More summer poems cat, heat, drought

Greye Laster cat

IT'S COOLER DOWN HERE

smart cat!

Rather than rest

in the attic's heat, he

spends his afternoon nap on the

fourth stair.

~~

STRANGE ONE

Strange one

at the birdbath:

stretched out, a foot long, eyes

checking the water. Finally,

he laps.

~~

A FIRST!

After

all these years, Greye

jumped up on the loveseat

in the space between my paper

and me.

Never

has he done such

as that. He reclined in

the small spot, put a gray paw on

my leg.

~~

Storm building in Fairfield Glade, TN on sisters' trip

smelling

rain, but the sun's

shining

~~

ALL THINGS IN THEIR TIMES

Every

time I looked up

at graying clouds, I prayed,

"Please rain. Please rain." Hours later,

spitting.
~~

Yellow

pansy hanging

out of the pot. Could I

hear it gasping, "Too hot! Water!

Water!"?

~~

parched ground somewhere

c 2017 PL dba lovepat press

Birds in the Bush and Tree- poems

LIVE MUSIC
A wren is close
in the holly tree,
a mockingbird farther out,
a robin in the dogwood,
and a cardinal's 'chit-chit'
from the maple.
~~

woodpecker
tapping on the roof
above me
~~

Thrasher
flies to, lands on
a horizontal limb
of the ancient crape myrtle, lost
to sight.
~~

"Killing
me with your song!"
I tell the bird, not six
feet from my ears in the holly
treetop.
~~

Slight breeze
but no wind chime.
Mockingbird takes that role
well enough. Ah! There's a very
soft tone.
~~

I swing,

cooling off from

a spate of afternoon

yard work, while the mockingbird sings

for me.

~~

FROM THE BACK PORCH STEPS

Last call

of the redbird.

As the night bugs waken,

western sky shows only its blues.

I rest.

~~

~~

PL, 2017

Poems from the Past - Cinquains

1996 - ETHICS
"I know
it's not allowed."
Ruth stretches out her trunk
to fenced-out docent. "Goobers taste
so good!"
~~
1998 - DANGER!
My son's
experiment--
the glint in brittle leaves
is sun's reflection through the glass.
"No, NO!"
~~

2003 - FOUND IN AN OLD JOURNAL
I crave
ice cream after
two weeks' deprivation,
and he walks in with a bag of
corn chips.
~~

2005 - OUT OF THE COUNTRY
"Goodnight
for the last time
in 13 days," my boy
says before his school trip to Greece
and Rome.
~~

2006 - 101 DEGREES
Robins,
redbird and squirrel
glean from the shady yard
in grass that is drying up from
the heat.
~~

2009 - TOO BIG
Huge brown
thrasher wobbles
on the column feeder
eating seeds that the smaller birds
ignore.
~~

2012 - SO HOT FOR SO LONG
ACs
turned on at eight-
fifteen a. m. Nearly
80 degrees already this
morning.
~~

2015 - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Five days
after seeing
"Oklahoma," I'm still
mind-singing "People will say we're
in love."
~~

2016 - IF THAT'S ALL WE HAD TO DO
Counting
the unmarked mute
swans on the Thames each year
for their owner, the Queen. What a
great job!
~~

2017 - SOUNDS
Music
of the wind chimes,
drone of the airplane, swish
and hum of passing cars . . . so far,
peace reigns.
~~
~~
PL, posted July 7, 2017