ODE TO OLD MAN WINTER

There's a mean cold snap a-comin'
just as sure as my name's Jones.
I can feel it in my neck
and in my back and in my bones.

Oh, I'm ready for the ice, because
I cut down all my trees.
No more limbs and branches breaking
bringing power to its knees.

I've got snowshoes I can strap on
when I go to get the mail
and the papers. Plus, a mackinaw--
protection from the hail.

Bring it on, you old man winter;
test my mettle, if you dare.
I am up to doing battle--
me and my dear woman, Claire.

We've got stacks of cordwood drying;
all our preparations done . . .
Would you look outside this mornin' . . .

Don't that beat all? There's the sun!!

c lovepat press 2010

MORE POEMS FOR WINTER -- JANUARY 2010

Tanka
a light snow
doesn't deter the bluebirds
from berry breakfast
nor the kittens
from their play
~~
Haiku
blue glass dolphins
uncharacteristically
active ... the north wind
~~
Found Senryu
from house to truck
air so cold your eyes water
and it hurts to breathe

(from J.Tetrault, northwest ND
where the wind chill = minus
52 degrees --AP)
~~
Haiku
winter morning sky
the ever-changing pattern
of starlings a-wing
~~
Tanka
between showers
the robins drink from puddles
one finds the birdbath
not deterred by thunder
or the ensuing rain
~~
Haik-Sen
thunder
glass in the old windows
vibrating
~~
Haiku
mid-winter
after the thunderstorm
all the doors open
~~
c lovepat press 2010

POEMS FOR WINTER

winter sycamore
stands upstretched to catch nature's
coating of snow
~~
Winter
brought tornadoes,
murder, floods and snowfall,
leaving us desperate for early
springtime.
~~
Walking in the Park
Stuffed
people
walk briskly
to rid themselves
of winter's
sumptuous
stores.
(a Sept pattern)
~~
Snowfall,
so white and deep,
paralyzes traffic
yet evokes memories of childhood
pleasures.
~~
c lovepat press 2010

Around and about New Year's

December 31 -- any year

fevered child restless
as New Year's Eve darkens
phoning regrets
~
snow
on top of the ice
New year's Eve
~
eleventh hour~
click of wall clock's second hand
ticking toward new year
~
New Year's Eve
a syncopated ticking
of the kitchen clocks
~
January 1 - any year
23 degrees
first day of the year, I read
Season's spring haiku
(for Carolyn Thomas)
~
January first
each dated tree ornament
a year older
~
replacing
old calendar with new
full of things to do
~
New Year's project:
finding the stuff I stashed away
before Christmas

c lovepat press 2009

A couple of old poems, one for Christmas

In July of 1984, after 24 years of marriage and four children, plus a recent Master's degree in Music Education, I filed for divorce. Two events made the act seem egregious at the time. The day before, we had seen our 17-year-old daughter Jennifer depart by air to Germany as a year-long exchange student. I hadn't told her my plan. The day I DID file was our first-born son's 23rd birthday.
We all lived over it, thought there were some rough spots. During this time, I was teaching music and gifted ed. As part of my post-graduate studies, I took a university course, Writing Across the Curriculum. It, too, changed my life, and I began writing poetry as a result.
A local poet presented me with a book by another local poet. Poetry Patterns by Anna Nash Yarborough of Benton AR was my "bible" as I learned.
The following two poems were a result of these events.

A TRIOLET

Jennifer's going to Germany;
I wish I were going, too.
Just think of all the things she'll see;
Jennifer's going to Germany.
Will she take time to write to me
and tell me of everything new?
Jennifer's going to Germany;
I wish I were going, too!

A KERF FOR CHRISTMAS
An untraditional
Christmas this year, I promised,
knowing the family, which used to be
intact, if not tranquil,
would be split, with the youngest
sibling here, the oldest in Germany.

When people said, "How sad,"
I screamed inwardly, Not so!
Untraditional, yes, but not bereft
of memories we had
in past years. Christmas will go
on, even though few traditions seem left.

c lovepat press, 1992

December haiku and senryu

Father John, 80
sending 2800
cards - to keep in touch
~
20 degrees~
one...two...three bluebirds feasting
on beautyberries
~
winter solstice~
the rhythms
of the noisy fan
~
winter solstice~
"change within
the eternal constant"
(from Hal Borland's Sundial of the Seasons)
~
70 degrees
in mid-December ... sparrow,
then cardinal bathes
~
dewdrops decorate
the dogwood's bare branches
six days till Christmas

c 2009 lovepat press

Stopping to look through old Christmas cards

O ld Christmas cards--
L ovely pictures: wreaths, angels, Santa--some
D azzlingly glittered, stylized or serene. Fronts

C ut away from messages--unless
H andwritten and signed notes appended.
R eading them these ten years later,
I travel mentally to places we lived--
S ome years in Arkadelphia, some in Benton. I
T hink of friends who've since died; several
M essages from a poet now in assisted living--
A ll notes set aside to add to
S crapbooks with memories on every page.

C ards become dated,
A lthough
R emembrances
D o not fade-- yet.
S tream through my heart, O friends. Stay.

c Dec 5 2009 lovepat press