put your words away
birch leaves are gone
redbud silent in cold rain
*
how brittle the red pine needles
even now in full green
next year’s cones waiting
*
one day to the next orange leaves
scarlet berries note the difference
in sky, a human smile
*
the poster says hug a tree
to lower blood pressure
feel striation or smoothness—also listen
there we sat, in air-conditioned classroom, crammed
into desks into rows; this tennis coach-teacher insistent
if not passionate about a dusty battle for glory fort, right
there still, in our hometown. living easy and far from that
rough bloody battle. except. we knew movie heroics,
lines in the sand. we knew how to wave a flag,
cheer the team, fear the other. still do
I recently ran across a contest prompt on the theme of San Antonio history, which sent me right back to 7th grade and the Alamo.
How profound we sound
with a ring of truth due to
stacks of letters behind our names
and piles of publications
lavish layers of authority, churning
of trite-tired words, but learning?
The world is flat
now that we know it all
our fleet of paper vessels set to sail
en masse, right off the edge
A “doubles” poem for NaPoWriMo Day 15, also borrowing from the word list prompt at Poetic Asides.
We breed them for calm
We hijack our own future
We will be buried
rows of standing sarsen stones
puzzling some other species
Practicing tanka for the Yeah Write September poetry slam. Also reading this article about stolen bees and this article about a new discovery near Stonehenge.
Graceful Press Poetry 