Just Do It

lillian

Squint your eyes,
tantamount to willful aperture.
Unsee dissonance, the ugly, the bad.
Visualize instead the good wherever it may be.
Work it. Become it. Traverse only there.
X marks the spot and if you believe, it can be found.

people-2606513_1920

I’m hosting Meet The Bar Thursday at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. At MTB, a particular form of poetry becomes the prompt. Today, I’m asking folks to write an Alphabet Sestet! A poem of 6 lines that uses an alphabetical sequence that appears in the first word of each line. Hence, I’ve used the alphabetical sequence S-T-U-V-W-X in my poem. The first word of each line, begins with the corresponding letter of the alphabetical sequence. Line 1 starts with S; line 2 starts with T; line 3 starts with U; etc.  Any alphabetical sequence may be used: writer’s choice!
Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time. Come join us. It’s easy as A-B-C, 1-2-3 in the words of the Jackson Five’s wonderful early hit! 🙂  Image from Pixabay.com

65 thoughts on “Just Do It”

  2. Victoria Stuart September 13, 2018 / 3:24 pm

    Wilful aperture — such a timely phrase. I spent the day with my grandson who held up his hands like binoculars searching for hawks yesterday. Love this!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 13, 2018 / 3:34 pm

      Oh yes….and did you ever hold up your hands (let’s see if I can describe this right), with the palms to your face, your thumb and forefinger touching each other, making circles over your eyes, and then your other three fingers under your chin? Seems to me I used to sing some silly song with that like, “Up we go, into the wild blue yonder….” and those were our flying goggles????

      Like

      Reply
    • lillian September 13, 2018 / 3:35 pm

      Sometimes the map is right there in front of us….we just need to look a bit….and other times, it seems so very hard to find.

      Like

      Reply
  4. Grace September 13, 2018 / 3:30 pm

    I love the positive self affirmation verses specially these lines: Work it. Become it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 13, 2018 / 3:54 pm

      Thanks, Grace. Sometimes I just need to say these words to myself, out loud. These days, I think there is more need for pusing ourselves to find the positive and also, making it happen.

      Like

      Reply
  5. sarahsouthwest September 13, 2018 / 3:35 pm

    The challenging end of the alphabet! Love “unsee” and “wilful” – great word choices. And a great message, too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 13, 2018 / 3:36 pm

      Glad you enjoyed, Sarah. I do tend to be a positive person….my daughter once said to me, “Mother! Every movie can’t be the Sound of Music!” to which I replied, “Why not?” 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  6. Vivian Zems September 13, 2018 / 3:56 pm

    I quite agree with this positivity. We need more ‘good’. Lovely image!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Glenn Buttkus September 13, 2018 / 4:01 pm

    On the eve of Florence, and with Trump mid-rant and unhinged–your poem is even more welcome. I do so enjoy the “fun” prompts; levity is a necessity.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • lillian September 13, 2018 / 4:12 pm

      Thank you, Glenn. Yes — my son is in NC but inland. However, his home is surrounded by very tall trees so we are nervous for him. And oh yes…..somehow we need to look for the good and the positive and also make good happen (read that VOTE in the November elections!) – or we would lose our sanity these days!
      And oh how I loved your Crazy Town! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  10. Gospel Isosceles September 13, 2018 / 6:05 pm

    Does the title suggest your alignment with Nike’s recent controversial move? If so, then 👊🏽. (Fist bump, not face punch, ha.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:43 am

      Oh my —- never even thought of that when I wrote this! Maybe it was in my subconscious….subliminal???

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  11. Dorianna September 13, 2018 / 7:47 pm

    How poetically you describe the law of attraction…’love squint the eyes to the ugly’ see instead the good place you wish..well done.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. kanzensakura September 13, 2018 / 7:55 pm

    Thank you for this fun form! This is the kind of form I can get behind – not fussy at all. I love the upbeat tone of your poem. We need all the upbeat we can get nowadays. With Florence looming, we are holding our collective breaths.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:45 am

      I always like a little fun! 🙂 Glad you liked the form….one I made up on short notice as I was “subbing” for a host who couldn’t make it so I only had a couple of days to come up with something. Seems folks had fun with it 🙂

      Like

      Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:46 am

      Just call me Pollyanna 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  14. Beverly Crawford September 13, 2018 / 8:09 pm

    Beautiful reminder to find and appreciate the beauty around us. (Sometimes hard to do in these troubled political times).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:46 am

      I agree….that’s why we have to squint sometimes 🙂

      Like

      Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:46 am

      Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.

      Like

      Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:48 am

      Happy to hand out positive vibes 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  20. Singledust September 14, 2018 / 7:47 am

    work it, become it – we seldom hear this these days, the younger generation seems to get things so easily, we are made of sterner stuff – love the unquenchable spirit i feel in your poem

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:49 am

      So glad you enjoyed! I sometimes feel myself saying to myself, just do it! 🙂 (Not related to Nike at all)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Singledust September 18, 2018 / 5:40 pm

        haha I never thought of Nike till you mentioned it, but my mum used to say this well before it became famous!

        Like

  21. Adda September 14, 2018 / 8:23 am

    Oh, I do believe! Such a positive message… loved it!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:50 am

      Well you know, Adda…..I was always one of those in the audience who clapped and clapped to make Tinkerbell live 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  22. rothpoetry September 14, 2018 / 8:33 am

    You are right a positive attitude makes all the difference. Love the picture… x marks the spot!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:50 am

      May we all find that spot to add more happiness into our lives! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  23. kim881 September 14, 2018 / 9:32 am

    Good advice, Lill! My eyes aren’t squiting so much since I picked up my glasses on Wednesday and today I see only the good! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • kim881 September 14, 2018 / 9:33 am

      Oops! That should say ‘squinting’! Maybe my glasses haven’t solved the problem after all – or it’s just my wonky fingers!

      Like

      Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:51 am

      Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there really did exist those proverbial “rose colored glasses” ??
      Squint….squit….squirt….however we can get more positives into our world! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
      • kim881 September 18, 2018 / 10:48 am

        😁

        Like

  24. mhmp77 September 14, 2018 / 10:52 am

    kaykuala

    Work it. Become it. Traverse only there.
    X marks the spot and if you believe, it can be found.

    Wise words Lillian, very motivating!

    Hank

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:52 am

      Thanks, Hank. And yep – I really do believe it! 😉

      Like

      Reply
  25. merrildsmith September 14, 2018 / 1:30 pm

    “tantamount to willful aperture” is a great line, and I also like unsee dissonance. There’s much I’d like to unsee. I just saw a “Just Do It” meme that was just do it in November, and the Nike “swoop” was dt’s hair.

    I like the positive message in your poem.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:53 am

      So funny. You’re the second person to mention Nike. I wasn’t even thinking of them when I wrote this. Ah….maybe I’d “consumed” that message subliminally???

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  26. Janice September 14, 2018 / 2:14 pm

    I love this Lillian, the original choice of words and the image of X marking the spot…and ‘unsee dissonance’ is superb.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:53 am

      Thank you so much for the kind words here, Janice. Truly appreciated!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  27. Mish September 14, 2018 / 7:02 pm

    Just realized we used the same letter sequence. 🙂
    I love the message you convey here. Very uplifting.
    “Work it. Become it.” Yes! That’s how we make things happen.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:54 am

      Yep! And I do believe 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  28. vidyatiru September 14, 2018 / 8:42 pm

    love your message of ‘yes, we can’…and your poem is a treasure by itself

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:54 am

      Thank you for your very kind words here. Truly appreciated!

      Like

      Reply
    • lillian September 18, 2018 / 8:54 am

      Oh yes! I do believe! 😉

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment