Thursday, September 25, 2014

A few tanka poems

out of the classroom
and into the barn
for a whiff
of the manure-scented life
ahead of them
--published in red lights, June '06

a decade later
regluing their 50th
anniversary album
a bug skitters
from her dried corsage
~~

a group home
of disabled adults
an 18-inch beehive
hangs from a tree
in their yard
[from S. Delaney's pic on FB]
~~

geese
gabbling
louder
than a hen party
in progress
~~

two
long-ago
lovers
now
in nursing homes
~~

above the hum
of the AC fan
squawks
of a jay
and a crow
~~

a quiet morning
reading the obituaries
oddly transported
to each funeral
in each different town
~~

c 2014 Pat Laster dba lovepat press

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Some September poems

Eureka Springs in Autumn - PL
on the wire
the 2-inch bully
guarding the nectar
~~
 
drooping
pampas blooms
their first rain
~~
 
lone walker
on the first cool day--
finally, puddles
~~
 
rain by the foot
of the child at the bus stop
puddle's reflection
~~
 
male cardinal
eating beautyberries
his child nearby
~~
 
lopping the branch
that's bent to eye level--
threatening sky
~~
 
the silent rain--
in the birdbath, droplets
make ripples ... ripples
~~
 
c 2014 Pat Laster dba lovepat press


Thursday, September 11, 2014

The Season of Remembrance

DYING
by Laurence W. Thomas

it comes
         slowly like the drawing down of summer
         a little at a time
dying the way summer ends
         with cooler days vying with the heat
         the blooming of flowers that mark the fall
             asters and chrysanthemums
             before they fade
dying as the leaves excite the eye
             yellow red orange gold
         before they fall to leave bare branches
dying like the summer
        with the hope
        that there will be an easy winter

~~ from POEMS OF THE PASSED, 1990, published with permission of the poet.
~~~~

SOUTHERN LADIES
by Nina Tillery

Decorative as seed pearls on a flour sack,
Aunt Mattie sat on a Queen Anne's chair
in the parlor corner every day for fifteen
years--she was Daddy's only sister.

Mama dusted daily, saying "Scuse me,"
in her best peach-jelly voice, rounding
Aunt Mattie's corner, her stiff sunflower-
printed apron crisp with starch and tight
square knotted bow.

When Daddy took a job in Baltimore--
never consulting Mama--she packed
Aunt Mattie's cardboard case and sent
her and her chair to Maryland.

Before the Greyhound passed the county
jail, Mama hung a parakeet in Mattie's
corner, pinched tender spice from the herb
garden and shared peppermint
tea with the man next door.

~~3rd Place, Anthology Contest,
published in Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas's 2002 Anthology.
REPRINTED IN MEMORY OF NINA
~~~~
~~~~

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Short poems for the season

Eureka Springs in the fall - PL
 
SENRYU
 
accidentally
watering
the silk plant
~~
 
while coffee heats
I load the dishwasher
walk off without joe
~~
 
watering
the pet cemetery's
volunteer dogwood
~~
 
HAIKU
 
ethereal web
seen only for a moment
in the morning sun
~~
 
TANKA
 
pruning
again--
again
a bouquet
of branches
~~
 
CINQUAIN
 
"Napkin at the Ready"
 
Homegrown
tomatoes, Schwan's
bacon and watery
lettuce on rye--the juice runs down
my arm.
~~
 
"Doggedness"
 
Baby
bumblebee tries
to nose into the rose.
It didn't score enough so tries
again.
~~
 
c 2014 Pat Laster dba lovepat press