Author Archives: bethpow06
FMM 6 16 17 Pause for a Poem
“Peace goes into the making of a poem as flour goes into the making of bread.”~Pablo Neruda. I traveled through London the day of the Moorgate Disaster, a crash of an underground train (London’s Tube) that killed 48 people. In fact I traveled by tube that day. My friend and I had to get across […]
FMM 6 10 17 Fret not, nor fear
“In a time of destruction, create something.”~Maxine Hong Kingston. I have never been fond of scary movies. I prefer to escape into a light comedy, to be amused for a while. I remember accompanying a friend to watch a couple of movies that were outside of my comfort zone (Jaws, and Carrie). For her punishment […]
FMM 6 2 17 Angels Watching Over Me
“We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.”~Anton Chekhov. In Jamaica, when you discover that you have put on your underwear inside out, it is said that you are chasing away ghosts (you a run duppy). Apparently ghosts get spooked easily, and that is one way to […]
FMM 5 26 17 Which Path?
“Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.”~Viktor E. Frankl. I am a Mancunian by birth. That means that I know that the correct pronunciation of the city’s name is Manchister, with the emphasis on the first syllable. I lived there until I was […]
FMM 5 19 17 Throwing Corn
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”~Ernest Hemingway. Reginald and Henrietta joined our family soon after we arrived in Jamaica. As city folk transplanted to rural Jamaica, we accepted the gifts as pets, not as the dinner (Reggie the rooster) and breakfast producer (Henrietta the Hen) they […]
FMM 5 12 17 Push comes to Shove
“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.”~Napoleon Hill. My parents were married for 66 years when my father died. Theirs was a partnership that endured through many struggles and across many miles and left a legacy of enduring lessons along with a large family. But it was one which could easily have not […]
FMM 5 5 17 Warts and All
“Live with integrity, respect the rights of other people, and follow your own bliss.”~Nathaniel Branden. For those of us born in the baby boomer generation, most of our childhood photos were taken in school. Cameras were not common place. Photos took days to be developed. What you saw was what you got. And although we may […]
FMM Canary in the Coal Mine
“Ring the alarm, another sound is dying (woh-oh, hey!)”~Tenor Saw. I don’t remember birds making a particular impact on me in childhood. Although I remember quite clearly a couple of songs from those days. One was about a robin in winter (poor thing), another about the exotic Australian kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree […]
FMM 4 21 17 Engaging Rituals
“Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” ~Mohsin Hamid. We all remember those special times of childhood. Whether it was the special feeling of waking up on a Christmas morning to the feel of a packed stocking at the foot of the bed, or the knowledge that your special day, your birthday, was […]
FMM 4 14 17 It Coulda Worse!
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”~Denis Waitley. They say travel broadens the mind. There is something about experiencing a place, a people and a culture far different to the one you are familiar with that helps to open […]