iPhone photography + iWords poetry…
The catalpa tree in the side yard
Dominates.
A late bloomer,
She wears lace in June on her sunlit green dress
Luxuriously, she gives with abandon all she has —
blossoms, twigs, branches, seeds, leaves…
She loves to share her beauty.
The birds and the wind deposit her bean pod necklaces… Continue reading
what i don’t want you to know…
i could live without people,
a hermit on a lonely mountain
foraging in fields
singing back to the birds
and whispering to the spiders spinning,
spilling hummingbird words
that only i have heard.
i could be that crazy old lady… Continue reading
Under the shedding sycamore
the irritated gardener stands,
the gardener a busy woman is she
with aching back and hands… Continue reading
Imago resting on the wicker –
I thought him a leaf
until he flickered and showed his true self.
Borning or dying?
Two weeks he lives;
Red cherry-stained wings forgive
His dark Instar larval past…continue reading
Indian Rock
There are big rocks thirty miles
to the south in Slippery Rock Creek.
There are big rocks thirty miles
to the east in the National Forest.
There are big rocks thirty miles
to the north on the shores of Lake Erie.
But here in the rolling farm lands of Black Ash there is … Continue reading
The promise of Spring
is here
buried under the snow of February.
The earth awakens
from sleep… Continue reading
This morning a group of tourists stopped by the cottage.
They were a noisy bunch,
Fluttering and chirping around the pokeberries
at the shrubby edge
between mowed and wild.
Binoculars missing from their usual spot,
I had to run around the cottage,
Fluttering and chirping,… Continue reading
A blue jay came to sit on my window sill
as my friend was dying.
I thought
Do birds take our spirits to heaven?
Continue reading
The wispy mist floats
Fog fingers through the valley
Heaven blowing smoke… Continue reading
Dancing in Fall
The sky invites
The sycamores to dance.
Bare branches
Bend and sway
Curtsying to one another
In proper fashion.
Meanwhile the leaves have flown.
They turn up around back
Loitering by the steps,
Rabble rousing and … Continue reading
Part One
The august sun shines like a spotlight
on the ten year old
joyfully riding her new green bicycle
(without the training wheels)
down the gravel driveway.
Like a pro, not even braking,
she leans to the left and
whizzes onto the dirt path
packed down through years of truck tires. Through the trees … Continue reading
On the thirty-first of January
I long for warmth —
hands and feet always cold…
the sun —
so far away it doesn’t even melt
the icicles hanging from the roof,
or the snow on the spruce branches.
Blue skies?
Mostly the dark gray sky just
turns a … Continue reading
the shadow of the rocking chair
in the corner
holds mystery
only when the whole
is obscured
from our sight.
For now we see
through a glass, darkly… Continue reading
Gratitude for my cat who keeps my feet warm…
With the fading light goes warmth.
On vacation for the winter.
Gone South with the birds…Continue reading
Husband is an early riser.
He gets up early and stokes the fire
And makes the coffee
And puts my favorite mug… Continue reading
Today I worked for the food bank from 8:45 to 2:15.
5 1/2 hours. 330 minutes. 19,800 seconds.
Plenty of moments to get a photograph.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t get a picture of the little boys singing and riding the rocking horse in the nursery.
I didn’t get a picture of two… Continue reading
We’ve got some problems here, Siri —
you don’t come when I call,
you give me bad advice or none at all.
you say, “I didn’t get that”
or you change… Continue reading
i don’t want a narrow view of love:
you love me and i’ll love you —
no —
don’t want just my needs, wants, don’t needs, don’t wants.
You give love unconditionally
not caring if i love you back right
or if i slip back into … Continue reading
Never one to fear solitude
or think of it as lonely,
she relishes alone-time… Continue reading
The orange leaves triumph for but a time;
then fall to the ground to be raked,
bagged, wind blown, composted —
changed.
the tree triumphs for but a time;
then falls to the ground to be… Continue reading
Spring at the cottage means
Porch clutter to clean
and cobwebs to sweep,
Winter rubble to burn,
Wildlife to watch… Continue reading
There is a spare beauty in gray mist
floating and rising from the valley floor,
Droplets on the window panes,
the quiet whishing of rain on the trees.
Melancholy, some say.
But it teaches patience
and the understanding that
we can’t always have our own way.
We are not in control of much, though we … Continue reading
Barn painted, tractor repaired,
Jewels ripening, jam jars prepared.
Catalpas blooming, hammocks waiting to be hung.
Fields of wildflowers smiling at the sun… Continue reading
Dear You,
Remember that rainy September day?
The cloud-filled sky and the freedom
from the sun’s tyranny?
No need to finish up summer today. You gave yourself permission
to bake bread and make
a long slow simmering stew,
pore over… Continue reading
last night
a fiery orange light
glowed ferociously
on the next hill.
i thought the Blakers’
barn was burning.
(i left my warm bed and stepped outside for a better view.)… Continue reading
The day says goodbye with a painted sky
The colors more glorious than has been the day
God affirms his presence, confirms his essence,
And beauty breaks through…. Continue reading
No sunrise today.
Just a gradual un-darkening.
How can I find my bliss
on a cold-gray-rainy November day? … Continue reading
Refraction — the change of direction
of a ray of light or sound,
in passing obliquely
from one medium into another
in which wave velocity is different.
I pray for refraction.
God’s light to shine through the curtains,
the leaves, the shadows, the water,
the air I breathe in — Ruah –
passing obliquely from… Continue reading
Driving home
in the dark
in the rain
the car sped past us
weaving between lanes.
Almost hit the guard rails two,
three times…Continue reading
Magic
bedazzles
the
still
life
only if
our eyes are…Continue reading
Now there is time to wait at the window.
Now there is time to do something new.
Now is the time…. Continue reading
the circle of life 