We’re making great time but
I notice
off to my right a gravel road
forsakes
this busy highway
and curves
through a gentle valley,
disappears
at times behind golden grain,
circles
scatterings of would-be
willow forest–
if abundant rain would only fall–
and loops
over an autumn-dusted hill.
Wise little road,
it chooses
to roam among topaz fields
while we harried travelers
zoom endlessly
through life on super highways,
missing
something more important.
Tag: Poetry
Haiku Smiles
a good joke ripples
along every balcony
party line
our calico cat’s
new batch of kittens
licorice allsorts
wolf, wolf, wolf!
the boy cries and folks stop, stop, stop
listening
huckster’s free pens
for the listening crowd
sign here
Songs on the Trail
Waskesiu Lake trail
northern lights sizzle
across the heavens
Waskesiu Lake is located in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan, Canada. The word means red deer or elk, in the Cree language.
wild wind thrashes the tree limbs above our sore necks
woodland notes
a screaming jay
protests our intrusion
Not every sound you hear in the woods is welcoming and soothing.
My Aunt’s Bonnet
A smile for you this morning. 🙂
My Aunt’s Bonnet
by Edgar A. Guest
They say life’s simple — but I don’t know. Who can tell where a word will go? Or how many hopes will rise and fall with the weakest brick in the cellar wall? Or how many hearts will break and bleed as the result of one careless deed? Why, my old Aunt’s bonnet caused more dismay than a thousand suns could shine away. She wore it high through her top-knot pinned, a perfect kite for a heavy wind, but the hat would stick, though a gale might blow, if she found the place where the pins should go. One Sunday morning she dressed in haste, she hadn’t a minute which she could waste, she’d be late for church. Now the tale begins: she didn’t take care with those bonnet pins. Oh the wind it howled, and the wind it blew and away from her head that bonnet flew! It swirled up straight to select its course, first brushing the ears of the deacon’s horse. With a leap he scampered away in fright and scattered the children, left and right. A stranger grabbed for the horse’s head, but stumbled and fractured his own instead. After the bonnet a small boy ran, knocked over a woman and tripped a man. The deacon’s daughter married the chap who rescued her from the swaying trap. And she lived to regret it later on; In all that town there abided none whose life wasn’t changed on that dreadful day when my old Aunt’s bonnet was blown away. Some were crippled and some went mad, some turned saintly and some turned bad; birth and marriage and death and pain were all swept down in that bonnet’s train. Wives quarreled with husbands! I can’t relate the endless tricks which were played by fate. There are folk today who had not been born had my Aunt stayed home on that Sunday morn. From the book, Collected Verse of Edgar A. Guest, ©1934 by the Reilly & Lee Co
A New Plan
Good evening, dear readers. It has been my habit to turn on my computer as soon as I get up. First off I check the daily prompts and notifications from blogs I follow. For some reason “just a quick peek” at incoming e-mails ends up taking a good part of my morning. Who’d have guessed?
My energy level isn’t really high these days so, in order to finish my work-in-progress and do some serious housecleaning, I’m trying a new daily plan this coming week. I’ve already scheduled some posts for 8 or 8:30 am but I’m going to leave my internet alone until evening. Going online first thing will be a tough habit to break. Will I succeed or won’t I? But I fear unless I make some drastic change, my important writing may never get finished.
Now for some things more interesting than work habits. It may be -21 C as I type this, and the predicted high tomorrow is -22 C, but we can always dream of spring.
Cherry Trees Glorious cherry trees! Blossoms burst forth in spring to animate the bees, inspire a thousand poets, intoxicate the breeze. Where would this old world be without those cherry trees?
Interesting nature note from our yard:
I often toss organic kitchen trash like peelings, limp greens, carrots and such, into the poplar trees on the west side of our driveway. After all, these bits are biodegradable. Yesterday I tossed a sweet potato well past its prime — and flushed out a white rabbit. It didn’t flee in terror, rather hopped into the nearby field and seemed to be waiting. I wonder if this bunny has been dining on the greens I toss?
Embrace the Good Side
The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is MAGNIFY. And here’s an old-fashioned poem as my response:
The Magnifying Sprite There’s an evil little spirit and his chiefest job, it seems is to magnify the faults of friends, the folly of their dreams. He likes to sow suspicion and amplify each doubt. If ever some good deed is done he points each fault line out It thrills him to sow discord and woe among mankind, to tinge all praise with shadow, each nasty nuance find. To shun this spiteful spirit, let his allusions slide, and focus on the good in folks, the magnifier’s other side.
