The fairy tale begins deep in the magic woodland. The story unfolds in poetic form as The Little Sprout tries to find his path in life. What will he decide to do? What will he become? What would you do, if you were a sprout? Fully colorized, featuring art by Muse.
Personal Notes:
I Am A
* Voracious Collector
* Spontaneous Traveler
* Vintage Fanatic
* Spirited Soothsayer
* Fanciful Ponder(er)
* Soulful Quill
* Loyal Friend
* Devoted Heart
Business Notes:
I Am A(n)
* Product Developer and Design Stylist
* Professional Lyricist
* Greeting/Inspirational/Humorous & Holiday Card Writer
* Prose/Vows/Taglines & Jingles Composer
* Author Enigmatic Evolution, Prose of Heart and Soul
* Author Anthesis, A Capella of Love Sonnets
* Author The Little Sprout, A Tender Children’s Tale
* Director and Writer of Autumn Wind King Video
* Producer, Director and Writer of Orion’s Belt Video
* A variety of work doing this and that under various non de plumes
* Creator of over 10k internet free/shareware graphics
What I Am Not:
* Humorless
* Fickle
* Unfaithful
* Haughty
* Insensitive
* Spiritless
* Purfect
(Enjoy More Illustrations,Typography and Hand-printed Calligraphy at Our Online Studio)
Note: these kind words below were penned by Earl M. Coleman
(poetic friend and mentor-1916-2009-you are truly missed)
Biography for Muse, Pansylee VanMeteren of Poetic Pastries ~ WV poet, lyricist, author and artist, who creates under the nom de plume, The Muse (Muse), daughter of a deceased American naval officer, she currently resides in the South Branch Valley of WV United States.
Early in her career, Muse engaged her skills for technical purposes, such as document translation and schematic visualizations for government entities. She continued to write and paint poetically, in secret, using her pen name, Muse. An inner compass is evident in her work. Pieces reflect both past and present dilemmas; while showcasing her victories in overcoming these obstacles ~ all from her faith based perspective. Light touches of modernism play hand in hand with old world strokes, offering highly visceral readings. In 2010, a genesis compilation of Muse, Enigmatic Evolution, gave rise to her poetic voice.
Muse’s creations are predominately lyrical often resulting in poetic sonnets and fairytale like art. Lengths of work vary from simple and compact poetry to elaborately complex pieces. Thematically her writing pattern engages an autobiographical subtext. Structurally the Muse’s works involve a blend of poetry and prose. Elegantly fluid sentence formation creates an often old world environment. Highly figurative language is used extensively throughout her work. The paintings and drawings of Muse waltz hand in hand with her own words. The children’s story ~ The Little Sprout, offers up a prime sample of this blending.
A paradox of a woman, her hands are calloused and reverent. They have painted canvases, molded clay, charted geo-spatial trajectories, engineered software, washed puppies, and scrubbed floors. They have wiped away tears and folded in prayer. They have fired missiles and cradled babies. She is known to be gaming wordsmith offering her readers in social media brain teasers and poetic ponderings. The Muse proudly claims a kaleidoscopic ancestry of Irish, English, Scottish, French, German and American Indian. Since her youth, she has been fluent in several languages. An avid bibliophile and logophile, The Muse continues her passion by immersing herself in the written word of various genres. She adores word games especially Scrabble.
A self proclaimed lover of life, The Muse, celebrates by inspiring those around her. She is married to her first love; is a mother, and a nanny (grand-mother). The Muse resides with her family on an American Heritage Farm, which has been in their family for over 200 years. Her poetic and artistic ingenuity flows from the inspirational South Branch Valley of WV.
At times, I have to do some errands for the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. It’s not that I like to do these errands, but I have learned this is one secret to getting along with her.
The errand she had for me was to go to the Mall and pick up something she had ordered. In my own way I tried to finagle out of that errand, but the more I finagled the more insistent she was. So, I decided to finagle no more.
As the pop song says, “I have a million reasons not to go, give me one reason to go.” I tried to play this on her and her response was, “Because I asked you to.”
You just cannot get any better than that. I know, because I have tried.
Since I do not go to the mall that often, I thought I would stop in at a coffee shop and have myself a cup of coffee and just chill out a little. Taking my coffee out in the main area of the mall, I sat in one of the lounge chairs and watched the people go by.
As a young person, my favorite author was Ernest Hemingway. In one of his books he says that the important thing for a writer is to, “listen, listen, listen.” I tried to practice that throughout my life so I thought here at the mall would be a good opportunity to do just that.
It was rather noisy, but I tried my best to listen. Some of the things I heard I wished I would not have heard, but that is the price you pay for listening.
In my situation, I could not hear much of a conversation, but the little that I did hear I tried to figure out what they were trying to say. I know I got some things wrong, but I laughed very discreetly at some things I heard.
Halfway through my coffee something struck me that I never thought of before.
So many young people and children were racing through the mall. I did not know there were that many children on planet Earth. They were running and laughing and whatever else they could think of.
I just sat back and watched. I tried to listen, but there was so much noise I really could not listen so I watched. Here these young people were having the time of their life. They were laughing and joking among themselves and just having a good time.
Occasionally I caught the joke and laughed to myself, but most of the jokes I did not understand. I guess that has to do with an age difference.
It was right after Halloween and so a lot of the gibberish in the mall had to do with the Halloween spirit. I thought several were dressed for Halloween, but realized that that is exactly what they wear every day.
I saw one young girl wearing blue jeans with so many holes that they really lack purpose. I was later to find out that you buy these blue jeans with all the holes in them. Moreover, the more holes they have, the more expensive they are.
When I was young I had blue jeans with lots of holes, but I earned every one of those holes.
My spirits were beginning to rise and I was enjoying my visit in the mall. Do not let that get out, I do not want anybody to know I was having a good time, particularly, you know who.
It seemed the more I watched, the more young people and children flooded the mall. And, the laughter rang from one end of the mall to the other with me in between.
As I was enjoying this little episode, a thought snuck into my mind. I must confess that it is a rare occasion when a thought actually comes to my mind. This time a thought did come to my mind.
What I wanted to know was, why were all of these kids happy? Why were they having so much fun?
Don’t they know how miserable the world is today? Don’t they know how sad and horrific things are on the outside? The hatred, the anger, the putrefaction of the world as we know it.
Quickly my smile turned upside down and I frowned.
It then came to me. These kids in the mall having a wonderful time were not all caught up with what is going on out in the world. Their world is a world of fun and excitement. It is only the “old geezers” that know about all of the terrible things going on in the world. The young only see the good.
In pondering this, I asked myself a very serious question. Why in the world did I grow up?
Why couldn’t I have stayed young and naïve and only focused on having a good time? If I had stayed young, I probably would not be so depressed by everything that is going on “out in the world.”
In pondering this, I thought of what David once said. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalms 37:25).
I can appreciate what these young people see, but they really cannot appreciate what I have seen through the years. That is simply, God always takes care of his people.
Guest Article; Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship. He lives with his wife in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. His web site is www.jamessnyderministries.com