Winterizing
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So clever are these furry squirrels
Tails twitch, swirl, gathering food
So rude, around branches they twirl
Hurling leaves, nuts from altitude
Barking with attitude, spunky
Chunky things, feeder invaders
Compost raiders, birdseed junkies
Charm school flunkies, hawk evaders.
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Burnt Sienna
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A new box of crayons waxy points undented
Deep in my mind the fragrance is cemented
It’s wasn’t until I saw a bald cypress tree in fall
That I had any idea what burnt sienna was at all
Detours out of thick black lines once lamented
In reality my vocabulary augmented
*
My world is colored by crayolas pigmented
Names partnered with hues gave me the wherewithal
To precisely describe my world big and small
Into my memory these colors are cemented.
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(A Sonnetina Quatro)
Taxodium distichum
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You think it’s dead but instead it’s going dormant
In summer scenes it looks evergreen, so tricky
*
Not a Christmas tree you see it’s deciduous
In winter’s glare it’s completely bare of needles
*
Unlike other trees it sends up knees for breathing
Found in swampy spots and parking lots it adapts
*
Round top is skyward bound, leaves cover ground gently
Bumper lode of spherical cones explode softly
*
A tree is waters dark and large parks, majestic
A tree of mystery and beauty, Bald Cypress
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Traditions
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Holidays roll around
Anticipated but always more quickly
Than you thought, and with them
Come an avalanche of rituals, customs, stories.
What is your tradition?
*
In all the chaos and stress
And all of the change-up of daily routine
What we do the same each year calms us in the chaos.
My calm is making cranberry orange bread from scratch
Hand chopping, hand mixing, warm and heart warming.
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(A Sonnetina Cinque)
Decisions
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Two roads diverged in a wintery wood
They will converge again with different tales
One trail to the creek, one between hardwoods
One should keep your feet dry, boulders to scale
Other entails wet rocks hops and strong deadwood
Each would be a challenge, now to pick a trail
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(A Wreathed Sestet with a nod to Robert Frost)
Tsuga canadensis
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Where there is now a nascent hemlock stand
A grand hemlock of many years once stood
Should you want to know the story of the land
Stumps are shorthand for rains and winds withstood
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Autumn Snowfall
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An autumn snowstorm has all the allure
Burgundy and golden leaves fall
With the unique snowflakes
A surprising
Artwork
Berserk
Mesmerizing
Looks like nature’s mistake
Colors mixed with no color at all
A collection of all nature’s grandeur
Consistently proving she’s not a bore
She just can’t help but to enthrall
Puts all the time she takes
Slowly devising
Field work
Fireworks
Emphasizing
The seasonal outbreaks
Bright sun, fall leaves, gray rains, snow squalls
An autumn snowstorm has all the allure.
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Pause
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On my morning commute
I stopped at the sign
Fleeting moments captured
*
Just like every damn day
But today was different
Translucent, transcendent
*
Just like every damn day
The sky was bright, so was the sign
Seconds stalled to permanence
*
As the frost slipped down
Revealing alarming red
Temporary forever
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Snowbirds
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Tracks in the snow let me know where you go
Gray squirrels run in circles throughout the woods
Near feeders the three-toed hops of junco
Woodpeckers pace up and down the ironwoods
Follow the heart-shaped tracks of buck and doe
We’re all leaving tracks through the neighborhood
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(A Sicilian Sestet)
Like the pine needles
Quieting every footstep
On the asphalt path
*
A long walk outside
Quiets the noise in my mind
In only moments
*
Needled evergreens
Buffer the sounds of the road
The park is peaceful
*
Gone from the office
Far from the water cooler
And daily grumbles
*
A needed lunchtime escape
Prepared for the afternoon
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(A Haiku Sonnet)
A Picture and a Poem 