Category Archives: Short Stories

Winter Poetry

Random thoughts on the New Year

Don’t make resolutions – make dreams. Dream big. Then plan what is needed to make dreams real. Then implement.

Grandmaster Iwon Seo once told my son  that “A Black Belt is a white belt that never quit.” Same is true of all art forms.

Don’t quit; that means reality and the naysayers won.

This weeks supermoon inspired this poem. I have a window by my desk and can look out through the treetops and see the moon hiding, The photograph is by Matt Cardy of Getty Images

 

Matt Cardy/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Looking through the cold

the wolf moon’s crisp light

warms my soul in its still beauty

 

 

New Year thoughts – Although is odd to put so much emphasis on an abstract created and measured by man.  Every day is a new day, the first day of the rest of your life. Go forth and live,

 

Yesterday Tomorrow

Behind us certain death

Before us mortality

Actions transcend time

Beyond the physical body

 

Haiku inspired by reflections on mortality  – Janus dies and is reborn

 

Bodies wither as

Memories fade across the

ravages of time

 

What will you do to be remembered?  Make a difference.

Be unique you. Be bold. Be brave. and Be Happy.

 

Until next time,

Claire 

 

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under Claire Count's publications, Short Stories

A SOLDIER’S THANKSGIVING a story by BJ Wingate

My friend BJ Wingate shared another story with us. Soon, I expect to have more news to share.   Hope you enjoy this story as much as the last.  It is longer so I am giving a google link to connect to the whole story.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

What am I thankful for? Life, love, friends – new and old, and health

So often we focus on what we don’t have and miss what you do have. It only takes one serious health issue to put the world in a whole new perspective. Little things like walking without pain, being able to pick something up off the floor, being able to put on shoes

I work with severely disabled kids who will never walk, never talk, never read, never be out of diapers. Imagine changing a 10-year-olds diaper. Puts the world in a whole new place, reassess how you feel about yourself and your less than perfect child.

Claire

A Soldier’s Thanksgiving by BJ Wingate

 

It was the night before Thanksgiving, but in Afghanistan that
didn’t mean all that much. Not unless you liked being hot and
sweaty and walking guard duty with a 15 lb. rifle snuggled in
your arms instead of your 11 month old baby girl that had
been born after you were deployed. At least you were able to
see her via the computer screen and Skype, but it wasn’t the
same. It made it hard to be thankful for much, but PFC
Randolph Johnson kept pacing and trying to think of things he
was or should be thankful for.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10V_ZLD6k9HZVevQDRpO-bfqSPaCKiLxe3kBdYaCdkDg/edit?usp=sharing

Leave a Comment

Filed under Short Stories