Thursday, December 14, 2023

make it a sweet salad


let's make a fruit salad

as sweet as a ballad

specially when paired with a flan

so get a large tropical fruit cocktail can


& drain fruits with a strainer from its juice

this can take time like a noose  

on a big blanket, but this is key

to make this salad creamy, not soggy peas


in a bowl, combine fruits with all-purpose cream

and sweetened condensed milk (half of your dream)

merrily, you add more color & zest-

mix in peaches, cheeries - fruitfest 


how about corn kernels & tapioca pearls

added in, to make your feet twirl & swirl

measure to your stomach's delight,

chill & serve as a dessert, so bright



Note:   Our Christmas holiday is not complete without a fruit salad as our cold dessert.  There are many variations but the basics remained the same - drained fruit cocktail with cream and sweetened condensed milk.   Here is one.


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Rhyming Recipe.   Please join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.       Thanks for your visits and comments.   Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.  


Tuesday, December 12, 2023

wish list for december

 

i can sit here all day

flipping around in my tuxedo

suit until i am blue

with all of my crew


i do not need a jolly man 

with a red coat of fur & felt

to bring joy & cheers

i am fine as bundled blanket


but if you insist on gifting me

here is my wish list:

krills, squids & fishes-

and i will dance


dance with my happy feet




Credit:   Jay Ruzesky



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - December Point of View, hosted by Melissa Lemay.

Thanks for your comments and visits.   Happy Holidays to you all!

Monday, December 11, 2023

the "real" Christmas trees


sky is a mirror

snow-dredged, grey-stained

by sleet & salt


december breezes 

stiff cold as bone-dry wheat stalks

maple trees are leafless

while pine and spruce trees are needled-thick


unadorned, uncut & crowned

by winter stars

magical

[I wish I could send you one]



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille, hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.    This is a 44 word post with the chosen word "snow".   Thanks for your visits and comments.

Thursday, November 30, 2023

cherita

snow


covers the dead maple leaves

& city roads 


all white

soft as river sands

filling in all the emptiness-



darkness steeps

hours with greys & bloodless sky

where are the birdsongs & bees?


my pen hears them, scratching  

away the icy blues of the long night- 


winter's breath is tangerine



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Cherishing the Cherita by Laura Bloomsbury.  Thanks for your visits and comments.

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

ode to a banana

 

my hand holds

you as a slice of sunshine

folded skin

yellowed as honeydew


your pulp is not sulty as a plum

nor mysterious as dragon fruit

you are a yellow stripe in a strawberry field

of exotic and colorful produce

plucked & peeled

you are my comfort snack

as a well-worn shirt

i wear 

through all the 4 seasons


many will have you fried in

sugar & cinnamon 

or boiled as a steamed fish

or mixed in breakfast oats

mashed

you are home made bread


here is the tea:

i prefer you

fresh and simple as a daisy 

bringing me

easy cares as light as butter-

fly wings




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight where I am hosting.    Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.    Thanks for your visits and comments.

Thursday, November 9, 2023

pirate

 

i pare a pear

ripe

ate it:

pit, ear, air


i tie a teepee

apart tarp

tar it:

tri-peat pitter patter trap


i err

(reaper)

art ate tea, tree, rare pieta

reel it:

R.I.P.



Posted for dVerse Poets - Anagrammatic Poetry, hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.  I have used the letters in my title as words in my poem.  Thanks for your visits and comments.

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Stardust

 


A season of darkness descends 

Heavy as our worldly cares 

Of wars & long disagreements

Blanketing candle light with chill


Can we recall the bright sunshine

That books give us, turning hours to

Gold and greens the path we trod upon

Words filled us, stories infused us


Can we fall as sepia brown leaves

Soft against the wind, accepting

Of nature's cycle, dying to dust

Belonging back to soil, a moment


So brief, we are but a speck

So mote, where millions & millions

Have walked this way before

Have gazed to the sky with awe


That we are & all that we can be

is second in time, a blue dot 

Of infinity.  I float, light 

as stardust, the tide rises in me


Of hope, blue as cosmic ocean

Of love, calling us back home



Inspired by Carl Sagan's Cosmos.  He was the Director of the Laboratory studies and David Duncan Professor of Astrology and Space Sciences at Cornell University . He was the recipient of the Joseph Priestly Award "for distinguished contributions to the welfare of mankind", and the Pultzer Prize for literature.  He died in Dec. 1996.

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.”

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”

Goodreads on Carl Sagan

YouTube, Pale Blue Dot


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - A Bookish Mood, hosted by guest, Dora.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

autumn wishes

 


Blue windspells, slivers of sunlight, apple trees 

Carve us in silhouettes of geese in flight

Keeling in gratitude, with fruits, sweet & scarred


Blue windspells, slivers of sunlight, apple trees 

Hold us awed by falling leaves - plum, gold & russet

Filling each grey hour with pines & yearning 


Blue windspells, slivers of sunlight, apple trees 

Brighten our nights, warm as butternut soup

Folding time pink as origami cranes




Posting for dVerse Poets Pub- OpenLightNight.

Join us with a poem when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for your comments!

Thursday, October 19, 2023

we are lungs and history

 

Under the maple trees, we fall

Soft as pinecones, sun-creased skin

We worry not where we land and rust

We embrace the autumn season


We are kin with elm, oak, pine, spruce

And so many more than we can count

We worry not where we fit & thrive

With wildflowers at our feet


When sky is blue, we breathe as one

At night, we dream of stars, all bright

We worry not about darkness

And bow to the tides of the moon 


We grow older than elephants

With wrinkles, warts & wounds

We revel our fruits & seed pods

Instead of poison, spikes and strifes


We are your lungs and history

But we can also be barren land

When forgetting about us, a voice calls

For war, spilling oil, blood and gore



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Writing from a Collective Point of View, Hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.

Join us when we open the pub doors at 3pm EST.  Thanks for your visits and comments.

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

haunted & uncrowned


your thin hands are those of a sparrow

poised to slump, defeated scarecrow  

no caws or birdsongs can reach you

no grunts or hoots from small creatures

can meander near your shadow

the green and lavender hues in the faraway

distance hurts your eyes

wallowing you deeper in your wounds & woes

how you allowed it to fester, red & rot 


can the wind make you swish & sway at all?

can the sun spark a seed of memories:  lush 

yellow green needles, pine cones and nuts?

sorrow seeps from every pore of your skin

oh the agony of being uncrowned leafless tree

bark beetle-bested, your inside is solid carcass

knees keeling

ribs reeling


tell me when you are ready for the

axe to fall






Georgia O’Keefe, Dead Piñon Tree (1943), 40 x 30 inches, oil on canvas, Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation
2006.5.180 © Georgia O’Keefe Museum


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Haunted, hosted by Melissa Lemay.   Please join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.


Tuesday, October 3, 2023

the show, the frontman, at their very best

 

when the showlights are blazing bright

its time to put on cryptic smile

your inked arms are love letters, sight

on your fighter's stance.  this trial-

your art, your music are your knights

to knock down the rumors with style-

your band is the greatest- that's right 

(&) you're the best - chameleon with guile


waxing the theatre floor with green

grass, crooning to sky of shadows

there's a mirror of you, not clean

shaven, but stark naked, no prose

to mask real fear, loss, the scene

to question our life's highs and lows 

there are no answers in the screen

we left, beating hearts, with caws from crows



In response to the poem, When I'm among the Blaze of Lights

by Siefried Sassoon


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Dead Poet's Society, hosted by Kim M. Russell.

Join us when the pub doors open by 3pm EST.


Monday, October 2, 2023

burning


you can turn red hot, an angry wildfire

on this autumn season

but the cool nights have prevailed

casting a soft brushed-golden light 

on your skin

on your cheeks

browning

mellowing

slowing down

your pulse rate simmers to lethargic

wait

you bow to nature



autumn:  burning bush



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille hosted by Lisa Fox.  This is a 44 word post with the selected word, brush.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for your visit and comments.

Thursday, September 21, 2023

flamenca in the plaza

when midnight strikes, let's meet-

bright moon is white knight by

pomegranate tree 

i'll bring my castanets,

clicking lights, red tight skirt


swishing & stomping feet

on fishbones cobbled steps-

you are red as wine

toasting the good harvest

with big bottles of cheers 


the plaza is buzzing

hands clapping fast, faster

we are swept along- 

tales of love & lament

we are sands in lost land




Pomogranate Tree, Spain

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Flamenca, Spanish verse form.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for the visit and comments.   Form:  The elements of the Flamenca are:
  1. stanzaic, can be written in any number of quintains.
  2. syllabic, 6-6-5-6-6 syllables per line to imitate the rapid click of the heels of a dancer.
  3. L2 and L5 assonate. (same vowel sounds)


Tuesday, September 19, 2023

early autumn


the maple leaves are changing hues-

cranberry, ochre, toffee, velvet, ember

all radiant from the cool wind-no blues

to witness the dying summer blooms

i marvel the maple leaves changing hues

exploding  from green to colors to tickle

the fancy of poets & nourish the muses 

of artists.   imagine the harvest of sun-dried

fallen leaves on your hands & feet - whose

jolly idea was it to engulf you with earthly wishes-

maple trees are yielding (like myself), changing hues-






Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics, Folding Into Autumn, Hosted by Melissa Lemay.  Thanks for your visit and comments.   Fold Poem format by Gillena.

Thursday, August 31, 2023

moon spells


We chatter to sangrias and songs

In Vintage tees, we cheer to yesterdays

Look up, there's a full moon beckoning-


A blue moon, silk & serene, round-eyed

Silver light, its wholeness lifting us

To gaze beyond trees, city lights, cars


Blue moon, give us the longing for stars

Map our hands with sage & bay leaves 

We are soft as ocean, flowing into you




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- OpenLinkNight.    

Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm.  Thanks for your visits and comments.

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

bottles of memories


you drained the bottle of San Miguel beer

as if it was tap water

showing me, your first cousin,

how you have grown:


loud arguments for women's rights,

with cigarette pack (ignoring the surgeon

general's warning)

& a swagger pose for an 18 year old


i joined you and our cousins 

by grabbing a bottle of beer myself,

proud to show off that I can hold both the beer

& lively talk (a rite of passage as a teen)


the beer tasted a bitter lager to me

but the ice made me gulp 

each swig a little easier & bolder


it was never the bottles of beer though

or uncle's signature pork & beans dish 

that made this family gathering remarkable


our fathers (all 4 brothers) were gathered

around the table, expertly brandishing

the golden beer bottles

(we are poor imitators of their beer rowdiness)

with their eyes teary with mirth

as their wives 

chatted in another huddle, exhanging gossip


our fathers are the heartbeat &

life of this party


it was the jokes & silly advices

(repeatedly ex/changed over the years)

it was the sloppy conversations

(he said, she said versions)

it was the fake quarrels & rousing debates

(challenges issued & done)

my father's belly laughter

(young, rippling of energy)

that echoed in the night 


that i still remember 

long after our fathers

(all the 4 brothers)

have died, 

& yes after our

silbings & 2 aunts have died too


now, you (still a proud 

single first cousin) quit smoking & Scientology 

& rowdy arguments


we don't order San Miguel beer 

but sip our glasses of water with cheers

as we catch up with the lost years

in between 


the chasm is wide

but we warm up in our distinct sing-song vowels-

also, the family jokes still make us giggle


your face is soft sadness of sunset

and my hands are looking more like my

mother's 

as our voices fade, holding on to lost

letters



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Bottled Poetry.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST about what is brewing inside your bottle.  Thanks for the visit and comments.


Monday, August 21, 2023

anonymous (twitter) confessions, you

tell me 


you're pining for midnight kiss,

on starless night

your hair brushed by wings of

fireflies


i'll smile (with emojis)

& listen to musings


& delusions 

(uncensored) 


don't blame me though

for your life's choices

i'm just a girl

with 

(your)

confession account



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille with the chosen word, PINE, hosted by De Jackson.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.   

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Late summer

Wrinkled black maple leaves fall on the ground

Green crab apples dot the fruit trees (again)


Orange sun dips and dims ever slowly, a clock

unwinds, music when soft voices die-


The season in transition begins -

a limerence - short-lived- with nature


Joy in all its exuberance as rain

pouring down, refreshing as cold ice on hot day


Wilting petals, incomplete poems & unopened books

remind me that birds will soon fly south of the border


I'll bottle up this music of birdsongs

& sweetness of child's laughter in the park


The smell of smoke from grilled meats

lingers, as well as the crisp evening air that drapes the sky


With autumn grey.    With a coat, I sip warm chocolate, 

inhaling the last of summer blooms & harvest of fruits



Music, when soft voices die,

Vibrates in the memory—

–Percy Bysshe Shelley, Music when soft voices die (Note/Credit to the poet)


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - August Transitions, hosted by Merril D. Smith.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.


Thursday, August 10, 2023

between us


your silence hovers, builds a wall

raindrops fall

that i could not see the blue sea

you lost me

in maze of doors, words so careless 

(or) i lost you, us- sky's starless 


my half-moon eyes betray reckless

fears & anxious longing for you 

my shadows overwhelm me (sighs)

raindrops fall, you lost me, (or) i lost you, us -sky's  starless



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - MTB:  Spanish Rain in the Ovillejo - hosted by Laura Bloomsbury.   Join us for this challenging poetry form.   

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

French Onion Soup

When I made this soup in our first month of

marriage, it was a soggy soup of tasteless onions 


But you finished it all up anyway

Embracing me for my (lack of) cooking skills


Time was the best ingredient in the kitchen

I know that now after more than 3 decades of


family & raising the children

There is no perfect recipe to follow, but practice


makes it easier.   I didn't know that white, not

yellow onions, was the best for this recipe


That I needed to cut & stir the many layers of buttered

peeled onions (10 cups) for a long time (at least 40 minutes) in a pot


I did not know that the long caramelizing process

brings out the sweetness of the onions


Peeled away are silky translucent skin

Turning the color of char & slightly brown under the fire


Adding garlic, fresh thyme, wine & bay leaves 

Made this chicken stock richer, flavorful than I ever thought 


possible.   Pair with buttered bread and white wine

You sighed with delight over this (heavenly) soup


How is it possible that (you say) you have

never changed at all - you are still as beautiful 


when I met you.   I smiled at you and noted that you

are not wearing your glasses.   The french onion


soup made you giddy, I say.   I wipe away the

stains from my hands, now slightly wrinkled, bent & patient 



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics - Peeled Away with guest host Melissa Lemay.    Join us when we talk all about onions when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.    And yes, I now know how to make this delicious French Onion Soup.   

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

wake up & touch the grass


i wake up in the morning waiting for the sun

to soften me, soft as linen, softer as mud pie


my fingertips are tapping, checking the blue sketch

of canvas, granite silver stones, the studs, the slow motion


of time, rocking me to stupor, here in my pink dress, white

socks, shoes off, floating, i twist my body to bend


into the hourglass of sweet complicity & simplicity

but this solid bed of recycled plastic is hard, my thoughts


run grey, spiral to crawl, crash, cramp__

i cannot move to lift myself off this loneliness, this rabbit hole_


tell me you care, tell me to touch green grass,

tell me to get off the phone & social media,   


this body swells of longing for rain, soil & seeds,

sounds of birdsongs, the smell of pine trees 


i want to drown in my dreams of clouds, as the sun 

softens me, soft as linen, softer as mud pie, sinking to earth 




María BerríoClosed Geometry, 2022, 
paper collage and watercolor on linen, 72 1⁄8 × 90".



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - We are writing Ekphrastic Poetry based on the 3 artwork selected in the prompt.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thanks for the visits and comments.

Monday, July 24, 2023

song credits (to us)

 

we're blending the lyrics & notes

to strum of guitar riffs


you drunk-sway as goldfish in fish-

bowl


i play the piano (off)key

as soaked flowers  

by summer rain


our faces are blue

with sweet refrains & kisses


bravely, we watermark the album 

with our names



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille:  Pouring Out Our Poems - Hosted by De Jackson.  This is a 44 word post with the chosen word - water.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

Monday, July 10, 2023

summer of calendula

 

i count more than 12 petals

sun-radiant, golden lemon bright,

red specks in the center

we are bee-struck over your



healing prowess

though your size is my palm 

your willowy sway

in the breeze, safron scent of mint

and thyme

brings a joyful morning






Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille hosted by Lisa.   

Happy 12th anniversary dVerse!

Thursday, June 15, 2023

june diary: strawberry moon


this kiss, yours -  is an unbridled sonnet

tart as wild juniper berries in gin

brimming with seduction & sloppy grin

unpredictable as crashing rocket 

who would have guessed, we like chaos & black 

not sweet strawberries, but peppery to  

roll our tongues in shock, like a strong brew-

we adore brightness & shadows, a stack

of poems.  if we cared what they say we are-

not compatible, crazy kids with wheels-

we would not be here, love drunk, twined in teal

in a heartbeat, your eyes are silver stars 

you gift me a lush garden of verses: 

unrhymed poetry, dance beats, blue metric,

guitar riffs, rocking my world electric-

there's no time to dally in rehearsals

               

your lyrics unravel me, spilling ink

moon tides, my lungs on fire, i flower pink



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- MTB with John Donne and his Heroic Sonnet hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.  

I reworked some of the lines I wrote here and made this a longer poem, following the sonnet model as requested by Bjorn.  Thanks for your comments.

Monday, June 12, 2023

under our sky

 

the forest is burning

(&)

you ask me a question


you will get an

answer

differently


(when I'm 40)

(when l'm 60)


last year or next year 

because my present

is ever changing


as clouds in bleak smoked sky

as silkworms searching mulberry leaves



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Quadrille - hosted by Lillian Hallberg.

This is 40 word post, with the chosen word, PRESENT.  Thanks for your visit and comments.

Thursday, June 8, 2023

sisterhood

 


we were born on sawdust and torn tweed

scattered along plains of wheat and weeds


we suckled on old goat's milk and blue scars

etched on bodies of our mothers searching for stars


we grew up suffering through our & their pain

never knowing the joy of freedom & our names


how we fought and grinded with vigor

as we took blows to go through the rigor


we are stronger when our voices are melding 

to bring justice & peace, all with a good ending


we now stand humbled but proud women fighters

as we made this, our way, survivors



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub -  When "we" writes Poetry, hosted by Laura Bloomsbury.  Thanks for your visit.

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

The Quality of The Thimble

The thimble is thinking of imposter's 

syndrome.    Bigger than sunflower,

but softer than guitar strings.  It gets a summer

job watering the garden of a grocery store. It

thinks it is all easy, until it forgets to wear

sunscreen & gloves and pricks its fingers 

from tiny thorns.   It keeps on bitching

that the pain everywhere is brutal to deal with. 


The thimble wilts very quickly in the summer

heat.   Like a banana which you buy greenish but

turns brownish spots in 2 days.  So you must

consume it quickly like sugar snap peas,

or radish when quickly pulled out

from the soil, crisp and slightly peppery.


The thimble loves April's Fool.  It likes to 

eat melting ice-cream when walking

to a farmer's market.   

It is also a memory box.

Keeping all the crochet bonnets and 

half-sewed materials, and all the 

unfinished verses,

no titles, just a tumble- 

weeds of words.  



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quality Poems hosted by Kim M. Russell.    Inspired by the style and poem format of The Quality of Sprawl by Les Murray.

Thursday, May 25, 2023

Emerald eyes of spring

 

Call me, I have emerald eyes

Watching the pink lilacs blooming

Under the glossy silver sky

Green buds are preening & swooning


Red flowerettes bloom - a marvel

Call me, I have emerald eyes

Brimming with spring steps so cheerful

Without wiles, witchweeds or guises


I scatter seeds, saplings arise

Under the bright sun's long hours

Call me, I have emerald eyes

Tying colorful wildflowers


Gathering pinecones, I pen words

Under maple tree, sweet as pie

This is where I'll be - heeding birds

Calling me with emerald eyes



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Poetry Form is Quatern.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.   


Tuesday, May 23, 2023

the ArC

 

the spring weather is a contradiction

of hazy sun with a dirty glass sky

smeary, smoggy, soggy but also sparkly

just like myself when I pass by a mirror wall

what you see is blurry & opaque outline

what you don't see is the toil & tedious work

welding myself with heat, friction and iron

when there is no preset or map to follow

there is no certainty that I will be a whole canvas

or even a completed chapter of a novel

but I am making small steps to overcome my addictions

my doubts and yes my contradictions


Note:  poem inspired by Thorvald Hellesen





“Portrait of Mary Alice Eckbo” painted in 1914



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - An Artist Gets His Due - hosted by Lillian.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thank you!

 

 

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

a letter to Ilhan Sami Comak

I bring you the season of tulips

and lilacs from our spring season in Ontario

The smell of lilacs is fresh citrus

A reminder of how beautiful spring is

Outside of your prison bars

For more than 25 years


I come bearing the sounds of robins & bluejays

The sighs from the weeping willow trees

As I open the window 

There's black raven flying above our maple trees

Its powerful wings reaching for the sky

I weep when I think about prison walls & cages

We are meant to fly, unchained

And walk, untied


Not of fear or rage or bitterness

But with gentle voice

I hear you

Above the rumbles of dust storm 

The cry for justice

Between dusk and dawn

You will persevere with your will of steel 


One day, you will be walking free

And writing back to me

How you got lost in the forest

smelling the wildflowers   

with petals bluer than the sky



******

Note about the epistle poem:  

You can read three poems for and poems by Ilhan Sami Comak who has been in a Turkish prison for 27 years. He was arrested as an activist and later became a poet in prison.


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Poetics - Uncaging the Poet, with guest host, Paul from Parallax.   Please join us for the theme of justice for those poets behind bars, when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Just saw

 

I saw what you did

with the trees


Along the road & into the valleys

weaving to the lush forest


I saw what you did 

with the birds, hawks & butterflies


There were other creatures too

whose silence is now deafening when


You cut down that mother tree

with your giant saw, with disdain & lack


of empathy.  Thereafter

we all saw the giant warehouses covering


the landscape as sawdust,

the soft pink sky forever hidden from our eyes-


So don't complain now why

your fruits taste like plastic


And the air is a violent red, itching your lungs

And the land is ash, sinking with every fervered breath 



Just Saw from 

Erick Johansson


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight, hosted by Linda.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

while you were sleeping

 

Give me your feverish thoughts

Mothballed & hand-stitched in grey


A cabin, circled by oak trees

The twilight sky on summer's day


Wheat field is warm as amber  

The roar of wind, hoots by owls


I will bottle it up with moss

And set it to sail at midnight


New moon is a goddess 

And stars are glowing fireflies


I watch it adrift on waves

As if time is a standstill, much


Like you, sleeping as a baby

The past clings to you, blanket


Where will the bottle go, I wonder 

There are no maps & shores to keep


Where will it land with no compass

Who will open it with excitement


Whose heart belongs amongst wildflowers

Or with questions, whose mind dwells


On clouds, or maybe it will be

You


Awakening, with eyes of child

You can recall 


Where you had put away 

the pen, that magical pen


Where you drew all your flights with joy

Chorus of birds sang with you all the way





Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics - Slipping into Surreal Photography with Erik Johannson, hosted by Mish.   Join us for this wonderful prompt starting at 3pm EST.


Monday, May 1, 2023

mapmaker

the orange plumed robin's

belly is heavy 


sitting on twigged nest-

at top of willow tree


black raven shrills ((()))

returning as birds 


to breeding & nurturing

as rain drips-drums-


there is timekeeper 

and mapmaker (somewhere)


as maple trees spring

red-orange flowerets & emerald leaves



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille with given word, MAP by host De Jackson.   This is a 44 word post.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.

Thursday, April 27, 2023

the season of blossoms and catkins

 

above the weeping willow tree, the blue sky

shimmers with shrills from black ravens, heralding 

the season of tiny crowns & catkins & blossoms


emerging with dazzling sunset of pinks and reds

my window frames a day of popping colors-

above the weeping willow tree, the blue sky 


trills along with robins in building their nests

while magnolia trees perfume the air with vengence -

it's the season of tiny crowns & catkins & blossoms


sun-painted as dandelions or star-dusted as sakura

i swoon as if i have never seen flowers in my life

under the weeping willow tree.   the blue sky


transforms my words into daisy-chain verses

turning all my empty boxes into seedling pods 

it's the season of tiny crowns & catkins & blossoms


the morning light evokes a joyful sigh 

as trees regain their leaves & tulips begin to bud -  

above the weeping willow trees, the sky blues -

it's season of tiny crowns & catkins & blossoms



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight.  Join us with your 1 poem when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  

Our city is bursting with cherry blossoms trees, magnolia trees and catkins from the weeping willow trees.  Outside my "office", the birds are building their nests (under the balcony), and the ravens have returned.  I love the spring season.


Tuesday, April 11, 2023

spring fever

 

i have yellow fever

after spotting the egg-white moon

hiding behind the golden hair of willow trees

i hurry to garnish

marigold and calendula seeds in pots

the spring air is here

licking our faces with sugar rain

our skin is hungry for the heat

of sun, wheat fields, maple 

syrup running down bare maple trees


i can see daffodils buds & blue ivy stalks

& hostas leaves sprouting

where winter ice has torched it bare 

now, light lingers long into the night

marking the time for potting &

tilling the soil moist & ready for flowers

i can imagine the ripeness

i can smell the flowers

pink, blue, red, apricot, cream & specially

yellow ones 




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics: Everything Yellow, hosted by Sarah Connor.  Thanks for your visits and comments.



Thursday, March 23, 2023

under the crepe myrtle tree


i spread a basket of entrees-

bread of tulipped wheat

jam of lilac & lemon jelly

mudcookies & appled plum wine


you bring the orangeist sunflowers

with the plumpiest pillows & blankets-

we hug-cuddle as long-lost sisters

and oohed-aahed over orange cake


i place the buttersnaps & sugarwiches

on caramel daisied plates

there's gossip to be pickled & traded

& poems to read & spooned over


fresh pinappple bits-

we are going to have

the yarrowest & amberberried

picnic in the park





Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- Meeting the Bar:  Word play.  Join us for a fun way of writing poems - playing with words.  Thanks for your visits and comments.

Monday, March 20, 2023

the long hands of daylight


stretches along fields, 

bereft of green


foliage of spring

& wildflowers


winter is still dusting white

cracks of asphalt


but there's joy when light

shifts, collides & brushes the trees 


not with weary shell

but with robust yellow-peach 


strokes, glinting our eyes 

with color 


Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Quadrille, hosted by Mish.  This is a 44 word post, with the chosen word, SHIFT.  Thanks for your visits and comments.


Tuesday, March 14, 2023

blue hour


if i can pour silence in a cup

i would like to drink it at night


not as warm maple tea

but cold as winter ice wine


not too sweet or spicy

to run down my throat to ignite


excitement or astonishment

but rather


the familiar hug of an old 

friend, that knows the hollows


& turns of my seasons 

& times when i need


to see the starlights and  

the new moon instead of


full-bodied white wintered sky-

what space i have drawn


is briefly magical as blooming

pink peonies


in between frames, 

i am unemcumbered by the weights


& stresses of the day

i get lost in the maze & snarls of words


-coaxing lines muddled with black birds-

as i inhale the crisp smell of pine trees


alas, the noise of the house

clatters & hums as the clock


steals away an hour & marks it:

(false) spring! 




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetry of Place and Space, hosted by Ingrid.  Thank you Ingrid!!!     There are references of the city and country where I have now resided for 18 years.   We have a long winter season.