In the Desert Now

I am in the desert now,

In the soft low light of October,

But every now and then

I catch a glimpse of autumn color,

The remembered rainbow

Of the forest’s last fling,

And I think I hear the sweet autumn song

Of the white-throated sparrow,

Or the crunching of dried leaves beneath my feet.

Is that the scent of apples carried on the wind?

Can I really smell the memory of  

The first wood fire on the hearth?

But these are gossamer threads

Pulling me back to a place I have left behind.

I am in the desert now

Learning new rhythms to life and seasons,

I am learning new scents and sights and sounds,

The kestrel calls to me, the thrasher and the phainopepla,

It is the Say’s phoebe whose voice I hear at dawn.

I am learning a new melody,

Soon I will sing the desert’s song.

~Kathie Adams Brown (October 24, 2012)

Scarecrow

I am just a scarecrow dancing in the dark,

No one wants to play with me,

When I’m at the park,

It seems I am not like them,

I have a funny face,

I walk a different way,

I think at slower pace,

My stuffing’s always falling

Out upon the ground

And though my face is smiling

Inside I wear a frown,

Not because I’m angry,

But because I’m sad,

I only want to be included

In the group so bad,

So off in darkness is where I dance

Upon my secret stage

Where no one can deride me

For the games I play,

No sees the dance I do,

No one hears my song,

Still, I keep on singing,

In hopes that I’ll belong.

~Kathie Adams Brown (October 12, 2012)

• One Single Impression 
• Prompt 241: Scarecrow

The Song of the Say's Phoebe

I awoke to the song of a Say’s Phoebe

Calling me out to the dawn,

It pumped its tail while on the tall vent pipe,

It lifted its beak to the gray monsoon sky,

And as the sun broke through the wooly clouds

Suspended over the Rincon mountains

A single sunbeam reached out to caress

The soft gray breast of the bird who sang

with such a plaintive voice:

A plaintive voice,

--a  two-note sigh,

 I heard its longing

Fill the sky.

~Kathie Adams Brown (September 12, 2012)