Friday, November 30, 2012

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!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

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.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

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.  


Tuesday, November 27, 2012

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.

Monday, November 26, 2012

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!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

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.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

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.

Friday, November 23, 2012

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.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

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.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

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.



Monday, November 19, 2012

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.




Sunday, November 18, 2012

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

Saturday, November 17, 2012

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.


Friday, November 16, 2012

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.



Thursday, November 15, 2012

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.



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

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

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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.

Monday, November 12, 2012

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. 



Sunday, November 11, 2012

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.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

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.

Friday, November 9, 2012

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
                                                                                          
                                                                                                     

                                                                                                         

Thursday, November 8, 2012

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."

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

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. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

White Rose Swirl

In the soft light 
Of morning
A rose bud unfurls,
Uncurls,
Untwirls,
Into swirls 
Of soft vanilla satin.

Monday, November 5, 2012

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.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

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.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

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, 
work of 
heart.

Friday, November 2, 2012

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.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

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.