Tag Archives: nature

WIND

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The wind can be both friend and foe.

Harnessing his power 

to make him my own

can never be, I know.

He may clear the air

of any disputes yet leave me

to struggle to breathe, 

inhaling what make me sneeze.

He cleans out the cobwebs,

the garden beds, and gutters.

He leaves me breathless

at his show of strength.

He is a lover like no other.

I stand stronger within his embrace.

My body feels lighter,

my countenance tighter,

my body lifted up off my feet.

Wind is my lover, sight unseen,

except for what he brings 

and takes from me.

I see his caress of every shrub and tree.

I yearn for his heavy touch on me.

I love the wind. 

I am sad to see him die low,

knowing he, too soon, will leave me.

I do not want wind to go.

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POWER OUTAGE

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How lucky are we who have electricity

and solid roofs over our heads

while facing the fiercest storms.

When the cradle rocks and trees fall down

we worry a bit and put on a frown.

Yet, we know we only need to wait,

turn the lanterns up, so bright,

we power on batteries to light the night.

Workmen climb poles

amid cold winds grown bold

to make things right.

No billowing tents for us

with open fire to heat the cold

We simply open a book to read by flashlight.

I wonder why I was born 

in this time and in this space;

why I am blessed with American grace.

I wonder why others have not been so placed.

I do not wonder why they seek their way

through jungles, across rivers,

in deadening heat and torrential rain.

I do not wonder why they face such pain

to carry their children to a safer place.

I only wonder at their courage  to dare

while we so spoiled are unable to face

what we fear to be true.

Those who come on bare feet,

those not so blessed, deserve the same grace

as me, and as you.

Electric power outages can be fixed

by brave service workers and much ado.

Moral power outages are much harder to fix

and need a bigger, even braver, crew.

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OUR GIRL, SPRING

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Everyone loves Spring.

I have a strongly-mixed feeling.

She is the kind of person I find

unaware that she can be unkind.

She is fickle as the winds blowing

from north and south and twisting

into storms of frozen heat and heated cold.

Spring laughs and dances so very bold

across garden landscapes and downed trees

she spreads dead tree buds on every breeze

to litter yards and and parking lots and streets,

with detritus that crunches beneath our feet.

Plants  struggle to figure her out.

Do we stay hidden inside or come out?

We are never sure what Spring is about.

Weatherman are never sure what to say

except that it is a weather-warning day.

I tolerate her insistent hold on all forums,

her indecisive lack of decorum,

her frozen demeanor and winsome smiles.

We wonder what is next, all the while.

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ELECTIONS

The tree must come down.

It’s stump must be ground.

Know this,though.

Its roots continue to grow.

The lines we rely upon

To stay safe and strong

Will remain under threat

If we rejoice and forget

The threat those roots make

If we do not stay awake.

The tree may be gone.

But the threat still goes on.

We can take down the tree.

But, stay by me.

We must stay alert and fight,

the tree’s shadows alight.

It takes time for roots to die.

It takes time for truth to replace a lie.

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THE FALL

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The snow is falling 

again.

She feels like an old

friend.

I fall with her at my

ease.

With one request, if you

please.

I beg her to break  my

fall,

and allow grace to cover the sins of

all.

Sun strikingly yearns to rise and 

heat

the frozen earth beneath my

feet.

My fall, I fear is not easy nor

soft.

Minds cooling their anger keep hope

aloft.

But, I am sinking beneath the 

weight

of my own government filled with such

hate.

Will we ever see another summer  of

love?

If cold snow keeps falling from

above?

One thing I truly

know.

No one can make me hate the

snow.

My heart melts as the snow soon

will.

I hold fast to love for all,

still.

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DAWNING

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I have been carried over mountains

dredged in gold

by sunlight’s curve of light

as dawn unfolds

and opens her arms,

and gently releases her hold

on earth’s many charms.

The wonders of my world shift

within my sights

in bits and pieces set adrift

until I string them together like jewels

to hang around my neck

and light the darkest days ahead.

Indeed, dawn’s delights

can lighten even the darkest nights

in waking dreams sensing the coming light.

Dawn works her tentative way

across this bleak space every day.

Dawn awakens an eagerness to find my place

among other beings also lit from within.

Together, we can light the entire world.

It is dawn. We have dawned. 

It is time to begin.

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THE NORTH WIND

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A fierce wind blows hard and fast

across the tundra’s frozen mass

sliding down south furious and fast

like a feisty child on a slickened slide,

adult control no longer about,

tearing across a playground 

with hearty shouts of glee –

I’m free! I’m free! I’m free!

It is a wondrous sight to see

bending, dancing trees in sway

holding tight squirrels’ nests

close to trees’ heaving chests.

The air is alive in ways we seldom see.

reminding us we, too, can be free.

We can cross the frozen, grieving miles

and dance again wreathed in smiles.

We can find a quickened pace

as wind lifts our feet into space

we once thought too weak to bear our weight.

Mother Nature reminds us of our place

in an ever-changing world whose race

to bring us safely round the sun,

with laughter, joy and fun

brings treasured moments of grace.

North wind reminds what we already know –

we….must…. just….let……….. go!

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OCEANS

I could become an ocean

If I unleashed the rivers of tears

Building behind eyes seeing,

Building behind ears hearing,

Building behind a mind

Buried in grief over what I find

Hidden within family and friends,

I thought were of a kind;

Who saw hate and felt repulsion,

Who heard lies and became disgusted,

Who watched inhumanity and scowled,

Who with outrage spoke aloud.

Instead, they smirk and smile,

And change the subject acting proud

To shut down discussion and discomfort at discussing hard truths.

Either they are in avoidance of discord;

Or worse, they approve of lies and hate,

And are simply happy to see hate flourish.

They are not the least discouraged.

I could become an ocean.

Instead, I check my emotion.

I seek to find some common ground.

Impossible when they shut all true conversation with me down.

Is this what pushes us apart,

a river of tears breaking canyon

walls of disagreement apart?

I could become an ocean

Washing them away as I allow

My tears to flow.

Until the valley of tears

Washes hate clear

And silts and nourishes the soil

That love may once again grow.

I could become an ocean.

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BALANCE OF POWER

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Nature restores balance

upset by human hands

on air and sea and land.

Government becomes unbalanced

when leaders fail to understand

no government can serve us

when controlled by a single man.

No single party can control

a seamless governance of the whole.

Power unbalanced is doomed to fail.

History and Nature tell the tale.

Diversity is the golden rule of life,

counteracting hidden strife

as it strives to interact and share

what keeps the planet alive and fair,

what makes us glad to be alive.

Cooperation is not just wise.

It is the seed of all that grows.

It is the only means Nature knows

to grow the wheat and the rose,

to water the farmland and dry the bog,

to cool summer heat and fire winter’s log,

to spread seeds on the breeze of dawn

and weight the wind blowing too strong.

We have run away from Nature far too long.

We have forgotten to listen to Nature’s song.


We have been singing a discordant tune

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to instruments so loud, the song is ruined.

But Nature always restores balance.

It is the base note of Nature’s parlance.

Take off your shoes and walk in the grass.

Feel the freedom you feared lost in the past.

Turn your face into the wind and hold tight.

Feel the freedom you feared lost beyond your sight.

Wade in puddles catching raindrops on your tongue.

Feel the freedom you feared lost and with hands wrung.

We fear we have no way to save our nation.

But Nature gives us a new generation

every spring and through every season

Nature restores our world and our reason.

Balance of Power is the song of the hour.

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AUTUMN IS IN THE AIR

Acrylic on canvass, self-portrait, louise Annarino

Cold air is heavier.

Its density 

has a propensity

to hold us in place,

inside,

asleep.

It is enough

to make one weep

who loves the heat.

I welcome it

for its cooling property, 

its innate ability

to calm and soothe

the painful reality

of an overheated,

seemingly defeated,

world once at peace.

Oh, it was but a brief

moment in time

when hope was alive

and the country thrived,

and nations strived

to help democracy

overcome autocracy.

But, I digress

under great stress.

Cold air is weighted

with shards of ice

torn loose from northern fields,

with such power to wield

that it weighs down sunrise,

to no one’s surprise.

It puts the worker bees to sleep.

They awaken inside flowers

lacking the power

to find their way to their hives.

Cold air makes dreams

more difficult to bear,

their messages too heavily aware

of all the world’s problems

fair and unfair.

Autumn is here

and the world bows down

under the new weight.

Winter is not far away.

I cannot wait!

As sun rises the only sound

is the song of geese southward bound.

I place the heating pad round

a sore back from bending down

to plant bulbs squirrels have already found.

Soon, snow will coat the frozen ground.

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