Writing has me in its clutches - a Rondel

Who would have thought that when I took the Gifted/Talented Education course, Writing Across the Curriculum,  in 1984 , that I would eventually have a novel published? And a sequel in progress. Certainly not I. But here's a picture of the book cover. Today's poem was written during that early time when I was just starting out. I tried lots of formal patterns. PL

WRITING HAS ME IN ITS CLUTCHES
( a Rondel pattern)

Writing has me in its clutches.
Verses? I've done quite a few.
My tongue makes rhymes of words it touches,
grabbing thoughts out of the blue.
The reason why? I've not a clue!
Writing has me in its clutches.
Verses? I've done quite a few.

Writing keeps down lots of fusses
with my daughter, Annalou.
Pettiness and spite it hushes,
bringing me contentment, too.
Writing has me in its clutches.
Verses? I've done quite a few.

PL - published in delicious fatigue, 1992

Summer weather in haiku - some found

a summer forest near Cherokee Village--PL

 

willow wands

littering the yard

after heavy rain

--image from Jennifer Hansen, AD-G, 2003

~~

 

Japanese plum~

on a 2-foot limb, more than

one-hundred fruits

--from Other Days (1904), AD-G

~~

 

he moved up north--

hearing a freight train one night

brought him back home

--idea from M. Montgomery, former student, 2006

~~

 

on the wire

making a blip of a sound

tiny hummingbird

--actual, PL, 1997

~~

 

not even the plant

turns on its swivel--

now and then, a cricket

--actual, PL, 2011

~~

 

ponds and grass dry up--

complete herds going

to the auction barn

--image from C. Branan, AD-G, 2012

~~

 

one red leaf

on the sassafras

in mid July

--actual, PL, 2012

 

c lovepat press, 2014

 

 

 

 



TWO POEMS FROM PREVIOUS TRAVELS

SUNSET ON BEAVER LAKE

Sunset's
saber
flashing
across
gentle
ripples
spreads
golden
nougat
topping

PL - written the year Lucidity Poetry retreaters took a boat ride and participated in a read-around on the lake. When TOB lived in Eureka Springs.
~~

IF TREES COULD TALK

If trees could talk, what would they say?
-- that General Hunter passed my way

in June of eighteen-sixty-four,
retreating from the Lynchburg Corps;

--that Rebel boys fell at my feet;
blood soaked my roots in summer's heat;

--that cannonballs so deeply sunk
scarred--but did not kill--my trunk.

Ala Marceau, our language rife,
and stubbornly we cling to life.

PL - after a visit to Shiloh on the Natchez Trace.
~~
Both poems from Variations, 1994, lovepat press

A few TANKA poems

child bows to Master
"O Great One, which is more--
trees or people?"
   out here are trees, no people
   in town are people, no trees
-- from a question Billy asked me when he was a child
~~

robin resting
with only its tail
in the water
   a wasp flies too close
   and the bird flies
~~

finally
the butterfly bush blooms
in the wheelbarrow
   no wonder! I didn't prune
   it back--and it's in the shade
~~

in the shadows
a grasshopper chirps
   I throw my peach stone
   toward the cheerful
   yet mournful sound
--from The Broken Halo, p.144
~~

on his hind legs
cat pushes the empty swing
from behind
   I think he was surprised
   when he was merely stretching
~~

the gentle rain
spatters on the bush's leaves
depressing them
   like keys on old typewriters
   only silently
~~
~~
PL, written at different times between 2006 - 2013

CINQUAINS IN SUMMER

OZARKS

 

 

MY, YOU'RE UP EARLY

Early-

morning lookout;

the mockingbird perches

on the apex of the roof. 'How's

the view?'

PL - 6/24/14

 

~~

 

I'LL TAKE ANY KIND

Two blooms--

such as they are--

on the old begonia.

Not the usual raceme, but

dime sized.  

PL - 6/24/14

~~ 

 

 PREPPING FOR GUESTS

Checking

every crevice,

every curve for pepper

seeds. (They do a number on her

stomach.)

PL - 6/27/14

~~

 

UNTENDED CORNER

Amidst

the green of vines,

privet--even a tree--

the crape myrtle blooms peek out from

it all.

PL - 6/29/14

~~

 

PARENTING AT ITS BEST

The 'chit'

of a redbird

on the ground. With his child

nearby, Daddy keeps a watch for

the cats.

PL - 6/30/14

~~

 

FROM J P MORGAN

Twenty-

four-year-old man

gets a retirement-plan

letter! I've heard of funny things,

but this?!?

PL - 7/1/14
~~
~~