History

March 12, 2026March 13, 2026 / rothpoetry / 53 Comments

History

History is often handled like putting Bondo on an old rusty car!

It only covers the damage temporarily.

In time the truth peeks through the polished surface!

Beauty of today is often built on the bloodshed of yesterday.

War and destruction seem to be the cancer of humanity

The buried history of the past often rises to haunt the present

Unlike rust, history will always be with us in some form

Each generation must decide how they will deal with these events

They seem to continue to erupt leaving pocks in our whitewashed society

But then, how long should we dwell on the atrocities of the past

Before continuing to move forward into the future

Inspired by a poem by Shaun Tenzenmen

Sydney Harbour Blues – 14th March 2026

https://1994ever.com/2026/03/11/sydney-harbour-blues-14th-march-2026/

Posting on d’Verse Poets Pub Open Link Night

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Vulnerable

March 10, 2026March 10, 2026 / rothpoetry / 55 Comments

Staring across the trees at the early evening light

I watch it changing in my mind realizing dusk is near

Slowly fading, it’s like this old body with all its

Wrinkles dents scrapes and scars now fast fading

As the light begins to shift colors appear on the horizon

Like a kaleidoscope of beauty it spreads as far as the eye can see

I let my mind run through a field of wonderful memories

Floating beautifully as day relentlessly moves toward the edge of night

As darkness approaches the colors fade and the sky slowly dims

Oranges and red blend into gray edges dry-erasing the painting

Holding bright memories seems futile as colors fade to black and white

Why is it so hard to hold onto the color in the gray of the evening

Evenings are always vulnerable times it seems as distance closes in

As we move from our memories of beauty into the warmth of dark of night

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Posting on d’Verse for Dora’s prompt to write a poem that describes the inner landscape. Today I found out from my cardiologist that my heart function is running below par. I still feel good, but it does make me realize my vulnerability.

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I’d be a Wren

March 9, 2026 / rothpoetry / 63 Comments

If I were a bird, I’d be a cute little wren

Sharp dressed, bright eyed

My trilling melody would cut the air saying, “Look, here I am!”

I’d Moonwalk with confidence, strutting my stuff

Building my nest in the Boston Fern on the porch

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Posting for d’Verse prompt using the word bird.

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Fan Blades or a Mountain Dulcimer

March 7, 2026March 8, 2026 / rothpoetry / 30 Comments

A few weeks ago, I salvaged a set of wooden fan blades from the trash barrel at Habitat Restore where I volunteer. I thought maybe I could make something from them. They were curved and had a interesting wood grain. They seemed like about the right shape for a mountain dulcimer.

I knew nothing about dulcimers so I did some online research and watched some You Tube videos to learn more of what it would take to make one. All of the dulcimers I saw had flat tops and bottoms, so making one with a curved top and bottom presented a challenge.

I picked out two fan blades that seemed to have the best tone when I tapped them. Using a belt sander, I cleaned off the old finish and tried to level the outer edges. I glued blocks on both ends and shaped them to fit. I still had a problem with the sides which were uneven, narrow in the middle and wide at the end blocks.

To get the sides to work, I took a piece of left over vinyl flooring and cut a templet to fit each side. Then I traced it onto the thin wooden side strips I had cut out on the table saw. Using the traditional strip around the top and bottom edges would not work, so I decided to glue in tiny vertical posts that followed the contour of the wood. I put a bead of construction adhesive on the top and bottom edges and on the posts and squeezed in the side pieces attaching them at the ends.

When they were dry, I sanded the center of the top so it would be level for my fret board which I glued on. I also made a head piece for the tuners which I glued onto the end of dulcimer. I used a 25.5 inch scale length which fit nicely on the fan blade.

In the end with more sanding and tweaking I was able to string it up and play. I also added a stick-on pickup that seems to work well. I found a great guy on You Tube who gives free lessons. I am going to see what I can learn from him.

If you want to hear how it sounds you can check out my Instagram site.

Music echoes through

hollow shell of wood and glue

Steel strings welcome Spring

Creation brings joy to me

Feel of the wood seems sacred

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Instagram

Sifting Life at Almost 80

March 4, 2026March 5, 2026 / rothpoetry / 56 Comments

What’s left to do

Sitting in my chair

Watching out the window

Birds eating nonstop

Pondering, ruminating life

My aching body

Reality check

Memories long embedded

Still feeling forty, sometimes sixteen

Sand in the hour glass

Runs steadily

Filtering quietly through

That moment between

Life and death

One grain at a time

Posting for d’Verse Poets Pub phrase poem prompt.

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

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Looks Can Be Deceiving

March 1, 2026 / rothpoetry / 23 Comments

Old burglar alarm

Rusty bell on Bank’s stone wall

Don’t blow your future

It still rings

Only one way to success

Follow the sign

Keep on moving

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Golden Daffodils

February 27, 2026 / rothpoetry / 52 Comments

She wrapped up in a throw

Thinking the snow engulfed

Every thought of spring…

But her daffodils

poke their head through the snow,

defying winters cold breath,

and today they are blooming!!

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Posting for Open Link night at d’Verse Poets Pub. This one is for my friends in the Northeast who are still digging out of a winter blizzard that came through!

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It May Surprise You

February 24, 2026February 24, 2026 / rothpoetry / 35 Comments

Amid the bluster of imaginative truth, you ramble on and on

deploring and reviling any who dares to speak out.

Your fly-by-night friends fall like autumn leaves after a frost

Those who drink the Kool-aide of support seem to wither on the vine,

A slow painful death of deplorable embarrassment and kiss-kiss.

You may pretend to have found the fountain of youth,

thinking senility will never catch up with you.

You ride your surfboard of power on a giant tsunami wave

believing you are the greatest who ever lived.

“History has failed us, but no matter” what you believe.

“Here is a small fact: You are going to die,”

just like all of those who came before you.

Posting for Punam’s d’Verse prompt where she has given us several first lines of novels. We are to choose one to use as the last line of our poem. I used two for my last lines.

“History has failed us, but no matter.” – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

“Here is a small fact: You are going to die.“ – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth