Between winter and spring: poems

                                                  Last year's roadside flowers

FEBRUARY 7 2020

After

last night, no more

lows in the 20s, at

least for the next week. I'm ready

for spring.

~ ~ ~ ~

long roll of thunder

two birds keep eating

from the suet

~ ~ ~ ~

male cardinal

sitting on abelia branch

next to quince blooms

~ ~ ~ ~

AFTER TODAY, 11 MORE MONTHS

Last day

of the first month

a young tufted titmouse

enjoying a full "bathtub" plus

the sun.

~ ~ ~ ~

TO THE SQUIRRELS

Popcorn

with sea salt tastes

old. I find the "Best used

by" date. No wonder! July of

last year!

~ ~ ~ ~

gentle rain 

mockingbird drinking

from the half-filled birdbath

~ ~ ~ ~

three crows

finding the refused

canned cat food

~ ~ ~ ~

tight buds on short stems

brought inside to force blooms

yellowed, but no flowers

These ARE in bloom in 2020

c 2020, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

AUGUST cinquains: blogging

Blue jay
intimidates
the smaller wren, but not
for long. Then, hungry Woody pecks
his fill.

Drowning

out the 'chit-chit'

of the redbird, neighbor

decides to use the vacuum on

her car.

Robin

and brown thrasher

bathing together--fresh,

cool water. A high heat index

forecast.

Juvy

house finches stop

by the full, rain-freshened

birdbath as if to say, "Hey, you

go first."

Oh, my!

The mockingbird

in the nearby holly

is as loud as the panel truck

passing.

Mama

brown thrasher takes

time out from her brood, rests

a l-o-n-g time on the rim of the

birdbath.

Silly

young hummingbird

eschews the colored blooms

and hovers close to the resting

black cat.

c 2019, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

After a hiatus, July POEMS

                                                   Mom's begonia, still blooming


Catching
a squirrel eating
suet! I bang the glass
of the window; it scampered down,
away.
~ ~ ~ ~

Extreme
mid-day heat. Blue
jay rests in the leafy
shade close to the suet feeder.
("My turn?")
~ ~ ~ ~

Hanging
the suet cake
just right allows two birds
to eat at one time: cardinal,
sparrow.
~ ~ ~ ~

I walk
across kitchen
with a full cuppa joe
and--at 83--do not spill
a drop!
~ ~ ~ ~

Fighting
the petrified
peel of the sweet orange
sold in a bag of post-dated
apples.
~ ~ ~ ~

Redbird
on tricycle
handle. One flesh-and-blood,
the other a wrought-iron, outdoors
feature.
~ ~ ~ ~

c 2019, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Spring: rain, birds --poems

Watching

the cardinal

casing the area

around the suet feeder. He

flies in.

~ ~ ~ ~

After

the ramp's laid,

I widen the flower

bed to include adjacent lawn,

dig grass.

~ ~ ~ ~

the old woman

wearing socks

with sandals

~ ~ ~ 

rain from the roofline

escaping

into the cellar

~ ~ ~ ~

Easter Monday

both our mailbox flags

are up

~ ~ ~ ~

a silent rain

droplets in the birdbath

the only clue

~ ~ ~ ~

                                                                   photo-C. Hoggard

untended

the leggy but leafing

hydrangea

~ ~ ~ ~

c 2019, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

March Musings - poems

Late winter - 2018

I sit

outside, waiting

for the t-storm forecast

on Code Red. Rumbles & raindrops

were all. . .

~ ~ ~ ~

I WANT TO ROOT THEM!

Pruning

Knockout roses--

as my bother insists--

breaks my heart to see all the limbs

destroyed.

~ ~ ~ ~

HOW CAN THAT BE?

One more

day gone without

pruning the roses "for

many more summer blooms." How can

that be?

~ ~ ~

BATHING

First day

of spring. My first

look outside (from inside)

offers the sight of a thrasher

and finch.

~ ~ ~

Before

the second storm,

Sir Robin takes a bath

in the chock-full-from-the-first-storm

basin.

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

c 2018, PL

Mid-September: poems

#299 'TIS THE SEASON
Drier
than at any
time this summer--yellow-
bell and wild coleus both are
drooping.
~~

#297 WHIRRING
I hear
a hummingbird
behind me . . . in a bit,
it pauses within view, then flies
away.
~~

#298 HIDING
Redbird--
its 'chit' constant
but undiscovered. Now,
it's moved from the dogwood to the
maple.
~~

#300 ON THE PORCH AT DUSK
Night bugs
providing me
with stereophonic
music--some from the east, some from
the west.
~~

#301 A FORUM
Goldfinch,
tufted titmouse
and a sparrow all bathe.
Why so many birds all of a
sudden?
~~

#302 INTERPRETATION
"I think
he (the Prez) means..."
Why does his staff always
feel they have to explain the things
he says?
~~

#303 LOSS OF A FRIEND
Spacecraft
Cassini burned
up as planned in Saturn's
ringed atmosphere after twenty
years' work.
~~

c 2017, PL, dba lovepat press - hummingbird photo by Thurman Couch

Tiny creatures lurking about: poems

Tiny
hummingbird rests
on a beautyberry
limb close to the feeder. Next look,
it's gone.

Next look,
it's back again.
Third look, there's TWO of them.
How much longer will they stay, I
wonder.
~~~
PL, 9/10/17

At dusk,
week-eating grass
around the roses, I
look up: nose to nose with a black
spider!
~~~
PL, 9/9/17

The squirrel
forages in
the wagon full of grass
clippings and irises' brown tips.
Surely,

with all
the pear leavings
thrown into the hedge row,
it's not hungry. It scampered off,
mouth full.
~~~
PL, 9/9/17

Juvy
redbird, robin
visit Couchwood today--
one in the purple shrub, one in
the grass.
~~~
PL,  9/9/17

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

Sights, sounds, smells - POEMS

Yellow
blooms of lance-leaved
coreopsis litter
the lawn. Son says "Leave them." Brother:
"They're weeds!"
~ ~ ~

Fragrance

of gardenias

another perk of porch-

sitting early in the morning's

coolness.

~ ~ ~

MOM! DAD! HELP!

Its first

trip to the bird-

bath? "Now that I'm here, what

do I do?" It wades in and sips,

then stands.

~ ~ ~

Orange
canna blossom
stands as an overlord
above the mandevilla's two
pink blooms.
~ ~ ~

Bluejay

squawks, "No suet

in this feeder, lady!

and I could use some sustenance."

"Soon, sir."

~ ~ ~

First time

in a long time

I see althea blooms.

Demise of hackberry-tree shade

the cause?

~ ~ ~

Barely
audible this
early, nearly-summer
morning, a freight train trundles toward
Texas.
~ ~ ~
c 2017, PL - dba lovepat press

Small pictures of spring: poems

2017 in Gulf Breeze, Florida (Gordon's yard)

pruning

azaleas . . . finding

one pink bloom

('12)

~~~

Decoration Day

his work-roughened hands

clean the pioneers tombstones

('97)

~~~

rainwater pollen yellow

('14)

~~~

A lone

coreopsis

rescued from a distant

bed, leans its yellow face into

the rain.

('14)

~~~

male cardinal

flashing in and out

of the lorapetalum

('15)

~~~

white-breasted squirrel

stands looking at the daisies

are they good to eat?

('13)

~~~

all this mid-May day

the doves across the way

calling . . . calling . . .

('13)

~~~

between camellias

and lorapetalum

the  stunted Shastas

('13)

Thurman Couch photo, '17

alone

but not lonely

me, the cat, the birds

('17)

~~~

~~~

c2017 PL bda lovepat press

Birds, squirrel, cat and storms - poems

Wren flies
to the metal,
bird-topped shepherd's hook, looks
at it as if to ask, 'where can
I nest?'
~~~

How to
describe bird's sound?
Oh, 4 feet of iambs!
'Mi-SHIP-ee-SHIP-ee-SHIP-ee-SHIP'
Aha!
~~~

A squirrel
digs in the yard
close to the house. Even
when I ask it what it's doing,
it digs.
~~~

Mama
cardinal lights
on the yard tricycle
before flying to the suet
feeder.
~~~

Watch out
bird! I'm closing
in on you and your feast
of roadkill. I don't want to smash
you flat!
~~~

THUNDERSTORM
A storm
thundered in, moved
east, leaving gentle rain,
fresher air, and a scared, old cat
behind.

After
the storm and rain
the grey cat follows me
outside, but stays close to the door,
in case . . .

Later,
thunder rumbles,
quiet-like; the cat mews
quietly, too. Soon, both increase
their noise.
~~~
~~~

c 2017 PL bda as lovepat press

Haiku written in March from 1998 - 2014

1998
the Matterhorn
emerging into sunlight
stopping my breath
~~
1999
mail delivery route--
the same road every day
but always different

a woodpecker
at the feeder
chased off by a jay
~~
2003
eve of his 13th
grousing and grumbling
over nothing

below the mesa
a running colony
of wind turbines
[from Jenn Hansen]
~~
2004
above the clouds
a whole different universe
is this like heaven?
~~
2009
crows'
courting cries in the dead leaves
on the hillside

blue jay
alone at the feeder
eating rejected seeds
~~
2014
strewing birdseed
on the thick layer of ice
tiny flakes of snow
~~
~~
c 2017 PL dba lovepat press

TANKA TIME

devising a place
to work . . . on the front porch
of the Writer's Room

where I can see and hear

birds, squirrels and walkers

[Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow,
Eureka Springs AR, 2009]
~~~
addressing
three birthday cards
all three names contain
the middle initial
        J

[Fran, Billy & Barb, 2015]
~~~
outside
of the cup
hotter
than the coffee
inside

[Dot's pink "Friends" mug, 2015]
~~~~
lone blackbird drinking
looks around as if to say
"Where are the others?"
now, a bluejay squawks and drinks
but still, no doves or thrashers

[2016, Couchwood]
~~~

doesn't the wind know
it's against the law to blow
leaves into the street?
Aha! Nature trumps
mere local, human law

[2016, Couchwood]
~~~

near the bird feeder
a crow in the redbud
calling . . . calling
still agitated
it flies to the maple

[2016, Couchwood]
~~~

yellow and black

butterfly

stops by

a purple iris

around the oak stump

[2016, Couchwood]

~~~
~~~

Birds & Cats: cinquains

IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Alarmed
cacophany--
a robber in the gum:
the crow retreats with starlings in
pursuit.
~~~~ 2003

ELIZABETH CALICO SAYS:
Tuna --
while I like to
lick the can, I don't like
the 9-Lives brand of tunafish
cat food!

~~~2003



Playing

in the high grass,

only his tail showing,

the young cat bats at the yellow

flower.

~~~PL 2013

Boots sits

on the Ford roof

surveying his green world

full of birds & squirrels. There goes a

bluejay.

~~~2013 

Raining.
All outside cats
run in when I open
the door: Ebonyzer, Blackie
and Bibbs.
~~~2014




Angry
mockingbird mom
scolds, divebombs Boots-the-cat
for merely walking around in
the yard.
~~~2014

Passing
by the window,
I see a bluebird at
the birdbath. It dips in twice, then
flies off.
~~~2015

Daddy
bluebird bathes. Soon,
a robin flies in, up
in a menacing leap. But Dad's
not scared.
~~~2016

PL dba lovepat press


Birds, birds, birds! --poems

"You fellows go on
I'll rest here on this rock
a little longer."
--penguin, photo, AD-G
S. Breidenthal


two juvies--
father bluebird
shows them how to drink


splashing each other
Fluffy Sparrow
and Mr. Redbird


Two Trips with Warm Water
Liquid
in the birdbath
surrounds the plate of ice
beneath. February's sunshine
welcome.


mid-February
the gray bird I can't name
eating despite the rain

drenched mother redbird
on the icy limb . . . no food
she joins the robins


seagull on the sand
even when waves lap
through its feet
~~~~~~
~~~~~
PL

End-of-Year poems

UMCOR: My favorite mission site, Baldwin Louisiana

Shirts displayed at UMW's fall tea, SUMC

 

imagine getting

a call from the Space Station!

"Sorry, wrong number!"

[from the news]

~~

 

Where's my

REJOICE coffee

mug? I choose a Christmas-

tree one, fill it with yesterday's

coffee,

 open

the microwave

to heat it--there's the mug!

I got distracted when Eric's

arrived.

~~

 

warm winter solstice--

birds busy bathing

in the clean water:

robins, sparrow, cardinal

mockingbird and a bluebird!

~~

 

Three days

before Christmas,

I drink from a snowman

mug on this 70-degree

evening.

~~

 

lemonade stand

on Christmas Eve day

seventy degrees

[news]

~~


 

 

 

 

 



 

 



November sights - short poems

a flower bed in autumn

 

CST again

the flaming sassafras grove

and the frisky squirrel

[2007]

 

 

fallen leaves hide

the birdbath water ... cat works

at getting a drink

[2012]

 

the family of cats

on my front-porch WELCOME mat

are NOT welcome

[2011]

 

yesterday's brilliance--

today, the red-maple's leaves

on the sodden ground

[2004]

 

out-of-season bloom

on the japonica limb

a cardinal rests

[2006]

 

mid-November

a transplanted violet

blooming

[2002]

 

kitchen window

full of begonia cuttings

and violet leaves

[2012]

 

bully blue jay

guarding

 the birdbath

three robins nearby

[2015]

 



blogging about birds: poems

Google image

 

HAIKU

#170-15

 

up early

but not before

the birds

 ~~

 

#165-15

 

CINQUAIN SEQUENCE

"On the Front Porch"

 

Hearing

a flutter,  like

a flag flipping, I look

up to see a crested bird fly

hither

 

and yon--

on the swing chains,

the wind chimes and the bricks.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

it flew.

~~

 

# 166-15

 

TANKA

 

the nerve!

a mockingbird

mocking me

calling

"kitty-kitty-kitty"

~~

 

#174-15

 

TANKA SEQUENCE

brown thrasher
thrashes
and thrashes
in the birdbath
fluffs, then flies

followed
by a redbird
who sits a spell
(testing the temp?)
before bathing
~~

c 2015 PL



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
~~
~~



Mostly about cats

Greye (foreground) and Boots

 

Haiku

 

mockingbird

hassling puss-named-Boots

who's too close for comfort

~~~

 

kitten scampers

to old tomcat Greye, then

thinks better of it

~~~

 

a bird on the gutter--

seeing the cat below,

it flies

~~~

 

the two kittens

ignoring Mom's moving tail

play with each other

~~~

 

Cinquain

 

"Children First at the Food Bowl"

 

After

her kittens eat,

Mother takes her turn. Oops,

babies aren't through. Again, she waits

a turn.

~~~