OSI: A Winter's Day

King Mountain Winter by Kathie Brown 1999 Acrylic on Canvas

King Mountain, Blue Solstice

Winter blue shadows fall
On golden left over grass
Evergreen ribbons drape mountain shoulders,
While gray clouds train across the valley
Chugging through the pass,
Just another winter’s day in Idaho,
Just another day to be alive
Just another winter of color
Trapped in the snow’s prisms,
In the fractured flakes melting
In the high mountain desert
Of the Pashimeroi Range,
One short day before
Hope returns with the sun.

~Kathie Adams Brown (December 21, 2008)

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Christmas Nana

Christmas Mouse 1998 by Kathie Brown Acrylic on posterboard

I love to go to Nana’s house
at happy Christmas time
I love to eat the turkey
And smell the Christmas pine
I love to see her smile
And bustle round the house
Making everything just perfect
For each grandchild and each spouse
And though my Nana’s little,
Only ’bout five foot tall
Her heart is quite enormous
Filled with love for one and all!

~Kathie Adams Brown (1985)

Skywatch Friday: Swainson's Hawk

Swainson's Hawk, Acrylic on canvas paper 9" x 12" by Kathiesbirds

Blue sky, brisk air,
An autumn gathering of raptors
Over green agricultural fields
Where raptors walk like chickens
On-the-ground,
And fill the hedgerows like blackbirds
With branches sagging from the weight of it all,
And the sky above full of feathered bodies
circling, circling, circling,
All in restless waiting
For the flight south to wintering grounds
There’s safety in numbers
Until you come home
In spring.

~Kathie Adams Brown (11-13-08)

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Visit my other Skywatch Friday post

Bird on a Wire at Sycamore Canyon.

Halloween Night!

The spiders come creeping,

the snakes turn around,

the witches are brewing

their brew in the ground,

while pumpkins roll downhill

and goblins cause fright

the children are coming

it's Halloween Night!

~Kathie Adams Brown (1975)

Paralyzed

If I move through this fluid world
I am caught in a cast iron pose
These rigid arms and legs
A never ending reminder
Of movement.

~Kathie Adams Brown (10-19-08)

One Single Impression Prompt 34: Never Ending

Cast Iron Ballerina Painting Acylic on Canvas by Kathie Adams Brown 2005

OSI: The Harbinger of Night

Great Horned Owl photo by Kathie Adams Brown 8-8-08

In dusky light I walk

my dog tethered to me

the desert landscape spread before me

like a thorny blanket

when the hooting of an owl

calls to me from the canyon.

Below me in the twilight

with a half moon rising

on silent wings the dark bulk flies

up into desert skies

and lands on a Palo Verde tree

less than fifty feet from me

rotating its horned and feathered head

it locks amber eyes on my frozen form,

while the dog tugs impatiently on the leash.

I stand breathless and silent

with the desert chorus singing

their nighttime lullaby

--whit WHEET! the trasher,

--tink, tink, tink, the black-throated sparrow,

--squeak! squeak! squeak! the Gila woodpecker,

and while the cactus wren cackles and scolds from the cholla cactus,

The owl and I stare each other down

as minutes pass like desert gnats,

until the harbinger of night

lifts off on ponderous and silent wings

and flies away with my breath.

~Kathie Adams Brown (October 7, 2008)

One Single Impression Prompt 32: Serendipity

Eight Belles

Eight Belles shining in the Kentucky sun,
Eight Belles waiting for a mighty run.

The bell sounded,
the gates flung wide,
Eight bells matched the boys,
stride for stride,
‘till one Big Brown pulled ahead,
--a big brown colt with a big pounding heart.
and Eight Bells on delicate legs
threw her heart after him
threw her heart into the wind,
her long black legs reached for the sky
and as Big Brown crossed the finish line,
her black legs cracked on the sandy earth
where she tried to fly. Her-

--pounding heart,
--beating heart,
--throbbing heart,

couldn’t pulse
those broken legs

on Kentucky Derby day

Eight Belles bleeding in the Kentucky sun,
Eight Belles made her final run.


~Kathie Adams Brown (May 4, 2008)

One Single Impression

Prompt 31: Fleeting

Skywatch Friday: God's Eyes

Starry Sky painting by Kathiesbirds acrylic on canvas 9-25-08

Is God up there in that starry sky?
Is he gazing down on me?
When I look up in midnight blue
Can I see his eyes
in starry skies?


~Kathiesbirds (July 25, 2008)



To see more views of the Sky visit Skywatch Friday.


Please Visit Sycamore Canyon to see my other Skywatch post Monsoon Night.


To read about what inspired this painting visit A Gentle Morning.

Skywatch Friday: Idaho Autumn

King Mountain Autumn acrylic on canvas 1999 by Kathiesbirds

One Single Impression: Autumn

In the Big Lost River Valley
a golden mantle is
thrown across the land
with the sweet scent of drying hay,
and damp cottonwood leaves
tossed like coins along dry creek beds,
where soft amber light shimmers
on the rugged shoulders of King Mountain,
Autumn comes to Idaho as a golden event.
~Kathiesbirds (September 18, 2008)



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Visit Sycamore Canyon to view a my other Skywatch post: Raven Chasing a Redtailed Hawk

Skywatch Friday: The Moon is a Pearl

Like the inside of an oyster shell
The dark skies open
Revealing the slippery flesh
Of parting clouds
Revealing the pearl
The glowing orb
Luminescent and full
In her monthly glory
One night and day
Before she slowly dissolves
Into darkness
And forms again.
~kathiesbirds ( September 11, 2008)

Visit Skywatch Friday to see more awesome views of our marvelous skies from around the world.

Click on the link to see The Dancing Cloud at Sycamore Canyon.

OSI Prompt 28:Defenses Down

You caught me with my defenses down and blogged into my life,
We laughed, shared poems, became friends,
I thought we connected
Became kindred spirits—
You spurred me on
To poetry
To creativity
To life
I always hoped I meet you
One day but,
You withdrew your presence,
And refused to speak to me
And I wonder what unknown offense I have committed
To be cast out this way.
The sadness I feel lingers
like a stale odor in my brain--
You caught me with my defenses down,
I will not be caught again.
~Kathiesbirds (September 8, 2008)

Throw Me Into The Fire

Thunderheads build behind the Santa Rita Mountains

Click to enlarge for a better view

Throw me into the fire
of a boiling monsoon sky,
where thunderheads build
behind dry mountain peaks
to pour down rain
on my parched soul,
throw me into the fire
of that boiling, roiling sky,
where I can feel my heartbeat,
where I can feel my soul stir,
where I can learn to fly--
let it burn away the excess
of a sedentary life
and fill me to overflowing
with passion and desire,
so throw me into the fire
of this consuming sky.

~kathiesbirds (September 4, 2008)

One Single Impression: Spectacle




To view more Skywatch Friday photos click on the button above.
Visit Sycamore Canyon to see my other Skywatch Friday post, Hummingbird Reflections.

Photographer's Note: Photo by Kathiesbirds with the Nikon D80 2008/08/15 19:11:27.9; Lens: VR 70-300mm; F/4.5-5.6 G Focal Length: 170mm; 1/125 sec - F/5

Skywatch Friday: High in the Mountains

Gardner Canyon, Sonoita, AZ 8-17-08

High in the mountains where I want to be
the morning sunlight falls on me
and casts a softly slanting light
across the meadow after night,
when dew drops twinkle in the day,
the stars of heaven fall this way.
~Kathiesbirds (July 25, 2008)

View my other Skywatch Friday post at Sycamore Canyon.

Please visit Skywatch Friday to view other photos and to submit your own.

The Sky Above Me

(Rt. 83 Elgin, AZ, 8-3-08 photo by Kathie; click to enlarge, see shooting data below.)

The sky above me vaulted blue
umbrella under which I roam
on this earth—
this temporary home.

~Kathiesbirds (July 25, 2008)

Click on the Button to view other Skywatch photos, with thanks to our hosts, Tom, Sandy, Imac and Klaus!

To view my other Skywatch entry visit Sycamore Canyon.

Shooting Data: Nikon D80

2008/08/03 13:17:41.8

Lens: 18-70mm

F/3.5-4.5 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Digital Vari-Program: Landscape

1/250 sec - F/10

Skywatch Friday: OSI The Folly of a Summer's Sky

Wilson Lake in Wilton, Maine by Kathie 7-14-08 Nikon D80

We think of sunny summer,
but in Maine it’s endless blue,
with white clouds sailing
on a breath of wind
over silvery lakes
and shadowy ponds,
when winter seems a foolish thing
to think
about.

~kathiesbirds (August 7, 2008)

Shooting Data: Lens: 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5G Focal Length: 18mm/250 sec - F/10

Atmospheric Questions

(Mt. Fagan Sky July 26, 2008 Acrylic on Canvas by kathiesbirds)

Can I ever grasp this great expanse

this wide vault,

this atmosphere?

I reach to hold it to my breast,

I fling my arms towards emptiness.

Why do I want to gather it,

this wide expanse of openness?

~Kathiesbirds (July 25, 2008)

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Click on Sycamore Canyon to see my other Skywatch Friday post.

Winter Wind: Epilogue

Winter Wind blew
through each little crack,
through empty pockets.
Winter Wind blew snow
across the freshly plowed driveway
bringing harsh reality home.
winter wind blew us a-w-a-y- - - - - - -

~kathiesbirds (1997)

Epilogue: With Gus and I both attending college along with our oldest child and three more at home we were not able to buy the Yellow House. We moved out 2 days before Christmas into a rental home where we lived for the next 2 ½ years while we finished school. Money was tight and winter temperatures fell to -35F with wind-chills of -50F, but we survived and graduated from college and moved away from the frozen north. The Yellow House still stands on Rt. 1 in Westfield, though it is no longer yellow and part of the old barn has fallen down. I’m glad I lived there when I did. I hope you enjoyed my memories in art and poetry. There is more to this story and maybe someday I will tell it.

To view all the posts about the Yellow House click on the Yellow House label below or in the sidebar.

Apple Tree

Autumn swells
your branches full,
red blush jewels
on a green tapestry.
Little monkeys we
cling to branches plucking
sweetness for the winter.

~kathiesbirds (1997)

To view previous posts in this Series click on the links below:

Yellow House Post 1

Yellow House post 2

Yellow House post 3

Yellow House Post 4

Woodstove

Snuggling round the hearth,
heaps of blankets, books and kids,
Dog and kitty join us
in a circle of warmth
only a woodstove gives.

~kathiesbirds (copyright 1997)

To view previous posts in this series click on the links below:

Yellow House post 1

Yellow House post 2

Yellow House post 3

Pine Cone People

Pine cone people beneath the tree,
Pine cone faces smile up at me,
In this lonely meadow
standing up so tall
beneath your sagging branches
the pine cone people fall.

~Kathiesbirds (July 25, 2008)

Prompt 22: Faces

This is the third in a series of posts about the Yellow House.

Yellow House page 1

Yellow House page 2.

Stars Again

Stars again! Stars again!
I can see stars again!
No city lights—
just nature’s twinkle,
winkle, crinkle,
sparkling, darkling light!
at night!
Stars!

~kathiesbirds (1997)

Note: This is the second post in a series about the Yellow House in Westfield, Maine.

Skywatch Friday: The Yellow House

Introduction: Today's post if from a book I made about a short 4 month period that we lived in a little yellow house in Westfield, Maine. We had moved there in 1996 after Gus took a buyout from his company to attend college at the University of Maine in Presque Isle. While we hoped to buy the house and live there forever it was not to be, but the short time we lived there is full of rich memories. This is the first in a series of posts about life in the Yellow House. (All words and images are copyrighted by kathiesbirds 2008)

Dotted Swiss Memories

Sunsets in a kitchen window
washing supper remnants away
while children leap
through rose and gold light
dotted Swiss memories.

~kathiesbirds (copyright 1997)

Click on the button to view other Skywatch photos.

Go to Sycamore Canyon to see my other Skywatch entry.

Mythology 2000: OSI Prompt 20 Myth

Mythology 2000
Tinkerbell
had a dizzy spell
and fell,

While Peter Pan
in Neverland
was too busy
to notice.

And who believes
in Fairytales

these days.
They’ve mapped
the human genetic code

you say?
The mysteries are gone,

We’ve become gods,
until we realize
we can’t shut
Pandora’s Box.

~Kathiesbirds (autumn, 2000)

Skywatch Friday: King Mt. Summer's Blush

(King Mountain Summer in Idaho 1999 acrylic on Canvas by Kathiesbirds)

The setting summer sun
caresses the gentle slopes
of the Lost River Range
King Mountain blushes
behind fragrant stacks of gold--
summer bales of winter sustenance

~Kathiesbirds (July 3, 2008)

Skywatch Friday is hosted by Wiggers World

Click on the link to see a monsoon sky in Sycamore Canyon

Climbing Aster

The dawn rose
-an aster
with lavender sunrays
surrounding her
golden face.

~Kathiesbirds (July 2, 2008)

This poem was inspired by a photo of a Climbing Astor seen at Virtua Gallery by photographer Klaus Web.

The Old Barn

(New England Barn in my Memory; graphite on paper scketch 1997 by Kathie)

Through the doorway
of the old red barn
a memory lingers
in the fragrant bales
stacked to the ceiling,
while below in their
stanchions
the pungent odor of
milk and manure
rises from
black and white
cud-chewing contentment
on the hoof.

~Kathiesbirds (June 30, 2008)

My Grandfather

(Photo by Kathie, June 30, 2008 Nikon D80, sepia tone.)

He could fill a door frame
standing tall with his fedora,
leaning on his cane,
pipe between his mustached lips,
smoke curling around him
in a pungent hug.

I hold the old cane now
in my stucco southwest home
far from the doors of New England
and the good earth that he rests in
next to my nana
his only love.
~Kathiesbirds (June 30, 2008)

Happy Birthday Nana who would be 102 today if she were still alive.

Prompt 18: Doors

Skywatch Friday: Summer Solstice Moon

(Mt. Fagan with Summer Solstice Moonrise: pastel on paper by kathiesbirds June 2008)

A sliver of shining silver
slips from behind the stones,
the rocky, craggy, mountains,
and throws
silver light beams over the desert,
silver moon rays into the sky,
a glistening,
............glowing,
.....................moon balloon,
in a summer solstice sky.


~Kathiesbirds (June 18, 2008)
Skywatch Friday is hosted by Wigger's World
To view my other Skywatch post visit Sycamore Canyon.

The Silver Song of the Desert: OSI

The silver song of the desert,
from the black throat of a bird,
a sparrow sitting in sunlight
on an arid desert morn
perched near a cactus thorn
its melody floating around me,
its presence a mystery still,
this silvery voice in the desert
is calling me, calling me,
still.

~Kathiesbirds (June 22, 2008)

Prompt 17: Melody

Best Dressed Flowers In the Garden

The clematis is a bridal gown,

the spiderwort a hat,

the creeping thyme a chorus

asking of the weed, "what's that?"

~Kathiesbirds (6-20-08)

Once again I was inspired by someone else's blogpost. I wrote this one today after visiting Nature Girl's Blog. To see the photos that inspired this poem, click here.

Skywatch Friday: Shuttered

(Photo by Gus taken May, 2008 with Nikon D80)

In darkness I peer out

Through the shutters of my mind

To find a world of color

Playing in the sky.

~kathiesbirds (June 19, 2008)

Skywatch Friday is hosted by Wiggers World.

View my other Skywatch photo at Sycamore Canyon.

Purple Martin Home

Purple Martins and Saguaro photo by Kathie, June 12, 2008

Purple martins fly
wings that slice through azure sky
green saguaro home
~kathie (June 15, 2008)

One Single Impression prompt 16: Transience or Permanence.

Skywatch Friday: Things That Sway

(Photo by Kathie, June 12, 2008 6:23 p.m. MST)

I love things that sway in the wind;
The flowing grass,
The dancing trees,
The willow boughs,
The bamboo leaves,
All caught in a breeze,
Or windy gale,
Toss and sway
And sigh and shake,
Reflected in an azure lake--
Their fluid motions
Their restless leaves
Reflected in my inner sea.

~kathiesbirds (27 February 2008)

Purple Fountain Grass and Whirling Butterflies (guara).

To see other Skywatch photos please visit Wiggers World.

Skywatch Friday: Idaho, My Love

King Mountain in Spring painted by Kathiesbirds 3-18-99 Acrylic on Canvas

Idaho, wild Idaho,
I long for you so much!
You are in my heart
You are in my soul,
And I desire to be in you.
What is this hold you have on me?
Why this terrible love?
You are a place, just a place,
On earth.
You draw me as a lover,
With a love I’ve never known before.
Why do I feel this need
To be immersed in You?
I want your mountains surrounding me,
Your aspen trees,
Your golden sunlight.
I want your wild-ness.
I want your rivers pouring over me,
Your wildlife running through my eyes,
I want to see eagles playing in the skies
Once again.
I want the Sandhill Cranes to dance
In pastures near the cattle,
I want to see a pelican
Fly overhead at lunch,
Or Great- Horned Owls perched
On phone poles in the morning
When I am hanging wash out to dry
With potato fields beyond.
I want to see newborn lambs
Gamboling across the landscape,
Or bald-faced calves in spring,
Curled in the pastures
When I am driving into town
On highway 93.
Idaho, my Idaho,
How I love you, love you so,
When will I return my love
To my place of being?

~Kathiesbirds (March 28, 1998, revised June 5, 2008)

To see more Skywatch Friday photos visit Wigger's World.

Turtle Poem

Simply silly snoring turtles,

sunning on their sacred stones

‘till the turtles tumble into

waiting waters that are home.

~Kathiesbirds (June 4, 2008)

This poem was inspired by this photo posted by Chrisss at Tranquility Cove

And Mom Said We Could!

I remember a thunder storm

A day when we played in the mud

And Mom said we could!

I remember sliding,

Gliding in

Black sticky ooze,

And laughing, laughing,

All of us laughing,

And Mom said we could!

And my brothers

And sister and I

Were all one

In the fun

Of the sticky, black oozing mud,

And Mom said we could!

~kathiesbirds (12 May 1988)

Click here to view other poems from One Single Impression: Freedom

Skywatch Friday/The Temporary Dog

(Photo by taken by Kathie May 6, 2008 @ 5:32 p.m. with Nikon D80)

The puff dog raised his cottony head
In skies of azure blue
And barked his vaporous bark to the world
Asking “who?” Asking “who?”
Who stops to look as the clouds float by?
Who see me in the sky?
I’m a temporary dog,
I won’t last long,
Before I bark “Good-bye.”
Will you hear me bark
Will see me float
Away in skies of blue?
Then the wind came along
And he was gone with a song,
The puff dog, ghost dog, Boo!

~Kathiesbirds (May 30, 2008)


To see other Skywatch photos please visit our gracious host Old Wom Tigley at Wigger's World.

Moonlight Princess

(Painting by Kathie 1999 Acrylic on canvas)

Moonlight Princess

She peeps around the corner as the moon reaches its full height,
A strange tingling now posses her as her eyes drink in the sight,
The bluish glow it beckons her, the field is coaxing sweet,
with a glance to see that she’s alone, she rushes out and greets it.
A magic world it is to her, by virtue of the moon’s transforming power,
Everything glows mysteriously; every leaf, every stone, every flower.
She know with every trembling limb who she is and what she’s here for,
With a leap, a twirl and then a bob, she dances on the grassy floor.
The little princess of the night is calling to the stars
She dances with the wafting clouds, with Venus, Moon, and Mars.
The breeze soon joins the graceful dance, cavorting on the lawn,
It bends the trees and tossed leaves and whispers to a fawn.
The little fawn trembles too, basking in the Moon’s light,
and then as if beyond control its heels kick with delight!
Soon a rabbit joins in frisking; in unity they pirouette,
If the moon stayed up forever, they’d probably be there yet.
But fingers of sunlight soon start reaching
To draw back the curtain of the nighttime sky,
So rabbit, fawn and princess, must bid the moon good-bye.
As each one takes a final leap, a pirouette, plee or bow,
The day bursts full upon them; the moonlight—gone for now.
Yet they will wait most eagerly and mark each day, it’s true,
‘till 28 have come and gone and the Moon is at its full,
Then out in the field the rabbit will come, out of the woods, the fawn,
And out of the house the Moonlight Princess,
All to dance upon the lawn.

~Kathie Adams Brown (November 11, 1984)

Click on the links to see more Skywatch Friday photos hosted by Wiggers World.

Desert Cathedral: Skywatch Friday

(Photo taken Feb. 4, 2008 by Kathie with a Nikon Coolpix)

Desert Cathedral

A gossamer sky
Filters winter sunlight
Upon singing choirs
In feathered gowns
Who float through
Creosote scented
Spiky cholla cathedrals
The black-throated bell choir
Sends their tinkling sound
Over mesquite, prickly pear,
and hackberry covered slopes
With saguaro sentinels standing guard
over the rocky wash
where bobbers dance
and trill,
Here in the gossamer
Winter light—
music.

~Kathiesibrds (Jan. 1, 2008)

This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday hosted by Wiggers World Be sure to visit for links to other Skywatch photos.

Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

Swift, magnificent

Running, enduring, winning,

Winner, star—dobbin, plug,

Pulling, straining, dying,

Old, forgotten,

Nag.

~Kathiebirds (October 1, 1974)

Memories

(Plaster sculpture by Kathie 1998)

Memories are shadows that cling to your thoughts,
Memories are ghosts that know no time,
Haunting you day and night.
Memories are clouds that block out the sun,
The fog in the morning,
The mist on the lake.
Memories are the wind, rushing in,
Disturbing the cobwebs
And rushing out again.
Memories are a never ending record,
Repeating, repeating,
Teasing, laughing, convicting,
An endless echo of times gone by.




~Kathie (11-7-74)

How I Discovered a Poem in my Pocket

I carried a poem in my pocket,
but first it started inside,
as a feeling rolling around
In the dust of my vacant mind
where it collected adjectives and adverbs
to go with the numerous nouns
until it burst from my brain in the morning
and spilled all these words on the ground!
I used this blank piece of paper
To wipe the mess from the floor
Then I stuffed this poem in my pocket
before I walked out the door.
~Kathie (21 April 2008)

Poem In Your Pocket Day