Sunday, September 30, 2012

Oriental Surprise!


A walk on a rainy day in my overgrown garden
I find a busy street in Japan
Filled with
Bright-colored parasols
Open and raised toward the sky,
Protecting the ladies' high-combed hair,
Powdered perfect skin
Emerald green kimonos
From sun and wind.
Zinnias-
A song of color and shapes. 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Message


In the dry    fence lines,
Tangled in old barbed wire,
Strung between wooden posts,
Cut and set decades ago
By a rancher's roughened hands,
I see the summer's growth 
Drying flower heads, 
Drying brown seeds
In wind and heat
Amongst it all 
A Valentine 
Gray against 
Sallowing 
Green.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Lakeside


Above the lake
I sit to watch the wind play with the water.
My chair a rock, 
A great gray giant rock
A rock that seems to be poised there waiting
Waiting, waiting, waiting...
Flat on top, smooth, heavy
Just a shore rock waiting for a giant child 
With his giant father,
To come along on a summer afternoon
To chose it -- this rock
To smooth it on his giant shirttail 
Feel it in his giant hand and 
Whip it through giant fingers 
Out across the lake's surface,
Count it with a grand giant thundering voice 
As it tucks the water and skips
One, two, three, four, five,
Five times! 
Five giant skips! 
Oh!
Oh!
I should move! 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Comfort


The fog is a white shawl
That wraps around trees, 
Fills empty bird nests,
Hides in spaces between 
Strands of barbed wire,
Cuddles fence posts,
Squeezes into mailboxes,
Under farm trucks,
Blankets rolls of waiting hay
In silence and peace.




Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Simple Joy

Struggling up from the woodland floor
A gentian reaches for a bit of sunshine
Amid the fall shadows.
Did God know I would walk by?
Did He know I would 
Brush aside a tear
Replace it with a smile
To be greeted with such a perfect pink
And so sweet and simple
A reminder of joy?

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Web Design


Morning light rest on strands
  Of gossamer
Woven threads of silk
Dew like tear-drops drip down
Silently
Night was long,
Night was damaging
Web designer hides from the sunlight
In the center.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Paperback


Bark curls 
Thin like pages of a 
Sappy paperback
Abandoned on a park bench,
Scorned and flapping in protest;
Fighting with the wind
Page edges turning on themselves
Rain soaked, weather dried, 
 Puckered and twisted in agony
At the rejection

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Blue





 Where Ocean Stops 
And 
Sky Starts
I cannot Tell,
But Know they Never Touch,
Yet always Touch 
Sky to Sea,
Sea to Sky,
Blue on Blue,
Of the Same Stuff.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Bright Smile


From the crackled mulch of fallen leaves, 
Brown blanket of sticks and soil,
Springs a twelve-petaled piece of sunshine.

For a simple heart that still believes,
God faithful in spreading joy will,
Send a smile from a flower's face to mine.  

Friday, September 21, 2012

Home Sweet Home

Whose door is this?
Who passes here, in and out, 
Over the wooden threshold?
Through winter's cold, who holes up here?
Who sleeps on a summer day,
In this place of refuge,
Waiting for night to gallivant?
What creature seeks asylum here
Squirreling away stores for hungry days,
Stolen pecans, walnuts, hickory nuts?
Who calls home 
This small hollow in a lofty tree?

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Roses Red


Red ruffles like square 
Dancers' skirts and petticoats,
Green leaves like ribbons in flying hair,
Buds like red rubies at lady's throats.
Garden path is a promenade.






Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Sunflower

Like a tiny world all its own
A sunflower stands along the roadside
Its center brown and crusty like the soil
Sprouting minuscule palm trees 
Tiny cactus topped with yellow flowers
Its sunlit petals like the sun's own rays.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Rain Born

A thunderstorm rumbles across the land
Rain, blessed rain, begins 
First a drip, then a patter, than a drum-roll
Next a crash of cymbals, 
Then a boom of a bass drum,
A splash, a crash, a pouring,
Streaming, splattering, running, gushing
cacophony of rhythm, 
A crescendo of percussion
A kettle drum's poom, poom, poom!
Then a steady downpour
Rain and rain, drizzle, now drip
Drop
Drip
Drop...drip
Clouds move.Wind blows.
Sun comes smiling over the garden
Drying stems grow plump with water
Leaves cast a new green
Fresh, alive a zinnia opens and glows
Waves
In the sunshine and breeze.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Garden Basket

Producing still, 
My garden has survived both heat and drought.
It teaches me what perseverance is about.
It gives us food to eat and food for soul.
All a garden does is make us whole.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Morning Prayer

Thank you God for watering me,
Thanks for my vines so strong,
For a place to cling in the sunlight,
For tendrils that curl to hold on.

For this gate in the shade of a mulberry tree
Where people pass by and through,
Where my colors bring joy to others 
And cause praise to rise to you.

Thank you for bees and butterflies.
Thank you for children's noses
That visit me here and love me 
As they do the prettiest posies.

Thanks for rain that falls softly.
Thank you for peace in the night
When I close my heart and rest from my work
And wait for next morning's light.




Saturday, September 15, 2012

Amethyst

Purple rose,
Plum?
Mulberry?
How can I describe 

Your petals of silk?
Your soft swirls?
Orchid?
Violet?

Eggplant?
Lavender?
Lilac?
How about "mauve"-u-lous? 

Friday, September 14, 2012

Raindrops

New leaves in 
September speak hope.
What drought and
Grasshoppers had stolen
Springs again.
God answers prayers;
Rain falls on thirsty land,
Brown grass greens 
New leaves sprout.
Like faith leaves,
Evidence.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Watercolor

From  under water
Ships, sails, and spar,
Ropes and wire 
Are distorted,
Contorted,
Transported
Into a Picasso style
Watercolor
Painting of a
Fantastical dragonfly.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Valley Grapes

Grapes of Temecula Valley
Sweeten in the afternoon sun
Thrive in the sea's salty air.
Each purple orb a wealth 
Seeds wrapped in juice
The land flows with plenty
Where grapes grow.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Hibiscus



Sunlight filters through treetops 
Warmth reaches the bud
Livens petals to unfurl. A dance,
Like a birthday gift unwrapped by a queen,
Scarlet paper wrapping of softest silk,
Reveals crown jewels and scepter.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Beachcomber

In the black California sands
You walk patrol
Searching for scraps,
Searching for food,
Leaving web-prints.
The sun never burns your white face red.
Staring out to sea,
Your black bead eyes look tired.
Need some sun shades?

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Egret





Old man of a bird
Stands unsteady and knock-kneed
Watching me with disapproval
Your white feathers thinning on top,
Eyes small in your weathered face.
I admire your willowy stance. 
You stare at me.
I laugh at you.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Friday, September 7, 2012

Angel Wings

There is a sound in color
There is a sound in light
A sound in wind
A sound in rain
A sound that makes us whole again
A sound of angel wings
A sound of life
Go watch a flower bloom and you will hear it yet.


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Waves

What causes waves, I ask?
What sends them crashing on the shore?
Who calls to them? Stop here and go no more?
Blue turns to sea green and then folds itself 
Into frosty white breakers Then rushes back-- rushes!
Whose voice is it I hear roar?
I listened to the sea and thought the sound 
Was the voice of God;
But suddenly knew it was not. 
It was the voice of the sea praising the creator.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Palm

Seeds like crimson beads 
On raffia ribbons, 
Like a schoolgirl's beaded braids
Whimsical swag of color,
Dances in a palm tree,
Sways to the music of the wind.


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Vine

Morning Glory vine 
Runs on the garden gate
Blossoms are new every morning
Like the mercies of God.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Surprise!

When you think that life is gone.
When there seems no hope.
When you think nothing is stirring
Life struggles up from somewhere deep
And begins again, all new.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Sun Flower

Five petals of pink
Softness
Meet the sun.
Hold their own
Against the heat.
Summer late 
Tiresome heat
Meet it with a smile.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Granddaughter

My grand-girl
My sweet girl
My precious girl!
Yes, I am a fan;
I'm the Grandma.