Paper Wasp on Goldenrod
_____________________________________
It’s always a surprise to see
Not sure why I’m surprised to see
Wasps fly from flower to flower
– – – – – I am not scared
Is it the lack of hair that scares?
Slick pollinators causing dread
It’s always a surprise, you see
– – – – – I am not scared
Simply observe, no one gets stung
Evil’s in the beholder’s eye
Marvel at nature’s keen brilliance
– – – – – I am not scared
_____________________________________
(A Baccresieze Poem)
Fearful Cocoon of Ego
_____________________________________
Monarch butterfly floats
Flower to flower, over trees
Around leafy branches, between grass blades.
With feet on solid earth I watch afraid
I will never know gliding on the breeze.
But what if I devote
Time spent fearing to a mindful crusade
Each heartache a flower, I see
The plight as antidote.
In lieu of fear promote
Discomforts as a force esprit
All feelings as weightless escapade.
_____________________________________
A Bragi Poem inspired by Pema Chodron’s following words from The Places that Scare You:
“Although we have the potential to experience the freedom of a butterfly, we mysteriously prefer the small and fearful cocoon of ego.”
Sicyos angulatus
_____________________________________
The bur cucumber
Winds its way
Across fence lumber
Tendrils stray
*
An annual vine
On display
Hairy stems that twine
Prevent sway
*
Flowers licked by bees
On pathway
Spiny fruits don’t please
Deer today.
_____________________________________
(A Cromorna Poem)
Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
_____________________________________
The day autumn descends
On the northern hemisphere I wander
My favorite trail noticing the autumn colors just emerging.
Native wildflowers abuzz with bees and bugs and birds. Equally beautiful
Are the strangers to this forest, this meadow, this trail.
*
They’re beautiful but they’re destructive
*
These plants distract wildlife from the sustaining meal.
They colonize our woodlands.
Dominating our disturbed soils left after progress
Moved through. They’re controlled in their homelands
By soil fungus, airborne disease or leaf eating insects
But here along this trail as far as the eye can see they are unchecked.
To that eye untrained they are part of this splendid autumn landscape.
*
They are destructive but they are beautiful.
*
Cannot stop global trade introducing
These plants to our nature. Cannot
Eradicate the unwelcome guests like so many ants
To a spring kitchen. Cannot stop the birds with a new found taste
From feeding and dropping exotic seeds.
Cannot just breathe and take in the beauty?
*
They’re beautiful, but they’re destructive.
_____________________________________
(A Bop Poem)
Found along the sidewalk
_____________________________________
This smeared dagger moth
Caterpillar steadily
Chews hydrangea leaf
_____________________________________
(A haiku Poem)
Real or Reality
_____________________________________
Blank screen
Without it on I notice
The screech owl cooing in the dark quiet morning woods
The flimsy barrier of the screen door no resistance to the sound
And as the slightest hint of indigo
Begins to change the morning sky
Before any touch of golden sun appears
The barred owl also makes herself known
Echoing through the damp and still dark forest
As the dark, silent screen of the television
Reflects back to me my position
on the couch with morning tea
I can hear the faint content purr of Tom Cat
And feel his soft fur against my thigh
A small warm spot on this mild
Late summer morning
Another day beginning
As the golden enters the sky
A gentle breeze briefly causes the heavy dew to rain down
To the driveway from large leaves nearly ready to fall
With the spark of morning sun begins a chorus
First one loud clear voice above the constant din of katydid treble
Announcing the day has begun
Dozens more follow until the entire house and yard is filled with beginning
No power button just powerful.
_____________________________________
(An Idyll Poem)
Image from public domain
Nature Distilled
_____________________________________
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.
_____________________________________
Vernonia noveboracensis
_____________________________________
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.
_____________________________________
(An Italian Sonnet)
Correct by Chance
_____________________________________
Severe weather events
Flooding, blizzards, coating ice
Hurricanes, drought, pelting hail
*
Welcome weather events
Heatwave break, thundersnow, gentle soaking rains
Thunderstorms, inches of powder, clear starry skies
*
All of this happened … but not as you predicted
_____________________________________
(A Sevenling Poem)
Pawtuckaway Paddle
_____________________________________
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.
_____________________________________
(A Sicilian Sonnet)
A Picture and a Poem 