The Greeter

Funny little donkey,
What makes you so cross?
Your tone is quite demanding,
Who made you the boss?

Hee haw! Hee haw !

Hee haw! Hee haw!  

Hee haw!

Children run to pet you
You frighten them away
Your head raised up, your ears back, 
Belt out your throaty bray

Hee haw! Hee haw !

Hee haw! Hee haw!  
Hee haw!

Nest

Robin, your nest is as disarrayed

A home as mine feels some days.

Your sticks a hasty clutter

Sighing against order

Battling precision

Fighting organization,

Just finding shelter,

Sweet peace.

I know you loved this leafy retreat

Where spring's green grew around 

You and shaded your family

Where voices were close by

Still you could hide;

We are not too much different

You and I.

Pampas Grass

Wave in the autumn sky

Your plumes like feathers

As I pass by.

Sweep summer from the air

Erase the dust of heat

And webs of care.  

Sweetgum

Beauty of the autumn

Ah, sweet sweetgum tree,

Bearing pointed star leaves

And prickly spheres of seed.

They're the bane of every lawn man

And still yet it seems to me 

There is no greater beauty

Than the sweetgum tree!

Your foliage turns a yellow

Then orange as pumpkin rind

Red like candied apples

Then purple as fine wine.

Bushel Basket

Bushel of bounty

Pecans from the leaf-lovely ground

Nuts for Thanksgiving pies,

For Christmas candies,

For caramels, fudge, and divinity

Pecans for banana bread, 

For brown sugar pound cake

For cookies and ice cream

Sundae toppings!

Red Flower

Late bloom

Afternoon light

Shines yellow through

Your red petals

Makes you glow

Like flame

Like heat left behind

By summer is inside.

Picket Fence

White picket fence 

A housewife's dream

Shut the traffic out

But let the light,

Let friends,

Let sweet wafts of fragrant air,

Let leaves, and summer, 

And flowers, and sunshine, and wonder 

Stay.

Fallen Tree

Once towering above the sand

Once waving a leafy head above the water's edge

Now the tree lies resting. Retired? No, still busy providing food, refuge, shelter

Providing windbreak and helping hold the sand 

from erosion in the wind

Making a seat for a traveler, 

a balancing beam for happy children,

Still ready to be wood for a fire, fuel for cooking. 

Tree-- ever a servant, a gift, a joy.

Dinner Setting

On a day we've set aside for giving thanks

To God for our plenty, I notice

He gives us a huge dose of more plenty.

Our thanks turns into more blessing for us.

Are we confused? Have we missed the point?

Or is that the point?

We serve a God who provides for us.

We serve a God who shares instead of demanding.

We don't bring bowls of food to set out for Him;

He gives bowls to us instead.

Thank you, Jesus,

Thank you for being you.

Violets

Atop the green of leaves 

Flowers sit like beauty queens

On the open tops of convertibles

Though the air is cold,

Though the parade-goers rowdy,

They smile.

They wave, never ruffled

In their sparkly sequined dresses.

Bread

Bread - the food of the world

Every nation,

Every tribe has a bread

Bread

Swedish loaves dark with rye

American white loaves of sourdough,

Tortillas in Mexico made of corn.

Bread - the staple of every clime

Every country;

Every village has a bread.

Bread

French baquette, English scone,

Middle east pita and Jewish challah,

India's chapati and Irish Soda.

Bread - A food of life,

Ever eaten

Where people find comfort

Bread

At humble kitchen tables, in richest homes,

Served in the soup kitchens, carried in the streets

Jesus served his friends bread and spoke of life.

Autumn in the Air

Between the rails of the garden fence

Leaves have lodged to peaceful sleep

The winter through, quiet, waiting,

For spring rain and warm sun

To replace them on the branches overhead

 And grant them leave to

Return to the soil.

Glass

Mosaic

Work of glass

Light plaited 

Candy apple red, 

Rose, rust, 

Amber, blue, 

Green, orange,

White, pink zig-zags 

Woven ribbons

Arrows shining 

Colors inside and out

November Rose

Winter bloom,

November rose,

Red and glowing in the sun.

Sing our hearts 

To the year's end

Cheer us on till spring comes.

Dancer in Red

Skirt of red
Flying,

Ballerina pirouettes 

On tiptoe

In a setting of blue
Violet and green,

Flower, leaf, 
Light

Sunset, 
River
Sky.

Far from Home

Sycamore leaf

Far flung from home

Alone now,

Without your kin,

Among strangers.

Free at last, you roam.

Caught, not by binding stem

To the home tree;

Caught in a new place

Low in the lowly grasses.

Sights are foreign.

Life is crowded still.

You fluttered before;

Fought furiously

Fought free; 

But you didn't know 

How to fly.

Come rest against 

The wall, the house, 

The garden gate

'Till you find family again.

Football Flower

Mums make me recall 

Cold nights and stadium lights

Lettered sweaters and 

Concession stand hot-dogs 

With Coco-Cola.

Mums remind me of homecoming,

Of scoreboards flashing

Home versus Visitors,

Of the Star-Spangled Banner

Sung by Betty Sue White

One look at a mum and

I see N.H.S. in silver glitter.

One look and I hear voices cheering

A runner down to the end zone.

Touchdown!

One look and I hear the band take up 

Its victory song, see them march

In black and red lines, 

Waving flags, beating drums, 

Piping flutes and trombones.

One look and I see cheerleaders, 

Pompoms and megaphones.

I see children climb,

Children play on the

Concrete steps of the bleachers. 

Mums make me feel

The autumn chill in the air.

Make me shiver. 

Mums take me back to those 

Glorious fall game nights

Grandma's Dolls

Now I am Grandma.

Starting into my sixty-first year,

I am still my Mama's child.

These pieces of simple life

Cornhusk dolls

One a bride in green,

One an angel in blue,

One a girl wearing a dress with puffed sleeves

Speak to my little girl inside

That I will never be too old

Never need give up play and joy,

Will always be Daddy's girl.

Kansas

Like a wheel 

Of one of many covered 

Wagons which

Once lined this old town's streets

Before bricks paved them

Before substantial buildings 

Took up residence and 

Stores opened

Along them

Snowfake 

Heralding Christmas

Snowflake

Never falling, never melting

Snowflake

Sparkling blue at night

Blue starburst

Snowflake

Above a dusty Kansas street

Holding up the bold blue

Sky. 

Wedding Flowers

This bouquet graced a table 

At the wedding day of my son

Aren't they bright and sweetest?

Aren't they beautiful and fun?

White, the white of wedding gown,

White for purity, Pink for joy!

Baby's breath is for promises,

Blue for the eyes of my boy.

Wedding Day

All your life you dream;

All your life you wait,

Until

One day

You fall in love.

Life begins afresh

With a wedding day.

Like a movie's end,

A movie that 

Changes your heart,

With music

That sinks into your soul;

Music that insists 

You stay

Listening 

In the emptying theater

To hear the last 

Sweet note,

Before going out into 

The altered

Evening.

Life begins with the end of 

Waiting.

Ram's Horn

                                                                           Like a sea shell 

                                                                 The great ram's                                                        

                                                            Horn curls into 

                                                         A cursive "C".

                                                     It's colors show

                                                    The year's passing

                                                      The cold,                                .

                                                        The heat,                                  Horn

                                                          The struggle                               Music

                                                              Blends into a                     Of wild somber

                                                                  Swirl of music           Pearly notes

                                                                           With dark lines and

                                                                                          

                                                                                                     

                                                                                                         

Home Fires

"Keep the home fires burning!'

She told me as she left,

"For home and hearth and family

Are the things that we love best,

When we make our way to

Distant lands, and foreign ports of call

We will crave the warmth of home

Most of all."

Piece of Sky

A pie slice of blue sky

Shows through the 

Hollow trunk of a tree

Sunlight brightening the

Places where

Woodpeckers chiseled holes,

Bees welded combs to fill with 

Sweet honey,  

Squirrels hid nuts

And slept through snowy weather

Curled in cozy darkness. 

White Rose Swirl

In the soft light 

Of morning

A rose bud unfurls,

Uncurls,

Untwirls,

Into swirls 

Of soft vanilla satin.

Pink, Red, White

Apple,

Your pink satin holds a

Blush of deep red and

Traces of spring's pale green.

Apple,

Your red dress hides 

Underclothes laceless

Over flesh of snowy white.

Apple,

Your inner core holds

Treasures of future trees in

Brown capsules of seeds.

Glass Horses

Their hooves are poised but 

Cannot gallop

Their heads down,

They do not toss their frozen manes

Nor flick their flowing tails

The glass horses stand guard over books

On my shelves

All show

They are unable to whiny or neigh

Still they glimmer and shimmer 

And reflect the colors and lights that 

Surround them.

Spiral

in

the 

garden 

of the ocean,

god, the great artist
 made spiraled 

chambers:

homes, 

havens, 

households.

in the garden 
of the 
ocean,

swirls of china 

and pottery,

each shaped with care,

painted with browns

with pinks,

with pearl-essence, 

each a hiding 
place

in the sand

and foaming

water each, 

a work of 

heart.

When God

When God was making roses

I think that he foreknew

All the times that I would need them

Cause my heart was feeling blue. 

When God was making roses

I am sure He took delight

In knowing I would smell their scent

To get me through some plight.

When God was making roses

I think He laughed with glee

To know for celebrations

They'd be perfect, just for me.

"For pain, for joy, for everyday

A rose will fit the bill,"

So he shaped and cut and colored each

My heart to overfill.

Wild Rose

Roses in November are the sweetest.

Their colors are much softer in that light.

Their petals often ruffled, sometimes damaged,

Hold a promise as the winter comes in sight.

The rose hips, like bright berries, Glossy, gleaming, 

To protect the promise made, close up tight.

 Flowers will bud and bloom beautiful again some day

After winter's slept the cold and lonely night.