Thursday, January 26, 2017

Will this winter bring snow to the heartland?

SNOW POEMS FROM EARLIER YEARS

snowstorm--
windfall branches
on barbed wire
~~
a window between
kitten and the birds
snow on the feeder

~~
how low can he go?
the snowman melts
refreezes
~~
in from the snow
he begs to be allowed
to eat in his room
~~
pickup
with snow-covered ATV
inching down the road
~~
the purple pansy
peeks through the blanket of snow
teakettle's whine
~~
my chair closer
to the picture window
last night's snow
~~
fire hydrant buried
but nothing moves that needs it
the daylong snow
~~
~~
c PL 2017


Wednesday, January 18, 2017

[Mostly] Anonymous Limericks




Anonymous (unidentified) subject- I - photo by PL
(perhaps snow on the barberry?)

My poetry blog needs new look
So I reach for an old hardback book
That looks like it might
Have something just right.
Oh, yes! An anonymous hook!
--PL, 1/18/'17

The Life and Works of MR. ANONYMOUS by Willard R. Espy, was published in 1977, so long ago that Amazon has no record of it. And I've had it so long that there's no annotation about when/ where/cost, etc. It does have a dust jacket.

After thumbing through it, I chose the LIMERICKS section of PART II: "Selected Works of the Anonymous Clan"  Here are a few to get us through the upcoming weekend. Perhaps by Sunday you will have created one of your own.

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
   But the good ones I've seen
   So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

There once was a sculptor named Phidias
Whose manners in art were invidious:
   He carved Aphrodite
   Without any nightie,
Which startled the ultrafastidious.

There's a wonderful family, called Stein,
There's Gert and there's Epp and there's Ein;
   Gert's poems are bunk,
   Epp's statues are junk,
And no one can understand Ein.

There was an old lady of Ryde
Who ate some green apples, and died.
   The apples (fermented
   Inside the lamented)
Made cider inside 'er inside.

A friendly challenge: write one during the remainder of this week. PL

Anonymous subject II (looks like winter)-PL







Sunday, January 1, 2017

TANKA for January

breaking
the ice so birds
that gather can drink
on this sunny New Year's
morning [2016]
~~~

ice-covered birdbath
now thawed--two sparrows
and two redbirds bathing
another redbird
playing the bully [2016]
~~~

first week
of the new year
scouring for roadside trash
I discover
five quince blooms [2007]
~~~

mockingbird
lunches
on beautyberries
until a bluejay
flies in, "yawp"s [2015]
~~~

cardinal
piercing the thin ice
of the birdbath
as the only seed diner
he eats greedily . . . then flies
[2007]
~~~
~~~
c 2017 PL