Goodbye to January

"Alas--picked too early"

The forced
daffodil bud
used so much energy
opening that it was merely
a shell.
~~~~

"Good Vocal Lesson"

The bird--
a mockingbird,
the lone decoration
on the walnut tree--"lifted" as
it sang.
~~~~

"Inside, spring"

Picking
four more early
jonquil buds before sleet
arrives, I add them to the three
blooming.
~~~~

four homes in a row
each with a different type fence
between them
~~~~

ritzy neighborhood
in mid-January, still two
pumpkins on one porch
~~~~

It's still winter--of course: some found poems

by Pat Laster

flock of cardinals
coloring the snowy tree--
a dog romps below

[from two pictures in Arkansas Living, Jan '13,by L. Banton/W.Jordan]
~~~~

"Watch it, Bub!"

The hawk
keeping an eye
on the squirrel who's keeping
an eye on the hawk--both from the
same limb.

[from a picture in Arkansas Living, Jan '13, by J. Watson]
~~~~

"Next Year's Christmas Card?"

Posing
with a snowman
taller than they are, two
well-dressed, beautiful children stand
stock still.

[from a picture in Arkansas Living, January '13, by K. Brewer]
[[not the picture above]]
~~~~

"In-laws and Outlaw"

Hosting
(insisting on
it) her husband's family's
Christmas meal, but charging thirty
bucks each!

[from Money Matters-(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette feature) -
Jan 2,'13, J.Fleming/L.Schwartz]
~~~~

freezing temps
and snow flurries--
camellia's blooming

[from a caption, AD-G Business section, 2003]
~~~~

c 2013, lovepat press

January good for short poems

by Pat Laster

a dry gum leaf
traveling up the pine
in the squirrel's mouth
(2000)
~~~~

cardinal
amid the ice-thickened
branches
(2012)
~~~~

two inches of snow
           no birdseed
                no birds
(2001)
~~~~

after the thaw
fallen branches
become kindling
(2001)
~~~~

another night
below freezing
inside, firelogs burn
(2013)
~~~~

icicles
where beautyberries once hung
inside cat wants out
(2013)
~~~~

Perfect
blanket of frost
adorns the land as if
a cosmic artist painted while
I slept.
(2013)
##########

More winter poems

by Pat Laster

16 degrees
cardinals at the feeder
others on the snow
~~~~

in front of the fire--
no concern about stoking,
loading on split wood
~~~~

brown tuft
of oak leaves skitters
across the snow
~~~~

sock-and-slippered feet
on the hearth treadling
the rocker
~~~~

sun
highlighting icy trees
and melting the snow
~~~~

warm Epiphany
in the far yard, I pick
three daffodil buds

* * * * * * * * *

Haiku

 

 

 

 

 

bare yellow maple

twisting in the west wind
leaves eddy and swirl

Better Late Than Never OR Reactive

by Pat Laster

(a cinquain sequence written as it was happening in my front yard; revised later; published here January 4, 2013.)

One week
after the ice
and enormous amounts
of snow that took down power lines
and poles

and left
thousands with no
electricity, a
tree service stops. My sassafras
roadside

grove--small
but spraddledy--
gets sawed, topped out. And then,
oblivious of new, four-inch
foliage

of spring
bulbs, the worker
tromps, pushing the cut limbs
with his humongous, booted feet,
heavy

body.
Why didn't they
do all this way before
last week's long, traumatic event?
Huh? Why?

###