Out & Back Trails
Out and Back Trails through rocky woods
A chance to revisit challenge
Time to see beauty again
Ending where you began
Confronting past
Obstacles
Prepared
Now
January 17, 2021
Tag: woods
December 21
Winter
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Whose woods these are I think I know
One must have a mind of winter to regard the frost and the boughs of the pine-trees crusted with snow
On a clear winter’s evening the crescent moon and the round squirrels nest in the bare oak all equal planets
Thus having prepared their buds against a sure winter the wise trees stand sleeping in the cold
Suddenly, in every tree, an unseen nest where a mountain would be
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Lines from the following poems about winter:
Winter Trees – William Carlos Williams
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – Robert Frost
The Snow Man – Wallace Stevens
November 19
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)
November 18
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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November 15
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)
November 14
Winter Woods
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They’re wondering about the shine out there
Mourning the fall on this frosty morning
Bare gray branches are more than they can bear
Warning us winter came without warning
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No other season questions what you know
Wait while dormant branches support snow’s weight
So strong as below acorns gray squirrels sow
Ate one, shared one, then buried the next eight
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I know winter’s magic astounds the eye
Piece of the woods covered in snow brings peace
Sky blue birds migrate past in the blue sky
Geese in their way in the v-shape of geese
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Right now’s so stunning makes me want to write
Site’s so lovely it really is a site
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(A Shadow Sonnet)
May 30
Forget-Me-Nots
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Forget-Me-Nots
Delicate confetti
Covering green carpet in dots
Cheerful flowers
Bright spots.
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(A Pentastich Poem)
A Picture and a Poem 