WEEPING WILLOWS
Sadly drooped willows
like sorrowful young widows
cry into the stream.
Category Archives: POETRY
BIRD BATH BEAT
Spirited sparrows and wrens so dull and drab
mingle with cardinals beautifully clad.
Sultry robin pulls closed her robe
leaving her breasts cleverly exposed.
Flicker rounds on the oldest tree
and begins a steady beat.
Sweet arias of birdsong lift to compete,
their voices familiar and strong
while mourning doves amble along,
chaperones staying and swaying in step.
Listening and watching such beauty I wept.
Each bird’s note has a place in the chorus
of avian talent displayed before us.
Each wing and beak in flighty choreography
tells a breathtaking story of bird glory.
Insects hiding beneath dark-dank spaces
have no chance amidst such diving graces.
The sun arises each morn as do I
to enjoy their dance before birds take to the sky.
Filed under POETRY
AGING
A single year’s length
has deprived me of the strength
seventy-four years built.
Like sand it has been seeping
from muscles knotted and bemused
by excess effort and misuse
and a lifetime of abuse
by Amazonian female dreams
of living by independent means.
Of course, all is not lost
and I need not count the cost
since enough strength remains
to tend what I must
before this lovely body
bites the dust.
Filed under POETRY
THE GARDEN SHED
(series of Haiku garden thoughts)
The garden shed holds
tools, not fame, within its frame.
Garden dreams inside.
Rabbit’s family
burrows beneath happily.
Loves to race ‘round shed.
Vines climb the sides.
Flowers peep around corners.
Well-protected shed.
Shed hides in shadow.
Garden glories brightly glow.
Shed is true hero.
Filed under POETRY
GARDEN OF DEMOCRACY
Seeds have pointed ends
and sharp edges
browned and dried at rest.
Planted by strong winds
into dark soil opened
by seeds’ thin crest.
Growth and change
know no easy kindness;
strive in fierce battles to persist.
Await mere chance to emerge in sunshine
through storms and rain
from under soil’s harsh duress.
Noblesse oblige is well and good.
It fertilizes earth to grow the seed.
But it is seed which has stood
the test of winter’s snow
to make a healthy garden grow.
Strong agents of change protect
the tender plants we sow.
HAVE A GOOD FLIGHT
How do you pin down a dream?
Or, bind a mind so tight
all hope takes flight?
I do not see why you would;
even if you could.
When hopes and dreams are lost
we all pay a terrible cost.
No gated house, no security alarm
protects every place of possible harm.
The threats and fears you plant
grow into weeds that choke
the life out of every community,
disrupt any sense of unity
to hold a country together
to fight its true enemy.
Too late we discover the truth.
We finally remember and see
the enemy we cry as uncouth
is actually you and me.
So, let us set every dream free,
embrace hope and reach for the stars.
Let us remember for once and for all,
all that we could be, and who we really are.
HAPPY EASTER, EARTH
Easter’s rise shines with light
and we delight
that Earth’s demise
seems far away,
if only for today.
Resurrection reminds us
that Earth’s clean breath
may be renewed
and rise again, too, with the sun
as the Son breathes life
into each of us to begin anew.
To be Creation
within and without.
To enjoin all nations
as Saviors of all life.
To set aside strife
and come down from our cross.
To roll away stones heavy with fear.
To rise up after such passion.
To embrace Life and one another.
To embrace each as sister and brother.
To know we are safe in Earth’s embrace
of life among the stars.
To shine. To shine. To shine.
To make His love yours and mine.
Happy Easter !
Filed under POETRY
HOLY SATURDAY
Holy Saturday is here.
The quietest day of the year.
The feel of the tomb presses near.
All whom we treasure most dear
tremble in solemn fear,
waiting uncertain, near tears,
for all to be made clear.
Filed under POETRY
PASSING PRIVILEGE
Dribble, dribble, pass, shoot.
Passing the ball is an art, laying up the shot
in, on and off the court
of public opinion and more.
No matter the cost just take the shot and score.
Passing dark skin is forbidden,
discouraged and shamefully hidden.
White privilege need not even ask
to take an unearned pass,
without question and no need to even ask.
The white right to pass is supreme
in the legislature of Tennessee.
Black men readily removed without compunction
by white men bent on their colleagues’ destruction.
Black men dared to act as their equal
in their advocacy on behalf of the people.
White legislators creating a sequel
to enslavement, Jim Crow and voter suppression.
They saw no need for quiet discretion.
They simply gave the white woman a pass,
one for which she did not ask.
Their message was clear.
Republicans cheer,
“This is how we show Black men their place.”
Confident supremacy with no sense of disgrace.
Filed under POETRY
HAIKU /CLIMATE CHANGE
Winds so fierce even
clouds avoid the twists and turns
of a world destroyed.
Filed under POETRY
annarino writes 