Dark Shadows in the Trees

Grackles

Black shadows in the oak trees

Feathered lumps beneath russet leaves,

Do I really see you there

Or is my mind playing games?

Like dark thoughts in corners—will you stay,

Or fly away?

~kathie adams brown (November 3, 2014)

Branches and Twigs

All trees reach for the sky,

—each branch an arm,

—each arm a fork,

a split,

a fine-tuned divide,

becoming smaller, grayer, thinner.

Yet in each twig life-giving sap flows

to each twig tip, where leaves nestle,

and flowers and fruit lie curled as buds waiting

to grace the world with ripeness—an EXPLOSION

of form, shape and color,

the resulting scene a vibrant landscape

with ribbons of color and splashes of life.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 10, 2014)

Spring Song

The fields and forest call to me

I need to run and play

So many months and years have passed

Since I have been away.

The scent of new mown hay I need,

the color of ripening wheat,

the purple, green and blue of mountains

 rising strong and sweet,

the sight of newborn calves curled up,

in meadows in the spring,

the skylarks singing perched on fences—I know why they sing!

The trees that whisper in the breeze

beside a chattering brook,

an eagle soaring in the sky—I need to run and look!

Whether a full moon rising in a starry night,

or the fireball setting, shedding golden light,

God’s creation calls to me,

Oh! Let me run and see!

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 8, 1994)

• NaPoWriMo 2014

Colors in the Background

There are such colors in the background,

Hiding from our eyes,

while we focus on the thing we want

the colors pass us by

it is not until we stop and look

beyond what we can see

that other colors come to us

and set our spirits free.

~Kathie Adams Brown November 16, 2010

• NaPoWriMo 2014

Gold, Green and Gray Days

Covered Bridge at Devil's Hopyard State Park 6-29-2013

Gold, green and gray,

These are the days

Of early summer in New England

When the sun has yet to dominate,

And mosquitoes start to rise on clouds

From wet forests and flooded fields,

Where humidity turns into rain

And back again

In the ageless alchemy of water

and life

and emerald.

It is the time before the blazing days of summer

When everything starts to wither and wilt

And turn brown.

These are the gold, green, and gray days,

The pensive days, the dreaming days,

The remembering.

~Kathie Adams Brown (July 23, 2013)

With a Splash of Red Stayed my Fear Hiding

With a splash of red stayed my fear hiding

In a small black box

Before the dim dusk.

Four fat cats sat high and indifferent

And the cheerless self crawled behind.

Slower than the non-existent

The dawdling cruel thought

The gray common thought.

Still the self cowered at the black sky

While sweet harp music played behind.

Whisper through lips stayed my fear sliding

Sliding the spine up

Before the dim dusk.

Four fat cats sat high and indifferent

The towering trees cast shadows behind.

Thorny it’s not, like wide-eyed wakefulness

The fat ponderous thought

The slow sluggish thought.

There stood myself at a black mountain

The satisfied stone whispered again.

Rocks in heart stayed my fear hiding

The flat-lined heart kept me behind.

Brighter they’re not than comfortable life

The dull fat thoughts

The squat relaxed thoughts.

Still looming large over the red valley

The unfortunate self stifled again.

With a splash of red stayed my fear hiding

In a small black box

Before the dim dusk.

Four fat cats sat high and indifferent

Truth rose up and set me free!

~kathie adams brown (April 30, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

Prompt 30:  Rewrite a poem using words that mean the opposite

This poem is my version of the opposite of All in Green Went my Love Riding by e.e. cummings.

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.