I spot the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o’-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.
-"theme in yellow" -carl sandburg 1878-1967
--
image credit: google images (vintage)
tunnel through nature
light to dark to light again
leads me to beauty.
—
“poetry is the tunnel at the end of the light.”
-j. patrick lewis
—
northside, ann arbor, michigan, usa
“oh, the summer night, has a smile of light,
and she sits on a sapphire throne.”
-bryan procter
—
huron river, ann arbor, michigan, usa
water
Everything on the earth bristled,
the bramble pricked
and the green thread nibbled away,
the petal fell,
falling until the only flower was the falling itself.
Water is another matter,
has no direction but its own bright grace,
runs through all imaginable colors,
takes limpid lessons from stone,
and in those functionings plays out
the unrealized ambitions of the foam.
Pablo Neruda
—
killarney, ireland
when a kinder
in my class
asked me
to show her
how to spell
these words
it was
because
she was
writing
a
birthday card
for her
mother
and
there
could be
no finer gift
than
this
beautiful
poem of love
she created.
our perfect day
set out on an adventure
shared by
kindred spirits
–
up to the top
of the
empire state building
–
both had always wanted to
never had –
found our chance
–
saw it and looked
in amazement
at the world around us
–
next stop
a favorite park
playing in the autumn sun
–
sat by the water
talked about life
all the important things
–
scooby doo, spiderman,
stuffed monkeys,
people we love,
holidays, colors,
magic, fairies
–
calm and peaceful
took coins
kissed them and made wishes
–
tossed them in
watched them sink
as ripples moved
away from them
–
he asked me
what is your wish?
i shared
–
breaking the code of secrecy
that goes with all wishes
just this once
for this very special reason
–
my wish –
that you never feel sick again
(it’s been 2 long years)
and that we will share so many, many
perfect days
together
just like this one
–
i asked him
what is your wish?
he shared
breaking the rules
just this once
–
his wish
so powerful
i sat
just listening
–
tumbling
from the lips of
this 5 year old boy
who has endured
so much more
than most adults
in their entire lifetime
ever will
–
old soul trapped in a child’s body
his wish
was
the most amazing response
–
my wish
he said
in that most innocent of voices
is that all of YOUR wishes come true
–
we sat
in silence
looking at each other
both understanding
this would be our last perfect day together
–
we knew
these were our gifts
to each other
that we would always keep
–
gifts given
in their purest form
each only
for the other
–
we shared a moment
now held within us forever
on this,
our perfect day.
–
dedicated to my nephew h, who passed away soon after, (november 1, 2006), on a perfect autumn day.
–
|
|
I didn't have my glasses on.... 