


I never dreamed of being Shakespeare or Goethe, and I never expected to hold the great mirror of truth up before the world; I dreamed only of being a little pocket mirror, the sort that a woman can carry in her purse; one that reflects small blemishes, and some great beauties, when held close enough to the heart.
~Peter Altenberg

Truth is the breath of life to human society. It is the food of the immortal spirit. Yet a single word of it may kill a man as suddenly as a drop of prussic acid.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes


Truth is hard for some people because it shows an inner vein they don’t want exposed to the light.
~ Joni Zipp

HONESTY

A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.
~William Blake


Honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world ain't lawful tender for a loaf of bread.
~Josh Billings


I never lie because I don't fear anyone. You only lie when you're afraid.
~John Gotti

Worse than telling a lie is spending the rest of your life staying true to a lie.
~Robert Brault


Honesty is like a warm blanket wrapped around your body, layer it with a lie and it becomes a blanket of thorns to your skin.
~ Joni Zipp

LOVE

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


When you're in love you never really know whether your elation comes from the qualities of the one you love, or if it attributes them to her; whether the light which surrounds her like a halo comes from you, from her, or from the meeting of your sparks. ~Natalie Clifford Barney

Take away love and our earth is a tomb.
~Robert Browning

Love is the fire in the soul that burns for eternity. Allowing the flame to go out is certain death.
~ Joni Zipp

FREE Audiobook Giveaway!!!

Did you know you could win a free audiobook, just by commenting on this post at Audiobook Heaven? I think this is the seventh audiobook giveaway this year. Every first of the month a new book is offered and while in the beginning he was getting emails like crazy on the post, the numbers seem to be dwindling.


Everyone likes something for FREE, so why the dwindle of responses for a free audiobook? Maybe people fear giving out their email? It’s not like millions of people will see it! So go give it a shot, you have nothing to LOSE and a FREE book to gain!

In other news, I’ve found a new place to meet like minded people. That would be Twitter. Unlike facebook, Twitter doesn’t allow you to write a whole bunch, just 140 characters I believe, so what you post must be tight and concise. Twitter isn’t bogged down with ads and very rarely am I offered porn. Erotica to me is soft porn and I do find people who are suggested to me who are into that sort of thing, but that is NOT for me. For anyone who knows me knows I’m a prude when it comes to that stuff, so I stick to ‘following’ the audiobook industry, writers, authors, publishers, and a few causes to stop child abuse. Porno freaks beware, I WILL NOT follow you just because you follow me, sorry!

I’m also a member of LinkedIn and there are discussions on writing that will keep you busy for days! LinkedIn, yeah it’s one word, is an insightful site with groups galore where very intriguing discussions are had about the writing industry. I don’t see many in the audiobook industry there, but if you’re a writer and heading into the ‘Professional Writer’ status, then LinkedIn might be something you’re interested in to get your career headed in the right direction. At least you can share your opinions, craft tips or whatever you wish. A pretty cool site for the networker in you!

Well that about covers what I’ve been doing these days to further my career in writing. Facebook I leave for socializing with friends and family (far and few between, I might add) Twitter I like to call the meeting of the mind space, for me. And LinkedIn is all about discussion of the field out there for us writers! I seem to have all my ducks in a row, as they waddle to a new future away from the village that kept my lil ducks busy for years.

Onto brighter and better waters!

Phishing, Spamming, Hacking, Oh My!

Phishing:

Phishing is a fraudulent attempt, usually made through email, to steal your personal information. The best way to protect yourself from phishing is to learn how to recognize a phish.


Phishing emails usually appear to come from a well-known organization and ask for your personal information — such as credit card number, social security number, account number or password. Often times phishing attempts appear to come from sites, services and companies with which you do not even have an account.


In order for Internet criminals to successfully "phish" your personal information, they must get you to go from an email to a website. Phishing emails will almost always tell you to click a link that takes you to a site where your personal information is requested. Legitimate organizations would never request this information of you via email.


Spamming:
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.


Hacking:
Computer hacking is the most popular form of hacking nowadays, especially in the field of computer security, but hacking exists in many other forms, such as phone hacking, brain hacking, etc. and it's not limited to either of them.


Due to the mass attention given to blackhat hackers from the media, the whole hacking term is often mistaken for any security related cyber crime. This damages the reputation of all hackers, and is very cruel and unfair to the law abiding ones of them, from who the term itself originated. The goal of this website is to introduce people the true philosophy and ethics of hackers, hopefully clearing their name and giving them the social status they deserve.


***
You might ask why I’m informing you of all of this. Well let me tell you. I’m not too naive where the internet is concerned but I’m no techie either (and proud of it). I like the sources of writers I find on Twitter, along with the audiobook communities, bloggers, writing friends, publishers, all at my fingertips that I can follow and be informed.


I’ve only began going back to Twitter recently because facebook does not have the great information that I can get on Twitter. I’ve been following, been followed, been a favorite and a retweeter, but something happened the other day.


I’m following a lot of Audiobook reviewers, narrators and such so when in my email I found one from HA, (I won’t give their name for obvious reasons) that said “someone is talking about you” I inadvertently clicked the wrong button thinking I was going to be taken to twitter to respond. No biggie, right? Wrong!


I later found out that the same notice went to all my followers that joni sent them. I didn’t! It was some kind of viral spam, that if anyone clicked it, it too would be sent to all of their followers too!


I thought I had been hacked, so I took measures of protecting myself, then I went to HA to see who they were and if I should STOP following them. Their page had been hacked! It was no longer reviews, it was a page full of links to erotica writing and so on, as you can use your own imagination.


I continued to protect and send out my apologies and many were very understanding, informing me that they knew it wasn’t from me, which is good to know that people respect me in that manner! Thank you Twitter followers! I AM legit, the real deal, nothing phishy or scammy about me! I’m a writer in a world of viral pigs who have nothing better to do in their lives but to try and hurt people!


Later that day, I went back to HA only to find that they too were made aware of the hacking scam and their page was back to normal! Whew! We dodged that bullet, twitterers!


I would never hurt a fly! Okay maybe I would kill a few flies, ever live on a farm where flies bite like dogs? But seriously, I would never hurt anyone; my followers know that and respect me, as I them. I’m a writer building my following, and networking with like minds.


Thank you all, you’re a great bunch of people. Give or take a few phish in the sea! ;)

Poetry Sunday ~ Soul Harvest

Soul Harvest

***

The time is near, the hour nigh,
moonbeams droop in a blackened sky.
Blazing sun scorches the land.
Earth erupts in a quivering stand.

Encircling us is ravaging hate,
lust and greed severs our fate.
I sit and watch as lives unravel,
the boulder of strength now merely gravel.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
souls bewildered by mistrust.
Doubt and fear, they give rise.
to muted pleas and mournful cries.

As souls ascend and souls descend,
it is our own that we must mend.
Bringing forth joy, love and peace,
the decorum of beauty will never cease.

Firmly tread as the time is here,
to boldly proclaim, all we revere.
The harvest of souls its beckoning plea.
It's craving you; devouring me.

Come forth and share your wholesome beauty.
Unleash love, as if our duty.
Reap what you sow, seek and find.
Then you my friend, won't be left behind.
Copyright ©joni zipp

Quotation Saturday

DEATH

“It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.”
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
― Anaïs Nin

“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”

― Jimi Hendrix

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“That was the thing. You never got used to it, the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it's reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you, and it just hits you all over again, that shocking.”
― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid.”
― Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems

FAITH

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
― C.S. Lewis

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.”
― Elbert Hubbard

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
― Mother Teresa

“Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right.”
― Max Lucado, He Still Moves Stones

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

TRUTH

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
― Mark Twain

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
― Flannery O'Connor

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”
― Winston Churchill

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Surviving...NOT Writing!

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”

― Maya Angelou

Well writing friends, it is 80 degrees here in Nebraska at 8:30 in the morning. I haven’t done much writing as of late as the days are loaded with heat and exhaustion. The gardens are looking nice, the pumpkins are flowering like crazy and the birds find relief in my makeshift birdbath. The grass on the other hand is almost non-existent, burnt to a crisp as temperatures have topped 100 for almost two weeks and what seems forever!


What a heatwave! Storms rocked my hometown of Maryland last week enough to scare my 73-year-old mother into the bathroom as winds topped 75 miles per hour! The days in Texas look cool compared to this. I’ve grown accustomed to Nebraska’s nice temps, but this summer is not good temperature wise. And as I read the morning news, not many states are being left out of this bake-bath!


Beau (Stormcrow) is awaiting glasses, job hunting, and license renewal. If you remember he was blind for two-and a half years and now has sight restored in one eye. Adam (my son) has had his own illness to contend with and the heat of the summer is not helping any! And me, my back issues are not resolved, but I still get out and weed (or de-weed) the garden and water my flowers. What a lovely summer thus far.

We missed the family bar-b-que on July 1st, due to these illnesses plaguing us. (But we’ve had many visits this year, so it was okay) Here in Nebraska there were many firework displays going off for what seemed like five nights in a row. We sat out on the back porch, in the sweltering night heat, watching the many light shows, so all was not lost for the holiday.

I’ve not returned to my writing community as of this date. I just pop in, friend request, and check out what is happening in the world of writers. I no longer feel it is the family of writers that I’ve known and loved throughout the eight years spent there. I’ve maintained a few friendships via facebook, but to get into the site and get writing done? I think that (site) is now a part of my past. I sweep it under the rug, and move on to a more professional writing site where people are there to write, not gossip, back-stab, demean and hurt. I say, if those types of people surround you, they are only going to bring you down. Surround yourself with the positive so that a positive flow and outcome will be your reward.

While it has been a bumpy road so far these seven months into the year, I’ve become stronger and I feel a renewal of spirit that has welcomed me into the wings of growth. I’m a better not bitter person because of the entire experience and I go into my future with my head held high and with great expectations as the road is paved smoothly, not buckled from the sultry heat! Now if only I could remember my name…

“I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.”

― Mother Teresa

Poetry Sunday ~ Winds in the Willow

Wind in the Willows

***

The wind in the willows walking away;

Cats in the cradle carrying this day.

Harps will be humming a soft melody

Birds are bound for the top of the tree.

Flowers are flowing in fortitudes stance

Branches bending a soulful dance.

Life it lulls and stills the soul

like bud to blossom becoming whole.

Ants are artfully aiming high

Powered persistence playfully ply.

Hypocrites hiss hypothetical spew

Willfully whispered for all to chew.

Soulful spirits sing songs of praise

Unleashing light through the haze.

Darkness dawns here nevermore,

Sleeping wake on a new days shore.