Liquidambar styraciflua
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Snow boots near spiky fruits
Seeds far from the capsules by now
Dropped in turds spread by birds
Away from the blades of a plow
Just the shell where it fell
After tumbling from a bough
debris under a tree
But still helping with life somehow
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Naturette
8 lines with the following rhyme scheme and (syllable count) about small finds in nature.
AA(6)
B (8)
CC (6)
B (8)
DD (6)
B (8)
EE (6)
B (8)
Root System Morphology of Oregon White Oak on a Glacial Outwash Soil
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Deep tap root with fire
And poorly drained soils, gravel
Creates laterals
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A Sciku
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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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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“The woods is shining this morning
Red, gold and green, the leaves
Lie on the ground, or fall
Or hang full of light in the air still.”
~ from “Grace” by Wendell Berry
——————————————————–
The woods is shining this morning
A little bit less from above
A little bit more from below
First hard frost causing the inversion
*
Red, gold, and green the leaves
Have finally fallen carpeting
The lawn and last year’s leaves
The gold standing out, gleaming
*
Lie on the ground, or fall
Into the soft piles of leaves
Surrounded by colors, engulfed
By the scent of transition
*
Or hang full of light in the air still
From branches you’ve climbed to see
The leaves from afar, like you could
When they clung to the canopy
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(A Glosa Poem) inspired by
“Grace” by Wendell Berry
Komorebi
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I understand the Japanese
Have a word for the interplay of light and leaves
When the sunlight shines through the trees.
Why don’t we?
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(A Quatrain Poem)
(A Monorhyme Poem)
Psithurism
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They say this word is obsolete
But I don’t know how that can be
When it creates a thought complete
About the woods surrounding me
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(A Redondilla Poem)
(A Spanish Quatrain)
Katydid
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Nice try katydid but you are no leaf
Stick in cold pause in the October dawn
In slow motion until the cool is gone
Soaking in the sun’s rays for some relief
Up in the boughs you may never be seen
Down on the bark you’re the only thing green
This time of year the cool morning is brief
As sun steals the chill like a sly thief
You’re a target here now so green on the bark
Sure you were safe but it’s no longer dark
As the day brightens it’s nature’s belief
It’s time to conclude your chirps and your trills
Ending the night of adventures and thrills
‘Til dark katydid, go hide on a leaf
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Splitting Thoughts
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Here the dark dead cells of the tree are the strongest
It is no coincidence it is called heartwood
Tough while the softness around it is peeled apart
Many times the heartwood does not last the longest
Silently rotting leaving a void where strength once stood
Invisibly weakened by life, so goes the heart
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(An Italian Sestet)
Sight seeing
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Watching fireworks through the trees
Flying flames highlighting lobed leaves
With every burst nature’s revealed
Pulsing as the embers cartwheel
Safe from the rain beneath the boughs
*
Still able to see all the wows
*
Watching folks high-end to low-brow
What brings crowds to watch explosions?
They’d run from dynamite or guns
Colorful blasts get aaaahs and ooohs
Somehow these explosions amuse.
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(A Puente Poem)
A Picture and a Poem 