I believe humor which results in the state of mind referred to as “happiness” can be a coping tool for those who suffer from mental health instability. I’ve often wondered how people with huge challenges in life – such as cerebral palsy – can smile so often? Smiling and humorous remarks can be reciprocal in…

The other day I listened to a very articulate member of the Sikh Religious Faith make the statement on TV that “religion should not enter the bedroom” – in reference to the attitude a number of religious faiths have toward homosexuality. As a Sikh he explained that he had no problem with the concept of a civil gay marriage. Therein lies the…

Lately I’ve been hearing remarks such as: we  as human beings are the ugliest species on the planet. By “ugly” I think they mean selfish and uncaring for others. I believe all human beings were given a huge helping of the “selfish” gene in order to survive.  My father-in-law used to philosophize that “Survival” followed by “The procreation of species” were dominant traits in the human psyche.…

Today (May 24th) is Schizophrenia Awareness Day and to commemorate it some of us are going to wear purple- LOOK FOR THE PURPLE SHIRTS. PURPLE-SHIRT CLAD PEOPLE CARE! Why doesn’t  schizophrenia hale Higher on the compassion scale? Their pain is not that obvious Their symptoms do not lobby us. Psychotic symptoms don’t include Blood that’s oozing from a wound…

Prompt: today, as befits the final poem of NaPoWriMo, I challenge you to write a poem of farewell. What will I feel After you have gone When the show is over And I am alone With my reflections I’ve  enjoyed our Conversations My soul has been Enriched Filled  to overflowing By your presence Even as you Go out the…

Today’s prompt: to find a news article, and to write a poem using words from the article. [From article in Prince George Citizen. P. 8. April 28th] Post -traumatic stress disorder, A highly-stigmatized condition, Suicides involving soldiers, Of the Afghanistan mission.   They are taught to hide the pain, Told to soldier on, A counsellor had taught him, How…

Prompt: to write a poem from a featured photograph http://www.reenhead.com/baseball.JPG A youthful ball-player named Brett From Langley BC was beget He joined the Blue Jays Hitting balls quite a ways Much to Boston Red Sox’s  regret!        

Prompt: a curtal sonnet is shorter than a normal sonnet. It has a first stanza of six lines,followed by a second stanza of four, and then closes with a half-line. Oh how I’d love to have a sleep-filled night, For rested  mind;  blithe spirit; muscle strength, A sleep of seven hours, or even more in length, Oh how I’d…

Prompt: to use “anaphora” (repetitive wording) such as in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this…

Today’s prompt: I challenge you to write a poem that features walls, bricks, stones, arches, or the like.   A RED BRICK FIREPLACE Polished red bricks complement the rustic decor of my friend’s living room. Bricks purchased during that  fire sale of remnants, from the Lejac Residential School before they tore it down. When memories were purged but never erased of incidents occurring in that…