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