winter’s claws

Mish hosts OLN at dVerse…here’s my tanka for mini-prompt 🙂


husband grows older
cold weather, his nemesis
tiger in the snow
our new driveway faces north
he and snowblower…growling

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) created woodblock prints and paintings. Over his lengthy career, Hokusai produced over 30,000 pieces. Tigers became his subject matter in his final years and “Tiger in the Snow” may have been his final creation. (source: wikipedia.com)

french documentary

photo from getty images

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stags wander forest

storks build nest atop chimney

breathe blue mountain air

note to self

say “yes” to TODAY, here
with its possibilities and also
its impossibilities; accept our limits
and yet look beyond ourselves…yes!

say “yes” to LOVE, not only
being loved but being the lover
look around to see who needs you
stretch familiarly toward people…yes!

say “yes” to LIFE, the gift
to dwell in this present moment
we will pass through here but once
to engage with exuberance…oh, yes!

say “yes” to JOY, in your heart
have something to shine and share
spy beauty everywhere, all around
count blessings in little things…YES!


Linking to dVerse poetics where Merril encourages us to choose JOY (even on election day)!

decadence

rain soaks cold branches

red maple stripped bare of leaves

autumn’s fire quenched

perils of paradelle

free image from pexels

her ex’s birthday fell on halloween
her ex’s birthday fell on halloween
the road is scary place to fall in love
the road is scary place to fall in love
her halloween on road in scary fall
is place to fell the ex’s love birthday

to celebrate, they set up skeleton
to celebrate, they set up skeleton
upon front lawn with missing pumpkin head
upon front lawn with missing pumpkin head
they celebrate with pumpkin set upon
front skeleton missing lawn up to head

if truly dead, a monster will decay
if truly dead, a monster will decay
but souls may resurrect on all saints day
but souls may resurrect on all saints day
if dead souls but decay on monster day
truly a saint’s will resurrect all may

monster birthday upon ex’s dead lawn
may truly resurrect her soul’s skeleton
if missing head will celebrate all day
they set a place to saints on halloween
with in, all pumpkin love fell to decay
but fall is up front scary on the road!


NOTE: The paradelle is one of the more demanding French fixed forms, first appearing in the langue d’oc love poetry of the eleventh century. It is a poem of four six-line stanzas in which the first and second lines, as well as the third and fourth lines of the first three stanzas, must be identical. The fifth and sixth lines, which traditionally resolve these stanzas, must use all the words from the preceding lines and only those words. Similarly, the final stanza must use every word from all the preceding stanzas and only those words.

This was a spoof poetry form invented by Billy Collins and re-published on dVerse Poets by Grace.

standing on the promises

promises made to be broken?

passion’s romantic love turns cold

marriage vows end in divorce

friendships sometimes betrayed

how good is your word?

gossip gives slight exaggeration

everyone tells little white lies

who can be trusted?

God’s promises have always 

proven faithful and true.

______________________

What a blessing to hear my grand daughter, Anna, spontaneously sing the classic hymn, “Standing on the Promiseswhile playing at my house…of course, I joined in!

Linked to dVerse poets’ quadrilles prompt hosted by Lillian.

Can’t account for the unusual format…thanks to WordPress 🙂

God speaks in…

his world and word

his son and spirit

preaching and prophecy

truth and beauty

love and justice

surprise coincidences

faithful providences

miraculous signs

music of planets

rhythm of seasons

acts of service

suffering of martyrs

laughter of children

rustle of wind

rumble of thunder

lightning strike

roaring fire

quiet waters

gentle whispers

still small voice

…are you listening?

all fall down

Every fall, our family visits Oak Grove, a nearby park on the Sioux River. It covers five hundred plus acres of combined state and county conservation land with hiking trails, picnic areas, cabins and campsites. We park on top of the ridge and find a trail through the scrub oak trees to slowly make our way down to the river bottom.

The river flooded this past summer, changing the landscape. Sand and debris washed into the woodland, excavator tracks show where dirt has been redistributed and re-leveled. Ancient outcroppings of rose-tinted Sioux quartzite remain solidly undisturbed along the upper trail.

Reaching up, young cottonwoods glow golden in late afternoon. Scarlet sumac stunningly line the prairie grassland. The predominant oaks simply turn brown and drop large lobed leaves on the trail below their gnarly trunks. A few spruce and juniper stand green and ever verdant.

leaves blanket steep trail
hiker’s step crunches, slides on
dry patterns fallen

fatal question

Play online here: https://play.magneticpoetry.com/poem/Nature/kit/

meathead limerick trio

Hanging here at dVerse Poets Pub where Laura Bloomsbury suggests we count to three!

_______

i. meat

healthy protein in beef
may cause vegetarian grief
so by all means
do eat your beans
but for brain food, “carne” is chief!

ii. head

board at the top of your bed
or “mr. chairwoman,” it is said;
location of brain,
an ache or migraine,
if missing, you’re probably dead!

iii. meathead

favorite furry farm cat
slowly grows older and fat;
friendly neighbor,
as a big favor,
now nicknames feline that!

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equinox musings

We retired from full-time farming two years ago. My days are a bit slower now but my husband has been equally as busy as before with home remodel and landscaping. I help him as needed, babysit grandchildren when asked, and volunteer…finding a balance of work and leisure time.

The fall equinox in our hemisphere means equal hours of day and night. We enjoy equal parts cold and heat as sun shines brightly during the day but not as strongly. On my walk, I notice the prairie seems equally dead and alive…some plants bloom wildly in a last hurrah and others have dried brown, boasting seeds.

We reap what we sow and sow what we reap. The past holds seed for a future harvest. Darkness and light, cold and heat, planting and harvest, rest and work, life and death all have their seasons. The clock ticks, the calendar page turns, and another equinox passes.

milkweed pods burst silk

tiny seeds carried away

future monarch’s food

watering new grass…

_____________

curious robins

sit…wet, under sprinkler

free shower, fresh worms

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