Time

Cape Neddick Lighthouse,  Maine
John Greenwood

Time

By John R. Greenwood

time hunkers down and grabs you tight around the arm 

it pulls you through life like a mother crossing the street with a child who refuses to be carried

time loves you if you love it back 

yield --but with a gentle tug backward

don't relinquish in full until the bill is paid 

when opportunity floats your way --- gulp 

drowning in hesitation blankets a youthful spirit

how many smiles missed had you waited for a sunnier day

time is not the enemy 

the mirror is

it's not what you see

it's the sea within

Grey and Yellow

Grey and Yellow 

by John R. Greenwood

Things are not always grey and yellow, it depends on the eye and what it sees. We see through tainted glass and tilted thought. Life, and the years it brings cause us to keep adjusting the focus. When clarity is attained the weather changes and along with it our interpretation. Back to the dial we must go, to retune and reinvent- not just our lives, but also our reasons. Young or old this lesson we must learn. Fear may be present but hesitation is tar on your boots. Move quickly. Step high and deliberate so no one might slow your reason. 

Free Write Friday

This is my submission to: Free Write Friday

Childhood wonder wrapped in words, sweet and soft. A magical collection of warmth and inspiration that will be sure to ease a cluttered mind. Memories woven into a magical tapestry of fondness and cherished tales. Each line sprinkled with a girlish confetti of gentle blues and snowflake days. Happiness by the line, punctuated by magical thought, mysterious and fleeting. A girls pen writes true to her heart. A heart fueled by visions past and hopeful futures. All  held tight to a youthful spirit and willful persona. Come swing with the rhythm of words as they flow outward and upward, forward and back once more. Turn the page, let the magic begin...

Aging Grace-Fully

Aging Grace-Fully

By John R. Greenwood

Age is beauty on a precipice 

Teetering precariously at the edge of fear and joy

Peering over with open mind

exhilaration befriends us

Retreating to safety masked in fear

we shrivel up

wilt 

and blow away

Seek something

                                                                 somewhere

See what others do not

 Say what you

                                  feel

you should

Be 

someone

you feel 

you should

be

jrg4.10.12

"Vinny"

“Vinny”

By John R. Greenwood

“Vinny” the butcher’s Saratoga home, The S&M Meat Market, was perched at the top of a slight rise and at the cumbersome intersection of the streets Congress, Franklin, South Franklin, and Grand Avenue. I can roll back to the end of the 1950’s and recall mom squeezing my sides and perching me atop the red leather stool with the shiny chrome legs. The stool that was parked for years at the high counter surrounding the massive butcher block. The butcher block top worn smooth and worked hard. Every blow to another pork chop or rack of ribs added character and bloody charm. 

Vinny was a child of the Depression, tight with a nickel and tougher than a mahogany knot. Time and a changing world were taking a toll on Vinny and his domain. The remaining days of the S&M Meat Market were small in number. On one of those last days I was parked in traffic at the light out front when all of a sudden the front door of the S&M swung open violently. I watched as a seventy year old butcher grasped a scrubby looking man by the seat of his pants in one hand and by the nape of the neck with the other and literally tossed him out into the street like a pail of grey mop water. Stunned I sat through another light change watching this surreal scene unfold. The mop-water man laid motionless for a moment then slowly pulled himself to his hands and knees. Gingerly he got to his feet and began to brush himself off. Vinny reversed into the market like a three hundred pound cuckoo clock. Brushing his palms as if to say, “I may be old and grey but don't mess with me.” I later learned mop-water man had made a grab for some cash sitting on top of the till. I knew that moment that all of those, “You should have seen him when he was young,” stories were less embellishment and more astonishment. 

Weathered Miles and Rusty Spokes

"Weathered Miles and Rusty Spokes"

"Disney-Lite"

What do YOU see?

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" - Leroy (Satchel) Paige

"Main St. USA"

"The Country Collection" 

"Beware the Optimist"

"Monday may not be so great."

"But wait until Tuesday, things always look a little better!"