A Spring Evening in Maine

I stood in the misty green at dusk

and heard the cuckoo’s call,

in the dark green woods

the pewee’s song

rang through the glittering trees,

overhead a flock of waxwings

went zinging across the sky,

and there in this tranquil, greening spring,

Here in this misty dark I stand,

Content.

~Kathie Adams Brown (June 4, 2014)

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!

Hallelujah Forest

I've been waiting for the music of this dark night,

warm on an evening in April

Spring peepers singing from dark, wet woods,

vernal pools alive

with the Rites of Spring

I stand in the darkness listening

as the chorus swells and fills the air

rising like a tide from the forest—

Handel's Hallelujah,

Beethoven’s Ode to Joy,

this is the music I hear

in this woodland cathedral,

rising from the vernal pools

with croaking voices singing,

and all the peepers peeping,

Majestic voices of

Amphibian Angels.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 16, 2015)

NaPoWriMo 2015 / 30 Poems in 30 Days

Monday Morning Aubade on a Spring Day in Maine

You wake me and I bandage your toe,

me in my night gown, you already dressed,

I put my glasses on, and shake cobwebs from my brain.

It’s a cold, mostly gray, spring day,

and the sparrows are filling the yard with song.

With my brief glance out the picture window that overlooks the bay

I see the tide slipping out.

It is as if a great silvery silk curtain

with eiders embroidered on its surface

is slowly and steadily being drawn back.

But back to your toe, the infected one,

I clean and bandage it

You dress your feet,

We have a brief embrace at the kitchen door,

then off you go to work

as the lemony sun slides up from the horizon only to disappear

in the shrouded sky,

while I grab my pen to write.

This is our morning good-bye—a tender routine after 38 years.

Tomorrow the details will be different, but the love will be the same.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 6, 2015)

aubade-music suitable to greeting the dawn or morning; a song about two lovers parting at dawn.

Prompt 6 from the NaPoWriMo / 30 Poems in 30 Days website

At Last

At last the warm air drifted in

after a long, cold and bitter winter

a day when birds landed in droves

and fresh warm air filled the land.

I, breathing the scent of that warmth,  

cast off my chores for the day,

and stayed outside.

All day.

It was as if I had been released from a long imprisonment.

I walked through mud that sucked at my shoes.

I listened to the trickle of melting snow as it formed puddles around me.

The music of song sparrows drifted over the wet, melting earth

—a song of joy to me!

And then in the evening, as dusk settled like a fawn to the ground,

the peenting of woodcocks was heard

and the winnowing of their wings in an eager mating flight display

and I stood in the yard, my mouth agape,

Listening to the music of spring—at last!

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 4, 2015)

NaPoWriMo/ 30 Poems in 30 Days

A Battle with the North Wind

You roaring wind,

You arctic sledgehammer

pounding out of the north,

I turn my face to you

and beat my wings to fly

You push me back,

You seek to overpower me,

and still my chest expands,

My sinews elastic and powerful as my lungs

fill with your icy breath.

You push me back, and back, and back,

I feel my pinions fill and spread

with the power of your wind,

as we do battle.

You pour a winter’s weariness upon us,

refusing to release your grip,

while I fly on with a fierce hope

into Spring.

Kathie Adams Brown (March 22, 2015)

For World Poetry Day 2015 (One day late!)

Why are You Singing

Tufted Titmouse

Why are you singing, Mr. Titmouse?

Do you not know a blizzard is on the way?

I hear notes of romance

In your song this morning.

Are you declaring your territory,

Or enticing a mate?

It’ll be awhile yet before the nesting is begun,

But just to hear your song gives me hope

—that all is not lost

—that winter is not endless

—that crocuses will bloom again, and

—that somewhere under all that snow, there is, indeed, grass.

~Kathie Adams Brown (February 14, 2015)

I Would Fly Away With You

Have you ever seen a Purple Finch

dancing in the woods,

 a raspberry bird on a low branch,

sunlight streaming down,

chartreuse leaves a forming a bright frame

as he raises his crest to dance.

First he bobs and weaves,

raising one wing, then the other,

wings quivering with anticipation,

and where is she whom he is trying to woo?

Does her heart pitter patter like mine?

Does she know how marvelous it is to see him dance?

I stand here awestruck,

Wishing I were a bird.

I would fly away with you, fine fellow,

And we would make our nest!

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 12, 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

Green Spikes are Promises

The last cold grip of winter has weakened,

Daffodil spears poke through the damp, brown earth

Pointing to the sunny sky,

Green spikes are promises,

Soon there will be flowers,

Soon it will be Spring.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 10, 2014)

NaPoWriMo 2014

Savin Lake

Savin Lake 6-14-13 Lebanon, CT

A late spring day
late in the day
shadows falling, long, deep and cool
across the banks of Savin Lake
brimming from the recent rains
water pouring over the dam
like liquid amber
pounding down to the creek below
I watch the writhing, frothing water
a churning mess that would pound me to death
if given the chance,
But I turn away to the glassy lake
so blue, calm, and serene
where a kayaker cuts through the water
in silent strokes,
and geese serenely sit and float,
and swallows slice the evening air,
then dip and drip and fly again,
and in the brush the catbird sings,
and in the trees the waxwings feed,
as I stand on green and grassy banks
as a yellow warbler calls my heart
with notes so sweet and pure
and I breathe in this rich, cool scene,
I drink in this serenity,
the flat calm water,
the lush green trees,
the world reflected
in Savin Lake.

~Kathie Adams Brown (6-16-2013) Colchester, CT

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

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

Feathered Tulips in a Tree

Mesquite leaves unfurl like ferns

Tender green feathers on tree bones

Goldfinches cling to half-naked twigs

Burnished gold against the gray

Yellow breasts ablaze

Feathered tulips in a tree.

~Kathie Adams Brown (March 21, 2013)

An Early Spring Walk in the Evening

Shawsheen River 4-7-2012

It is a peaceful occupation to walk

In the woods by the small pond

As the sun sinks low

And red-winged blackbirds call,

And Grackles whistle and click,

While wood ducks float lazily preening,

And all the world is hushed

With the clear blue sky an empty vault

Above the greening grass

As the lazy river glides by quietly

From lack of rain

And robins serenade the evening twilight

And bid good-bye to this day.

~Kathie Adams Brown (March 27, 2012)

There Are the Dead

 There are the dead

Standing in the bog

While a flicker laughs behind me

At the slowly creeping green,

The first sign of spring

Here among the dead.

Geese are busy nest building,

The wood ducks paddle

between silver stumps,

and tall snags

like up-ended bones,

stark, bare, and beautiful,

engraved by wind,

carved by bird beaks

with nest holes that now provide homes,

these silver arms reach to a springtime sky

blue as a robin’s egg,

strong arms that serve as perches

for the kingfisher and his mate

laughing their rattling call,

 a sound like dry bones,

while tree swallows glide by

on metallic blue wings,

building nests filled with life

among the dead.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 3, 2012)

Robin's Egg Blue

Though it is February first, it feels like the end of winter

My woodpile is getting low and the temperature is rising

Down by the Shawsheen River the robins flood the banks

Red-breasted and bold, digging in the forest duff,

kicking and picking with their beaks,

they are a sure sign of spring in this warm rain,

and now the rain clouds are breaking apart

become tattered fleece in a sky as blue as a robin’s egg,

then even the clouds are gone and all I see is blue,

robin’s egg blue

and I wonder how long it will be

before I find a Robin’s nest with sky blue eggs nestled inside?

~Kathie Adams Brown (February 1, 2012)

After the Rain

I walk down the street

Past branches now laden

With fat green leaves

And glistening droplets.

This backdrop of spring

Is soft gray and slate

With emerald grass lawns

And lilacs in bloom.

Along the street I find small puddles

Clear at the top but thick blood brown

At the bottom

It looks like serum

Separated in a centrifuge

With platelets and red blood cells

And plasma

Is this the blood of springtime

Enriching the soil,

Causing all these trees to grow?

I like to think it is, so…

Drink up trees, ‘cause summer’s comin’

And I need some shade!

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 23, 2011)

Bobolink

In a sea of green waving grass you flutter
up in jubilant song
black feathers, yellow and white excitement,
with notes incomprehensible,
a melody that captures the heart and
raptures the soul
in one glorious exhibition,
one small bird
in a hay field
in spring.

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 20, 2011)


One Single Impression Prompt 168: Exhibition