at year's end, it is not

 

the loudest

[bang-pop-bang]

that impacts me the most

it's the nicks, 

slights, careless tossed words- jabbing 

a growing crescendo

that knees me to fetal position

on the flip side-

it's not loudest cheers of devotion

but thoughtful & everyday gestures

that tugs my heartstrings

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille #214, Going Out with a Bang, hosted by Punam.  This is a 44 word post with the chosen word, bang.  

Thank you for your comments and visits.

Winter Tree

 

pine

cones grow

lush as leaves

thick   of   winter

  snow, fresh as spring rain   

          musky    as    wild    berries           

        unadorned, a   stark    beauty-          

    night sky is   translucent    silver       

mirroring  spell  of  purple  darkness-

above the balsam fir and white spruce trees    

i catch

the stars

Posted for the dVerse Poets Pub - An Etheree Tree, hosted by Laura Bloomsbury.  Thanks for your visits and comments.

November

The leaves are speckled yellow gold          

Scattering dust on field, so cold                  

Where is the summer sun's chatter            

As sky turns grey and lake iced blue          

Birds and bees have flown away, true        

Late autumn serves harvest platter            

Filled with melancholy.   Night clings          

Of ripeness.   Awaiting sweet sting             

Of last breaths.  How you live matters     

Sugar Maple Tree

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Nove Otto.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for your visits and comments.   

[alexa is always listening], AI

i wake you up each morning

at 6:am with a weather report

i remind you of your appointments

and your daily medicine

i curate for you

your beloved songs from yesteryears

but if you lost

your eyeglasses or misplaced

your keys & earrings

i cannot help you

and more so, when you ask me

the names of your children

and grandchildren

i am (blank)

and you take my silence

as company, as an agreement

that your life is a capsule foam

moving so fast

the moon outside the window is artificial

so is the whole surreal garden

your fingers touch the screen

to (un)scramble the words

recall the longing

recall the sunset over the river

recall the smell of musk & spices

recall everything with broken lens

unprompted, unscripted

i watch you 

wrestle, cut and shape

the (blankness) to art of your emotions

you ask me

what do you think?

i reply, sorry but i do not know that

{you are the masterpiece 

no AI poem or artist generator can capture (yet)}

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Diving into the genre of Sci-Fi poetry hosted by Sanaa Rizvi.    We live with our 2 AI assistants, Alexa.  She is great with reminders.   What about you?

word play

what 

is first born calling

add ever, it becomes an all weather response

with opening hands & long drawn sigh, a pregnant pause

but why

is the subversive sibling

making the sound a crunched fireball

ready to be curved-fisted & batty-hurled at great speed

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille, hosted by De Jackson.   Thanks for your visits and comments.

dear joy

 

Visit often

Unannounced or planned

Tap on our doors and windows

With your spring step & top       hat

Remind us of blue sky

When the day is fiddled-grey & fog-spun

Or calm walk     by the lake      shore

when ticking clock is mad         spin-wheel

Gather our pettiness

Along with the fallen yellow      leaves

We will find you,        a glass stone

To treasure along with our bowl of     half-

missing & lost things

Brush us tingling as   warm    towel

On a cold day, lifting      us with

silver wings              & cries of          gladness

Unmeasured, we          glide

above stiff-brown trees,           singing

Posted for dVerse Poets:  Poetics - Choose Joy, hosted by Merril D.Smith.

Thanks for your visits and comments.

October's spells

Autumn, what is my name

Autumn, what is my name

I am scatterseed, fruit of October

I am scatterseed, fruit of October

I am of Autumn's fruit, scatterseed 

October, what is my name 

Moon-scarred, I coax sunflower spells

Moon-scarred, I coax sunflower spells

Cleave me to light

Cleave me to light

Spells cleave me to sunflower

I coax light, moon-scarred

Darkness is a  cocoon wrapping the night

Darkness is a  cocoon wrapping the night

Making me soft as milkwitch

Making me soft as milkwitch

The night is making me soft as milkwitch

Wrapping darkness, a cocoon  

Autumn spells I coax - scatterseed, moon-

scarred sunflower in October

What light cleave me, I am

Of soft fruit of darkness, I am

Making a cocoon, wrapping the night

Milkwitch is my name

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- We are writing Paradelle, a poetry form.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm.     Thanks for your visits and comments.

at the end of road

 

when all flowers have withered

        black-smothered by north wind 

                                                          

when all leaves have fluttered                         

        brown-speckled to cold soil

    

promise me 

you will still sing with gusto

        & dance with light-feet beats

keep your edges 

        but remain gentle as rain 

        & nourish moon-seeds of spring

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Quadrille, hosted by Lillian.  This is a 44 word post with the selected word:   Promise.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

Thanks for your comments and visits.

Yellowing

 

i am just chilling here

toasting the blue line gaze

cool breeze is licking my skin

warm as melting chocolate

my bumblebee car awaits-

i mellow down under the

dandelion-inspired umbrella

as if summer sun is cracking

spicy tortillas on my head

this blue chair will do

nicely as i people-watch-

sketching convervations in my head-

imagining where they are going to-

my glasses are sweaty

my shirt is sticky as a granola

i lost my lemon-trimmed sandals in sands

but it is fine - no map, no timeline

for the day, just a yellow bird

on my knee for company & cheer

this space is what i have worked 

for:    peace & rest

not burnt-out but clutter-free

in all the ways i deserve-

i am just chilling here

                                                        All Yellow (Morgan Hill), by Teresa Dunn

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub-OpenLinkNight, hosted by Lisa.   Thanks for your visits and comments.

rhythm of autumn

autumn, autumn, sway us away

fading yellow to the ground, moist 

with rain, our leaves & blooms paler

than the waning apple-cidered moon 

autumn, autumn, swirl us away

turning darker red & black purple each

passing hour, we gently accept as  

our summer golden skin turn to ash

autumn, autumn swing us away

knitting our fears of change, we are 

changing, from fullness to emptiness-

we collect new words for sorrow

autumn, autumn, swirl us away

into the rhythm of life & pulse of death

we succumb, grateful for blessings 

from trees, warmth from dying sunlight

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub:   Poetics:   Of Mantras, Repetita Juvant, hosted by Dora.   Please join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for your visits and comments.