Winter solstice poems

winter solstice

inside, quince blooms, berried

euonymus, moon vine

~ ~ ~ ~  

winter solstice

oak leaves covering

daffodil shoots

~ ~ ~ ~

the fall edition

arriving on the first day

of winter

~ ~ ~ ~

winter solstice walk

the impressionist landscape

without my glasses

 ~ ~ ~ ~

winter solstice

the last piece of pear cake

from Thanksgiving

~ ~ ~ ~

a blackbird

on the top-most branch

--winter solstice

c 2021 PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Poems on Pearl Harbor Day many years later

 

Pearl Harbor Day--

a branch of red leaves

framing the stoplight

---from a branch of led leaves

~ ~ ~ ~

32 degrees

yet birdbath water not ice

Pearl Harbor Day

--from to snug in a leaf

~ ~ ~ ~

after they married

December 5, '41

war broke out

--from in front of the moon

c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Autumn poems

 SENRYU

late September

granddaughter just now coming

for her Christmas gifts

~ ~ ~ ~

CINQUAIN

Poor dove--

can't/won't fly to

feeder--must be content

to glean, like Ruth did, what is found

beneath.

~ ~ ~ ~

CINQUAIN

A lone

moss rose blossom--

pink--in the airplane plant

this mid-October! Where did it

come from?

~ ~ ~ ~

CINQUAIN

Changing

into long sleeves,

long pants and socks! Forty-

eight degrees outside seeped into

this house.

c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

September 4th poems from monthly booklets

 early September

near the courts, a tennis ball

in poison ivy  

a patch of yellow - 2005

~ ~ ~ ~

Labor Day

sweeping the dust from one place

to another

just before dawn - 2006

~ ~ ~ ~

having the most fun

ever at a football game

junior band student

a crisp brown leaf - 2015

~ ~ ~ ~

Summer

trudges on, its

heat softened this year. Kids

have returned to school. Football is

on us . . . (from ADG editorial, '02)

September Cinquains - 2018

~ ~ ~ ~

Trying 

to wipe the stem

off a pear on the mug,

thinking it leaf litter, perhaps

a bug.

September Cinquains -  2020

~ ~ ~ ~

opening

before my eyes--

pot of purslane blooms

fishing off the dock - 2021

~ ~ ~ ~

c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Birds, flowers, plants and a wasp

                                                         Eric's hanging basket of purslane

THE NEVER-ENDING WONDER

A wren

dives under blooms

of purslane several times,

then into the airplane plant pot.

Searching?

For what?

Now, a dove flies

in, drinks, flies out. A red

wasp circles the birdbath, lights on

the rim.

Do wasps

string birds? Dove, squirrel

forage under the seed

feeder. Do squirrels threaten doves? No,

the dove

needed

another drink.

And before my poem

was done, all animal life had

vanished.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

A Few Summer Poems

 CINQUAINS

FROM THE PORCH SWING

My back'

to the roses

by the Couchwood Drive sign,

their beauty stands for others to

enjoy.

EACH DAY

Mornings,

when I sit out,

I should look around for

something new. Today, it's rain on

the ramp.

SOMETHING NEW

Today,

when I look out, 

I see six white toadstools

of different sizes on the south

side yard.

I WATCH

Juvy

female redbird

perches on the shepherds

crook above the purslane pot. Then

she bathes.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Night bugs

not waiting for

dark to begin their songs.

Now, polyphonic arias

emerge.

c 2021, PL, dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

THREE E-I-E-I-O POEMS

 THE LAST OF OCTOBER

Eagerly, I decorate

intensely for Halloween,

ever mindful that I'll be late

in enjoying it, being between

Orlando and home in a limousine.

COZY UP

Every Wednesday when I go

in search of someone to talk to who's

easy, pleasant, who might have dough

intended for blowing on booze . . .

Oily snake that I am, I schmooze.

WRITING AID

Eschewing sleep to write, I nest

in comfy, well-lit loveseat,

Etch-a-sketch in hand--my guest.

Ideas found in doodles beat

oblique ones. What a treat!

c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Now that National Poetry Month is history, how about a blogful of shorties?

 

A DROUGHT?

Nineteen/ days without a/ poem on Facebook, so/ I'll make up for it & post on/ my blog! (5. 19. '21)

[NOTE: Can't get Blogspot to single space, so I'm dividing poems with slashes where the lines should be. Sorry.]

HAIKU

--weekend's/ sleep-in foiled...first by the cat/ then by a crow

--bargain luxury/ organic strawberries/ five bucks a quart

SENRYU

--his homework not done/ blaming me: no pencil/ in the car

--just like my mother's--/ kitchen windowsills full/ of starter plants

CINQUAIN

RETIRED! YAY!

I go/ to mail birthday/ cards and watch two yellow/ buses pass on this last school day./ I wave.

Before the rain, late spring, yesteryear

                    c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

 

 

MARCHING RIGHT ALONG: cinquain sequences

 

A LOCAL GROUP

Some bring

the same "eats" each

time: chips & dip, homemade

pimento-cheese sandwiches, cake

--all loved.

As in

my Thanksgiving

"pot" that's always diff'rent

each month, I take something "off beat":

orange

slices, 

peanuts (parched), or

pecan halves, Hershey bars,

summer sausage. This month, green, white

 candies

left from

St. Patrick's Day

decorations, plus bars

of leftover frozen brownies.

Yay, Spring!

~ ~ ~ ~  (2017)

SONGBIRDS

After

the day-long rain,

the greening of the trees,

the chirping of the songbirds are

welcome.

"Tell it!"

the mockingbird

orates from the topmost

branch of the small redbud. "Sing it,

baby!"

But where

have the doves gone?

Why have they moved out of

earshot? First, the whipporwills, now

the doves.

 (2016) ~ ~ ~ ~

woodpecker @ suet

c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

A long-ago Abecedarian poem by Billy Paulus

 Christmas, 2020. Pat and millennial Billy

VIDEO GAMES

(A)ny time you have nothing to do.

(B)ecause they're really fun to play.

(C)an be a great way to make new friends.

(D)oes not let you give up.

(E)xcellent way to spend the day.

(F)orgives you when you die in the game.

(G)ives you hope for an extra life.

(H)elps your thumbs get stronger.

(I) can't stop playing them.

(J)ust keeps me going at night.

(K)indly gives power ups when you need them.

(L)ets you work out your frustrations on aliens.

(M)akes you look before you jump that gorge.

(N)ever take your eyes off the screen.

(O)ffers a short cut to the end of the level.

(P)uts up with you yelling at it.

(Q)uiets you down as you play through.

(R)eminds you to always to succeed.

(S)tops you from having to be active.

(T)eaches you life lessons, like never trust aliens.

(U)nderstands yout plight.

(V)arys from game to game.

(W)ants you to win.

(X)-pects you to play . . . forever!!!

(Y)ea!! I beat that level!!!

(Z)jfguyeweriug is what the aliens say.

--Billy Paulus, Block 2, January 23, 2008. [senior, age 17]

In April Counts' English class, Benton (AR) High School

 ~ ~ ~ ~

Pat here: I only discovered this when going through papers saved, as writers do. Billy (whom I raised) gave his permission for me to use it here.

I first wrote an alphabet poem in 1984 [age 48] as part of "Writing Across the Curriculum" course taught during the summer at BHS, from OBU.

Last year as part of an MFA poetry course, [age 83] one of our assignments was an Abecedarian poem. 

Of course, I was delighted to come across this poem. Billy loved Ms. Counts enough to tell me he wanted to give her a gift since she had taught him so much. I, too, thank you, April Counts.

c 2021, Billy Paulus/ Pat Laster dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Poems for January 1 from 1997 - 2021

 New Year's morning

quiet after the light snow

except for the creek

--1997

January first

each dated tree ornament

a year older

--2003

replacing

old calendar with new

full of things to do

--2005

New Year's project:

finding the stuff I stashed away

before Christmas

--2006

23 degrees

first day of the year, I read

Season's spring haiku

(Carolyn Thomas)

--2008

New Year's morning

just like any others

at least at daybreak

--2009

first day of new year

two inches of snow

and no birds

--2017

first day of new year

reading all eight earlier 

haiku booklets

--2021

c 2021, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR UA