Nature

Illuminating

The way the morning sun comes over the house
Illuminating, actually floodlighting, the tallest lean tree
Guarding the edge of the yard tucked close to the fence
The growing glow marks the morning’s progress
I’m not sure how to capture the spectacular slash of light
Brilliant heat cutting a diagonal across the solid trunk
Late spring mornings I watch this light show play out
The captivating spotlight shifts and dazzles
Lighting up branch after green leaf branch
A focused deliberate crawl of yellow light
Stooping lower, passing across rough bark
Nature’s clock, finally touching grass

Yearning Perfection

The naked figure is perfection in its twisted reaching
Thick solid timber creates parenthesis and crooked
Slingshot shapes arching from the enormous gnarled
Trunk squatting husky while countless tiny branches
Shoot in a thousand divers directions each striving
Wand stretching toward the enormous gray white forever
The exposed hulking giant’s adornment long overdue
Impatiently waiting overwhelming shame percolates
Longing bursting buds yearning luscious leafy green
Pining for change craggy perfection looms insufficient

Prospect Park Morning

The long-haired boy in the orange Patagonia jacket
lithely climbed the jungle jim while the gray haired
Father scrolled the emails on his phone occasionally
Glancing at the baby brother tucked tightly in the
Close-by stroller parked next to the father’s green
Bench in Prospect Park on the sunny Sunday morning

The long-haired woman in the red flowered dress
firmly massaged her boyfriend’s head resting gently
On her lap the skirt of the dress flowing over the
Blanket her eyes closed as her fingers kneaded
his eyes closed as he hugged a brown arm around
her stretched-out leg on the sunny Sunday morning

The long-haired man in the brown Nehru collar shirt
Stood barefoot under a quiet tree with no one near
Raising his arms arching slowly saluting the sun
Then stooping low to the ground brushing his
fingertips along the grass starting the sequence
over breathing in on the sunny Sunday morning

Lonely Late Departure

The judgmental might call her
The Patron Saint of Liars
But to those who knew her
BossyPants was far more accurate
Her determination was unmistakable
And people scurried to clear a path
As she set her destination on
Yosemite by way of The Bean Tree
Lacing one Blue Shoe at a time
She harnessed The Power of Focus
Head down she missed noticing
The shimmering Moon Light in Snow
At her lonely late departure
“I’ll forget My Life So Far”
She thought as she took the
First crunchy unknown step

Today’s poem was prompted by book
titles from a shelf in my house.
There are eight titles included.

Between

Between the car and the house
Forsythia is glowing gold tonight
Stretching the driveway’s length
Enveloping the split rail poking
From the hedge’s rough tawny end
Signaling its yellow days are short

Sad willow laments fading yellow
Casting shadows of grief with
Elegant pistachio whip branches
Dripping invisible soaking tears
Quenching thirsty grass greening
By equal degrees as yellow fades

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Sun-Spots

I return to my regular sunset spot
Cold for early April bundled in down
Layers on layers loving the cold air wind
Bracing my face as spots fill my vision
From bright sun staring waiting waiting
The fresh green leaf buds on low
Hanging branches exciting my heart
Beyond the fence rolling hill meadow
Glows periwinkle with fresh spring carpet
White brushed on clouds frame sinking
Orange flare I’m suddenly conscious of
Stereo birdsong filling the thin crisp air
As beams cast huge shadows a distant white
Horse trots uphill ambling like a polar bear
I smile my sun-spot filled eyes deceive
I stand quiet waiting waiting silent still
As the last erupting orange bit dissolves

Evening Glow

“I know you are tired and hungry,
But there’s an amazing sunset
Glow out there” I follow her
Gaze through bright-lit window
My camera was in the bag
I was tired and hungry
But the golden orange sunset
Glow bisected the trees across
The street a diagonal slash
Above burning bright gray
Brown shade below that border
Topped by a glow of searing fire
My camera and me outside