Category: nature
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Edge of night
You sit on the end of a bench with a book and warmed over coffee On the other end is a pine cone you don’t begrudge it space and let it stay In a late afternoon woods warblers sing in bushes cardinals call back and forth You watch a leaf pick itself up off the…
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The scrimshander
all that remains as proof that once he sailed oceans chasing a whale fleeing for its life a life worth 100 barrels of rendered fat he pulled a tooth to etch while waiting for his next kill now it sits on some collector’s mantle who doesn’t know and doesn’t care to know the sailor’s name…
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If
On cold winter days mom would send you out to play you would watch the birds shiver on phone lines and thought maybe they gathered local gossip through their feet Hardly anyone has a landline anymore birds now shiver on cable TV lines you wonder if they prefer ESPN the Cartoon Network or cable news…
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The Samsara tree
alone a tree stands by a field of plowed ground stands against the sky stands defiant roots reaching in limbs reaching out twists in the wind alone by a field of plowed ground silhouette against billowing clouds dances in storms brawny figure by a field of plowed ground branches hang arms nailed against the sky…
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The heft of light
I went alone to an art exhibition for a friend On the way home I pondered how art changes who I am Light breaking on horizons and scenes of dusk or darkness draw me in Was it sunset or sunrise? Was the darkness evening or predawn? At 3 a.m. I stand barefoot on the porch…
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a walk in the woods
winter warm and wet moss on bare ground soft and alive a wild thing long asleep waited for the right time the right sunlight temperature and rain bend down pet it tomorrow it will leave and not return for years ‘ 1-16-20
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Burnt incense
No one wraps the news with a rubber band throws it up on your porch to read at leisure anymore Talking heads deliver it hurled in sound bites – abusive verbal beatings I receive mine from my news feed refuse to be yelled at by the properly coiffed and groomed Sitting on the porch reading…
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yellow flowers
At night, on her living room wall hung a Van Gogh reproduction of a vase of yellow flowers on a sunny day and on rainy mornings a Van Gogh reproduction of a vase of yellow flowers on a sunny day still hung on her living wall and one rainy morning you realized somewhere was a…
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night watchman
The cream colored feral cat that patrols our neighborhood and keeps us safe at night strolls in the rain down the middle of Landon Road without an umbrella Stops and asks what the hell am I doing up this time of night I want to tell him to mind his own business but it’s never…
My husband's poetry 