Thursday, March 27, 2014

Marching into Spring - poem

~~detail, south flower bed, Couchwood, PL~~ 
 
We are marching. . .  
 
The oom-pah rhythm of a marching
ignites the listeners’ hands and heads and feet
till not a soul is still, and all must stand
 and clap and sing and dance to snare drum’s beat.
 
Not so the spring this year. It lagged behind
in winter’s chill. We moaned like oboes out
of tune and tubists out of step. Snowblind,
we watched from windows-- full of pout and doubt
 
that spring would ever come. On St. Pat’s Day,
or thereabouts, expected, longed-for warm
returned like oboes back in sync, the splay
of tubists feet back to their rhythmed charm.
 
 We clap our hands and rake those last-year’s leaves
 away from rows of daffodils, re-arch
 the trellises that fell in snow. Our peeves
 forgotten.   Fanfares now: it’s finally March!!
~~
 
PL, March, 2014, for SC-PRA contest

Thursday, March 20, 2014

~~Arkansas woodlands, PL~~

AN OZARK SPRING: a haibun

       I leave the Lucidity Poets Retreat in Eureka Springs, heading south on Highway 23-- the Pig Trail--my mind full of inspiration, eyes tuned to early spring things, Muse (Erato) perched on my shoulder.

       Passing a highway place sign, I see only several gray wooden shacks, perhaps once serving as campmeeting tents.

buildings in a row
under the mountain's sheer drop
Witter weathers well
 
       Farther on, around a curve,
 
cows rest in the mire
of a spring rain-soaked feedlot
close by, the traffic

       Sloping foothills reflect the many shades of spring-new meadows. Black and white cows season the greens--a panorama worthy of postcards and jigsaw puzzles. In pastures close to the highway, I notice

grass under cowpiles
shoots up higher than ordinary
--organic farming
 
 
       Across the road from a church,
 
wispy blonde broomsedge
waves through the graveyard fence
lonely? thirsty?
 
       South of Cass, close to I-40 and the flatlands, are
 
magenta faded,
old poke salet skeletons--
stripped and bleached white,
akimbo from winter winds--
still standing in spring pasture.
 
~~
from windfall persimmons: a collection of Oriental forms, 1995, PL, dba lovepat press

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Winter weary, so on the first warm day of March.............

[Couchwood, southwest flower bed detail, PL]
 
3/10/14
 
first warm March day
into daylight savings time
taking the plants outside
~~
 
Only
minutes after
I take the plants outside,
a breeze drifts in, as if to say
Too soon!
~~
 
first warm March day
after the brutal winter
I rake leaves, pull vines
  (vinca and ivy) twisting
   twining among spring bulbs
~~
 
warm March afternoon
pruning gardenias,
lorapetalum
   leaves that sustained winter burn
   oak leaves served as mulch
~~
 
3/12/14
 
Mother
Nature, you rule!
My mother, you were right!
Don't put the house plants out until
April!
~~
 
 PL, c 2014, lovepat press
 
 
 
 


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Tanka through the years


like the zip-on legs
of his new cargo-style shorts
which transform to pants,
   I zip two more lines to my
   haiku and make a tanka
[2003]
~~

reading these tanka
inspires new depth
to a new chapter
 and a way to organize
   my own poetic offering
[2005]
~~

the ice and snow
can melt now
we managed
   but after 3 days
   I'm out of ice cream!
[2006]
~~

above the fog
geese fly in formation
across the river
   how do they know
   which way is which?
[2007]
~~

new college prez
younger than my youngest child
what can he know?
   should we enroll
   our grandson?
[2008]
~~

slow, low-flying plane
(perhaps a helicopter)
shadowing dream fears
   finally it moves northward
   and my peace of mind returns.
[2009]
~~

good snow for snowman
no one here but too-old me
to construct one
   not too old to walk the yard
   in search of daffodil buds
[2010]
~~

looking everywhere
for the stepstool ... finding it
pushed under the table
   as we did years ago
   when our toddlers used it
[2011]
~~
c lovepat press, PL, 2014