Spring Haze

Moving down the road

Like a bird in flight

Colors flashing by

Sprinkled with sunlight

All becomes a blur

Whizzing quickly by me

In a flowered haze

Of blossoms and new leaves

Lavender and gold

Chartreuse green and lime

Cranberry red maple blooms

Set against the pines

All against a sky

Of blue beyond all blues,

While woolly clouds scamper

Over all these brilliant hues

I find the springtime haze

Makes me feel so high

It sets my mind aflame,

It makes me feel alive!

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 19, 2015)

Not the best artwork, but I was having fun!

Christina's World

Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth

Is the world all bleak and gray, Christina,

Is there not a spot of joy?

Does all elude your legs?

Yet in your fingertips do you not feel the damp earth

In a way unknown to most?

Can you not smell the years of decay that bring forth life?

I see you looking up the hill,

Is there longing in the twist of your body…

Or acceptance of your lot in life?

What do you know, dear Christina, that most of us do not?

What can I learn from you and your world, Christina?

Can your weak legs open my eyes?

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 1, 2014)

*an ekphrastic poem-a poem inspired by or about a work of art

NaPoWriMo 2014

My Mother's Painting

She let me pick the one I wanted

I liked the way she painted the pond,

the grasses and the rolling hills,

and the small red barn along the hedgerow.

I have never seen this place,

Yet it is everyplace I played

as a child.

It is the pond where my siblings and I

fed bread to small fishes,

It is the barn behind my grandparent’s house,

Those are the hills I ran upon,

that is the tree I climbed,

It is a collection of all the places

--from my childhood,

--from my memory,

--from her paintbrush

--to my heart.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 1, 2013)

A Friend Indeed

Detail of a painting by Heather Heath

A friend in need is a friend indeed

At least that’s what they say,

But a friend to me is like a weed

That blooms most every day

They hang around, they pay me heed,

In what I do or say,

That’s how I like a friend to be

A friend that I let close to me.

I like a friend that will be true

I like a friend who makes me tea

A friend to trust and to pull through,

A friend who listens to my pleas,

And when I’m feeling sad or blue

I like a friend who laughs with me.

That’s how I like a friend to be,

A friend who I let close to me.

True friends know acceptance is the game

Yet they will tell you when you’re wrong

They never will forget your name

And when you sing they sing along

It doesn’t matter if there’s pain

They sing the notes in any song.

That’s how I like a friend to be,

A friend that I let close to me.

But friendship is a street for two,

I’ll not forget this thing,

I will be a good friend too

And we don’t have to sing,

We just have to muddle through,

And let our hearts take wing,

'Cause friendship doesn’t happen every other day

It really is quite precious, that’s all I have to say!

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 8, 2013)

NaPoWriMo2013 Day 8

The Artist in Me

There is an artist in me,

A stirring in my soul, a creativity I need to indulge,

So why do I deny it?

Art must be honored,

Preserved,

Expressed.

I will find my way out there,

And inward,

To that busy place,

Quiet place,

Active place

Of creativity.

~Kathie Adams Brown (October 5, 2011)


OSI Promt 188: Language

Ghosts in the Forest (Inspired by Debby Kaspari's Art)

Ancient dreams
ancient bones
old stones
forgotten memories
linger in the mist
wafting through the trees
reaching through the ages
to tickle our brains
with questions
and musings
and curiosity
until the stories pile
bone on bone or
stone on stone
and an image is formed
of what was,
what is, and
what will be.

~Kathie Adams Brown (February 25, 2011)

Inspired by the paintings of Debby Kaspari The Ghosts in the Forest

The Birds of Christmas

Christmas Cardinal painting 2006

Lo the birds of Christmas

are searching for some seeds

on winter's frosty mornings

so remember nature's needs,

and toss a little fodder

to our feathered friends

in thankfulness for songs they sing

when this long winter ends.

~Kathie Adams Brown (December 9, 2004)

The Colors of Christmas

Brown Creeper

Brown Creeper 10-11-09 by Kathiesbirds

graphite and prisma color on paper.

My talisman arrived in autumn
On cryptic wings
Clinging
To the rough bark of a pine
Creeping
Up the solid girth
On tiny feet
With curved beak
Probing
In dark crevices
For that juicy morsel
That food, that sustenance
To carry us through winter
A plain bird
A subtle thing
It brought me life
On cryptic wings.

~Kathie Adams Brown (10-11-09)

OSI Prompt: Talisman

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)

(Click on the button for more poetry.)

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)

( Click on badge)

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

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)



Click on the link to view more Skywatch Friday photos.


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

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)

Click on the button to view more Skywatch Friday photos.

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.