Tag: month of sonnets

August 4

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Nature Distilled

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This scene is like something I’ve seen

Just look there’s a hare under there

And a tree with Medusa Hair

A sapphire diamond sky gleams

Soil layers serpentine

Giant blooms sent high in the air

Amazing life when roots aren’t there

It’s nature but there’s no green

Is that a partridge on the limb?

Not a pear so chances are slim

The wild we see distilled to shapes

It’s nature at the artist’s whim

Perhaps as the sun starts to dim

A fractured and compelling landscape.

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(French Sonnet)

August 19

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Vernonia noveboracensis

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Tall purple bloom of New York Ironweed

Perched atop towering stiff eight foot stalks

Up at the level where butterfly feed

Safe far above where the deer family walks

Providing so much that native bugs need

Putting small birds near the pathway of hawks.

Vernonia noveboracensis

Flower clouds loom over garden fences.

The perennial grows wild in fields

Flowering in late summer’s shortening days

Feeding migrating butterflies and birds

Pollen and nectar this native plant yields

And seeds upon which the songbirds will graze

Useful and pretty describe in two words.

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(An Italian Sonnet)

August 21

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Rainy Day

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All this month’s rain has my flowers flopping

Poorly drained soils now a slip and slide

From humidity there’s no place to hide

There’s fun to be found in puddle hopping

Endless gray skies show rain is not stopping

Cut sagging blooms sit in a vase inside

The radar show the storm’s coverage is wide

And outside just everything is sopping.

The cut flowers brighten the gloomy day

Providing sunshine when nature does not

Sound of the rain on the roof eases

For some the rain creates a time for play

And other time to get soup in the pot

For so many the gentle rain pleases.

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(An Italian Sonnet)

August 17

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Pawtuckaway Paddle

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Is there anything better than sunset

Viewed from a kayak on a quiet lake?

Not sure how much more lucky one gets

Being able to take this nature break.

Sunlight for exploring, there’s a ton yet

But people head in for their burgers and steak

Perhaps to care for a homebound fun pet

Leaving only me, the herons and drake.

Silhouettes and ripples and reflections

Take shape as the sun slowly yields to night

Bugs, frogs, and bird songs rise in perfection

And bat acrobatics start to delight.

It’s here I feel a natural connection

Made possible by the pending twilight.

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(A Sicilian Sonnet)

August 3

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Little Sister’s Getting Hitched

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Little sister’s engaged, oh happy day!

The cheer in her heart transcends cell phone waves

Tears run down my face replace words I can’t say

Hope and happiness alternate in waves

They compliment each other brilliantly

In teamwork and laughter their love shines through

Each wonderful, and wonderful as two

Challenges they will face resiliently

He being something quite special to this clan

Sarcasm and loyalty undeterred

And responsibility undeferred

A smart hard working military man

Oh how I wish them nothing but their dreams

And knowledge that life’s as great as it seems

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(A Burns Sonnet)

August 27

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Sweet Bait

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The candy is what they really want

Details don’t attract attention at all

Brochures just bore visitors to slumber

Advice is not why they made this jaunt

It’s sugar in forms of disc, bar and ball

That gets them towards my table to lumber

Like bait to attract what’s eating the hens

Saccharine gets them out of the woodwork

Otherwise they may never come to view

For sweets they’ll even bring their friends

Avoiding my eyes they grab with a smirk

Lots of candy gone, interactions few

I’m wondering if there’s a better way

To lure people in to hear what I say.

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(A Brisbane Sonnet attempt)

August 15

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Fallen Fungus

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Oh dear the mushroom has been uprooted

Some careless walking has it uprooted

It sure looks like it’s been hiking-booted

The soft pine needle ground buffered its fall

It’s squat, short and stout with not far to fall

Do you think the person noticed it at all?

Amazingly for this organism

This is not death for this organism

Regardless of our own barbarism

Miles of mycelium supporting

Acres of hyphae supporting

Nearly immune to human cavorting

Mushrooms will thrive long after we are gone

As extinct as the great mastodon

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(A Blues Sonnet)

August 25

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Hibiscus moscheutos

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Hibiscus flowers sparkle in the sun

Enormous blossoms undulate freely

Perennial and bold, astonishing

Like crepe, exquisite, splendid, delicate

Extraordinary and ordinary

Intensely colored designed for display

The bees can’t get enough pollen gold

And branches bend beneath the flowers’ heft

Each bloom’s display lasts only a day

But followed by another rapidly

The shriveled shuttlecock flowers tumble

To earth awaiting decomposition

As others take their places high above

Just filling the summer with amazing.

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(A Blank Verse Sonnet)

August 20

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Feathered Backyard Pets

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It’s hard when pets are companion to you

With chard they would be dinner for others

My yard is playpen for my feathered few

Regarded as farmyard to another

When one of my chicks has met her demise

The run no longer safe for happy hens

When fun has turned to tears escaping eyes

I’m done tamping the grave, sad once again

When wings and legs are menu selections

Crying over chickens is frowned upon

A thing to save for fuzzy affection

A sting allowed only when pets are gone

Adored as much as bowwow and meow

Therefore deserving of waterworks now.

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(A Beymorlin Sonnet)

August 5

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Fuzzy Planning

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Road trip dreams post work-day reality

Planning the vacation but not too much

Where might we bike hike kayak camp and such

So grateful for our commonality.

Work week starts and vacation brain sets in

With each passing day focus is lacking

Mind wanders to long days of backpacking

We can’t wait until the journey begins.

The week will go by too fast we are sure

Dreaming and planning extend our short break

Thinking of it each moment we’re awake

Oh, how many more workdays to endure?

We have maps and guides but won’t let them reign

There’s just one plan: to avoid the mundane.

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(An Australian Sonnet)