a poem in my pocket

listen as darkness falls

27 Jul 2019 20 Comments

by lynn__ in Uncategorized Tags: barn, birds, corn, crickets, lightning bugs, moon, stars

Listen to silent barn; cattle chores
finished when farmer turns out light
as darkness falls.

Listen to busy crickets, fiddle
incessantly from damp ditch grass
as darkness falls.

Listen to tall corn grow, stretching
and squeaking to whorled height
as darkness falls.

Listen to lightning bug wings
chirr while rising to spark new mate
as darkness falls.

Listen to killdeer warn their
nestlings to huddle in feather bed
as darkness falls.

Listen to far stars, singing ancient
alien lullaby with grandmother moon
as darkness falls.

A pastoral poem in six tercets, patterned after Jane Kenyon’s “Let Evening Come” and linked to Kim’s mini challenge at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads.

how to ride a heat wave

25 Jul 2019 2 Comments

by lynn__ in fusion haiku, troiku Tags: camp, hikers, mountain, picnic, skies, sun, willow

Create a fusion haiku from these 2 classics, then write a troiku for CDHK…

blue autumn skies
folded into mountains
purple shadow

such a hot day
my shadow needs to cool down
under the willow

my “fusion” haiku:

cloudless sapphire skies
sun casts shadows of heatwave
mountain willow shade

my “troiku” series:

cloudless sapphire skies
left camp early to climb peak
perfect summer day

sun casting shadows
of hikers on rocky path
break into a sweat

mountain willow shade
rest to unpack picnic lunch
inhale alpine air

hot concrete

25 Jul 2019 2 Comments

by lynn__ in magnetic Tags: angel, born, child, ghost, prisoner, sister, universe

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 4.37.51 AM

Playing with magnetic poetry online (poet kit) and thinking of sister I never met, miscarried years ago…used words given at first try.

movement of life

23 Jul 2019 18 Comments

by lynn__ in free verse Tags: calf, foal, infant, live, monarch, movement, seed

salmon flash upstream

an urgency to breed

eggs float underwater

seed coat splits open

sprout pierces into light

leaf nodes bulge green

ripe chrysalis rips gently

wet monarch emerges

stretches sticky wings

moment of conception

multiple cell divisions

quickening in her womb

strong uterine contractions

now little hooves appear

cow licks fresh calf

mare wickers softly

new foal stands wobbly

searching for teat

chubby babe rolls over

sits up with support

takes first steps to daddy

Linking to dVerse poetics where Amaya invites us to write about movement…

crow on branch

23 Jul 2019 Leave a comment

by lynn__ in classical haiku Tags: autumn, branch, crow, flies

Chevrefeuille at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai offers us a beautiful haiku by renowned Japanese poet Matsuo Basho to “photoshop” (tweak) a little. Here’s my attempt:

kare eda ni karasu no tomarikeri aki no kure

on a bare branch
a crow has stopped
autumn dusk

bare tree branch sways with

dark crow’s weighty silhouette

autumn flies away

Crow

hashi-i

22 Jul 2019 2 Comments

by lynn__ in classical haiku, haiku Tags: book, cooling off, iced-tea, porch, sumac, summer

Linking to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai with this tanka…

sip book and iced tea

late summer sumac turns red

cooling off…on porch

sinking into old stuffed couch

before school begins again

climate change

17 Jul 2019 13 Comments

by lynn__ in quadrille, quote, scripture Tags: climate, earth, green, life, light, planet, sun, war

I’m linking this “sun/Son” quadrille (44 words) to dVerse Poets pub where we’re diving into the subject of climate crisis this week…

powerful star
commands our
entire system solar

glorious light
shines too bright
for human sight

his light maintains
so life sustains
planet’s green plains

will we war
for what we adore?
been done before

apostasy done
spiritual war won
when earth falls into sun

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psalm 2:12 KJV)