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

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.

Sunday Morning Litany in the Desert in Spring

Palo Verde Blossoms

Sunshine

Coffee on the patio

Mesquite trees in flower

Pollen everywhere

Goldfinches flittering

Roses in bloom,

Sunshine in the morning,

Shade in the afternoon.

Sunshine

Potted geranium by my chair

Lizards tumble in the yard

White-winged doves serenade

Hummingbirds hovering,

Palo Verde trees in bloom,
Insects a-buzzing,

Sunshine in the morning,

Shade in the afternoon.

Sunshine

Cactus wrens are calling,

Yellow blossoms on prickly pear,

A coronet of creamy blossom

Atop towering saguaros

Sky as blue as a lizard’s belly,

Ocatillos are in bloom,

Sunshine in the morning,

Shade in the afternoon,

It's springtime in the desert,

It's springtime in the desert,

It's Spring!

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 29, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

Juxtoposition

Loneliness and Solitude—two

States of being, similar in one respect,

In both, one is alone, but

With solitude one is renewed

And refreshed;

The heart swells with life and is calmed;

But loneliness is a soul eating beast,

Leaving one empty and filled with sadness.

~kathie adams brown (April 27, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30Poems in 30 Days

Day 27

Nonsense at Night

And indeed, there will be time to wonder

Do I dare and do I dare count the birds

Again and again?

Are there birds where I will be?

Will the birds fly to me?

Will I know what I see?

Counting birds like counting crows                                  

It’s all in the way it goes

Should I learn to like this thing?

Will it take me over, make me sing?

I am counting all the time,

So often there’s not time to rhyme.

I missed my poem, I missed my song

and now the birds will sing along,

The bottom line, at least for me

when you’re tired, don’t write poetry!

~kathie adams brown (April 26, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

I Remember the Girl

You look at me and what do you see?

White hair, thick middle, varicose veins?

I am getting old, it’s true.

We all do

But inside I am young, fierce, and passionate!

I can remember my long brown hair,

My slender waist,

My muscular legs.

I can remember leaping a brook,

jumping from stone to stone like a doe.

I can remember running through green pastures full of waist high grass

My long hair streaming behind me like a mane,

feeling as frisky as a young filly.

I can remember climbing trees like a monkey and

gazing down through the foliage at the ground

so far below.

I can remember swimming strong in the ocean,

Riding waves on my belly,

And rolling up on the sand to the sounds of seagulls calling.

Yes, I was young once—we all are;

Once.

And I can remember the girl.

~kathie adams brown (April 24, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

Just a Little Irony

I want to write a triolet

I’d better hurry-don’t waste time,

I haven’t thought of one quite yet

A couplet poem built with rhyme,

I’d better hurry—don’t waste time,

If you are counting, lay your bets,

I want to write a triolet

I’d better hurry-don’t waste time!

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 23, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

Prompt 23: Write a Triolet

The Deer on the Hill

In solitude and silence

In the evening along the marsh

I walk

Listening for birds

Feeling the gray mists roll in

Obscuring my view

Yet wrapping me in silence

Enhancing the solitude

Lost in my own thoughts

 A sweet peace envelopes me and then—I see them

The deer on the hill

And we are together

Alone in this benediction.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 22, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

Promt 22: Write an Earth Day Poem

Innocence

Innocence—

A sleeping baby-the standard,

A little girl in a flowered dress in a field of flowers,

A little boy up to bat for the first time with his eyes shining,

Friday night ice-cream cones,

Puppies, kittens and colts,

Bottle feeding a baby goat,

Swinging on a Tarzan swing,

Splashing in the old creek swimming hole,

Carving a Halloween jack-o-lantern,

Winter sledding with hot chocolate and marshmallows,

This list should be longer!

Why is it so hard to remember

Innocence?

~Kathie Adams Brown (4-19-2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

Prompt 18: Write a poem beginning and ending with the same word.

Running Home

Santa Rita Mountains, Tucson, AZ 2010

What is this that awakens me?

What is this pull I feel?

I rise on a sunny morning,

I get into my car and drive,

I pass beneath a Swainson’s hawk circling above,

I leave the city streets behind.

Around me, the desert opens wide—

I feel my mind relaxing

As each mile falls behind,

And then I see the wonder

Of this wild place

Each mile draws me closer

To these cactus covered slopes

Where birds fly free in a pale blue sky,

Where birds nest in pale green scrub,

Where mountain peaks rise up and stand

Shoulder to shoulder towering

Over spiny saguaros,

Deep canyons,

And me.

—I am being called

—I am being pulled

—I am running

Home.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 17, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013 Day 17 Prompt: Write a poem of greeting.

An Open Letter to Cowards and Bullies

To all the bullies and cowards in the world

You can stamp your feet,

You can yell and threaten

You can move quietly and leave

Carnage in your wake,

Perhaps you can evoke fear and terror, but

You will NEVER gain Respect,

And in the future, if your name is spoken

It will be spoken with contempt!

How do you know if you are a bully?

Answer me this:

Do you need to hurt others to get attention?

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 16, 2013)

• NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems In 30 Days
• Remembering Boston-Kathie's Birds Post

A Gray Day

This is a blue day filled with promise

As the runners take to the streets,

The shining streets of Boston

—pounding feet

—hearts of courage

—dreams of glory fill the air,

Breathe, run, breathe, run, sweat, run some more.

This is a black day, a gray day

—where all hopes are dashed

—where red blood flows on gray streets

—where bird song and heart song are silenced

And in the silence...

a gray heron croaks.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 15, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013 30Poems in 30 Days

These Suburban Streets

Morning sunshine illuminates

The bright green feathers of new leaves

On the mesquite trees that line the street,

White-winged doves fly and call

In the pale blue vault above,

In the distance the traffic hums a morning tune,

—the song of a new day,

Along the pavement the springtime flowers nod and sway,

The morning breeze teases me and ruffles my unruly hair,

I pass my neighbor in the street,

We are not going anywhere,

It’s just a morning stroll along these suburban streets,

It is a way to greet the day,

Until the smell of fresh-brewed coffee calls me home.

I take my cup into my walled garden and sit

With the roses and the birds.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 13, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013 Day 13 Prompt: Take a stroll and write a poem about it.

A Spring Morning in Tucson

Today

the still, gray air

nestles in around me

comforting me with its gentleness

in the backyard birds feed peacefully beneath

blooming roses.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 12, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013/30 Poems in 30 Days

Arizona Kitchen

Here is the blue tissue box by the sink

and the green bird house pen and pencil holder,

the black granite counter tops (all anyone wants these days,

along with stainless steel appliances)

Here is the place where

                Endless dishes are washed,

                Coffee is brewed fresh every morning,

                Conversations begun and ended,

                Songs sung alone by myself.

Here is the place where

               

Easter eggs are colored,

Pizza is baked,

The Thanksgiving turkey is stuffed and roasted,

Caramel popcorn is made at Christmas,

Or, Margaritas on a summer evening,

The cats meow as I fill their dishes in the morning,

And in the evening the little black and white dog waits by the door

When she hears her master’s car in the driveway, but

This could be any kitchen, anywhere.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 1, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013

I'll Bid you Not a Fond Farewell

I’ll bid you not a fond farewell,

Instead I say hello

To the freedom I now have

As I watch you go

For ten long months you tormented me

You filled my life with fear

But now you’re gone and I am free

And I’m the one still here!

So take your small mind with you,

And your insecurities as well,

Go live your life somewhere else

Imprisoned in your self-made hell!

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 10, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013 Prompt 10 

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

A Contrast in Habitats

Part 1: New England

I love autumn’s blaze of color thrown across the hills,

I love the sound of trickling water tumbling down the rills,

I love tall pines in winter standing stark against the snow,

I like the little villages dressed up for Christmas show,

I love crocuses in springtime with peep frogs heard throughout the land

And in the summer I like to watch waves pounding on the sand.

I love maple sugaring in spring and apple picking in the fall,

I love New England’s old red barns and lumpy gray stone walls.

I love New England churches standing tall and white on the town green,

I love a quiet woodland walk where no one else has been,

With so many things to like, including pastures full of cows,

Why is that I find myself living in the desert now?

Part 2: The Desert

I love the feathery green foliage of our native desert trees

And city ponds filled with ducks and occasionally some grebes,

I like the craggy mountains that encircle me in town,

I like the Monsoon rains when they come pouring down,

I love pale green saguaros standing tall against the sky,

I love the murmur of Gambel’s quail as they are passing by,

I love the lizards in my yard climbing everywhere,

I love the sight of nighthawks as they slice through evening air,

I love looking up and seeing stars shining in the night,

Twinkling in the darkness and sending down their light,

I love a place where all year round I watch the flowers bloom,

A place where I can live outside in an outdoor room,

I love hummingbirds in winter, and not having to shovel snow,

If I love this desert life so much, why would I ever go?

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 8, 2013)

NaPoWriMo2013 Day 7

A Valediction for Trudy

Trudy 2008

Even now I see your face

Faded blue eyes shining with Joy

As you show me the oriole on your feeder.

Long ago you nurtured

-this bird love in my heart,

--this God love in my heart,

--this love for all of nature.

I remember the last time I saw you,

Shrunken and gnome-like

With the pink, leathery skin of old age,

Yet eyes that still shone like a child’s.

Oh how I loved you, and love you still.

I think of you now like a constant thing,

Like birds, and God’s Love.

I knew the last time I saw you

It would be our last good-bye,

You were 102 then—time had run out on you.

I hugged you tight while tears

streamed down my face in a flood.

I could tell I was but a faded memory

In your aged mind,

But, you still loved me,

 you still loved God,

and you still loved the birds.

I wanted to hold you so tight

as if my love could keep you

from the inevitable.

How is it that you are gone from this life,

Yet still so alive in my heart?

In the birds I see everyday

—I  see you,

—I see Love.

If parting is such sweet sorrow,

Then remembering is sweeter still,

And saying Good-bye is but a brief moment in time.

~For Trudy Smith (read more here)

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 6, 2013)

NaPoWriMo2013 Day 6 Prompt: Valediction

A Walk Along the Hudson

Photo by Kathie Brown 2012

Water

Melts the bright lights

On the Hudson River

Where waves lap the shoreline

At night

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 5, 2013)

NaPoWriMo2013 Day 5: Cinquain