Wednesday, December 27, 2023

POST CHRISTMAS, 2023 - POEMS


 ecstatic grandchild

visiting from Florida

--an Arkansas snow

~ ~ ~ ~

sunny winter day

dust on the dark wood

of the rocking chair

~ ~ ~ ~

she "cut back" this year

baking only twenty

fruitcaakes

~ ~ ~ ~

power outage
wrapped in your
Christmas-gift shawl
~ ~ ~ ~
the bare gingko tree
its golden leaves allowed
to be undisturbed
~ ~ ~ ~
post-Christmas snowstorm
the sound of generators
all around
~ ~ ~ ~
lumberjack bolting
from Christmas celebration
a second ice storm
~ ~ ~ ~

c 2023 PL dba lovepat press, Benton Arkansas USA


Tuesday, November 7, 2023

AND THE SEASON HAS CHANGED - POEMS

 

windy fall morning--

wispy cloud layer

across a gibbous moon

~ ~ ~ ~

the church garage sale

on the mourners' bench

old pocketbooks & porkpies

~ ~ ~ ~

a lone limb of green

on the yellow-leafed

tulip poplar

~ ~ ~ ~


staring through
indescribable colors
of sassafras
~ ~ ~ ~

from a tiny house

at the edge of the pond

he's fishing from the porch

~ ~ ~ ~

BEWARE

First day

of deer season . . .

Not a good day to drive

the narrow, wooded mountainous

highway.

~ ~ ~ ~

sun in my face

but with the autumn tilt

it doesn't bother

~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~

c 2023, Pat Laster dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA


Saturday, August 5, 2023

SUMMER POEMS

LATE

While I
transcribe poems,
darkness falls. Only spots
of sky visible through maple,
oak leaves.
~ ~ ~ ~

EACH YEAR

Friday
before Sunday's
birthday, Florida son
sends a local florist over with a
bouquet.
~ ~ ~ ~

WHAT A VIEW

Summer
sight: low--cannas;
medium--goldenrod;
taller than shed roof, the Rose-of-
Sharon.
~ ~ ~ ~

YARD WORK

Eric
weed-eated, mowed.
I also weed-eated,
cleaned leaves and Bermuda from east-
most beds. 
~ ~ ~ ~

BIG TASK

Must go
inside and work
more on the memoir, lest
editor calls asking "where's the
next batch?"
~ ~ ~ ~

c 2023 PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Thursday, June 8, 2023

LONG TIME WITHOUT POSTING: June poems

 

HAIKU
successful short flight
from privet to windowsill
two young cardinals
~~
from the back pew
two older women chatting
during the sermon
~~

bereavement lily
its orange fallout
blessing me
~~

season's first melon
its aroma more luscious
than its taste
~~
CINQUAIN
Rhythm
and Bayous road
in southern Arkansas.
We head home from a week's trip to
the beach.
~~
Pulling
yellowed leaves from
a budding gardenia
bush, I discover this gorgeous
blossom.
~~

TANKA
daughter-in-law's
gifts from earlier
Mother's Days
   come out of the closet
   each Sunday of spring
~~
c 2023, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA



Wednesday, March 22, 2023

SPRING BREAK some years back: a haibun

 

Nineteen 7th graders, three mothers & a teacher board the snub-nosed Blue Bird school busy early on a Tuesday for a two-hour trip to Honors Festival (now called "contest"), the highest level of choir competition in South Arkansas.
    At the edge of town, we turn south onto Highway 35, a winding state road to Sheridan.

around a curve
the petrified old store with
green curtain backdrop

    Close to the fences, bushy pines stretch branches to passersby like caged animals begging. Further back, shrouded crowds of slender trunks reach up for sun's sustenance, green only at the tops. Dogwoods spatter shadowy trunks with winter white; holly bushes brighten the somberness.

two-lane
curves through timberland
many shades of green

    Neat homes with barns and gardens break up the miles of trees. In one yard, wood is already cut to fireplace lengths--a stack of parquetry curing for next winter.

wisteria still
dormant in weathered frame
redbud shattering

    At Sheridan, we turn east. The browns and grays of oak, elm and gum are flecked with chartreuse tints of hackberry, fuchsia of redbud, pink of peach, apricot of early maples. Orange-red saw briars cling to lower branches, as if jealous of the new growth.

fractured deer stand
 above the burned field
new ochre buds

    We pass a Christmas-tree farm. Further on, a pine tree, trimmed from the highwire right-of-way, stands, an ancient bonsai giant. Furrows of freshly plowed garden spots stand ankle deep in rainwater.

greening pasture
school bus carcass
behind the feed shed

    A two-story house rises from the woods, the cleared brush used as fencing. A Cotton Belt train car now hawks used trucks. 
    Out of Pine Bluff, a large white sign reads: PENITENTARY AREA/BEWARE OF HITCHHIKERS

prisoner
of driver's Country Music station
haiku hitchhiking

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

c 2023 by Pat Laster, Benton AR USA


Saturday, February 25, 2023

Winter is waning, but is it over ? TEN HAIKU


                        perfect sleet cover / except for the imprint / of an oak leaf

                   the great elk / his breakfast just beneath / the dusting of snow

                                 blue jay / on the frozen birdbath / carping?

              in winter's grayness / a ground-level dandelion / brightens . . . portends


                  cat sitting in snow / black on white / next glance, only white

                       a piece of leaf / in my snow ice cream / February's end 

 late-winter cold front / the empty yard swing moving / in the northwest wind 

 warm winter dusk / the sounds of children outside / spawning memories


                                               icicles / yet it's thundering / this morning 

                               going for the mail / to no avail / box lid frozen shut


c 2023, PL, dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA


 


Wednesday, January 18, 2023

POEMS DURING MID-JANUARY THROUGH THE YEARS

 

a windblown leaf

disregarding

the red light

--2003


blizzard

forcing the duo inside

with their wedding plans

--2006


ducks ignoring calls

from the governor

--2005


the expensive doll

meant to impart lesson

of the Depression

--2010


before the ice storm

cutting camellias

for every room

--2013


the young man says

"I hate taking your money"

yet holds out his hand

--2017


four days after snow

temperature warm enough

to open the door

--2021


cold . . . blustery

forced daffodil blossoms

warming the table

--2022


green daffodil spike

on its way to new growth

spearing a dry leaf

--2023



c 2023 PL, dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA