I Like a Windy Day

I like a windy day,

When the wind comes to tease and play

And we prance and dance around the meadow.

I like the wind to toss the leaves

To bend the trees,

And make them clap their hands.

I like to feel like a wild pony

And run and kick

And toss my mane and tail.

But this fierce arctic wind is a nasty bastard

And I wish he would go back from whence he came.

Kathie Adams Brown (March 22, 2015)

National Poetry Writing Month starts in one week! NaPoWriMo 2015

Winter Woods

Winter woods are gray and silent,

Soft, and deep, and frosty,

In pine and spruce scented air,

Ice crystals cling like jeweled lichen,

Birch trees shining silver against the other pewter trees,

Branches all askew,

Reaching for the sky,

With green draped hemlocks

Dancing in the glen,

The whistling winds sings

Winter’s here again.

The tiny trumpet call of nuthatches

Breaks the woodland’s sleep,

And it’s then that I remember,

“I have promises to keep.”

So softly I pad back

Down this winter woodland trail,

To the waiting warmth of my winter cottage,

To my winter woodland home.

Kathie Adams Brown (12-30-14)

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)

August Wind

August wind blows dry

Dark clouds gather in heaps over the mountains

Restlessness is in this unsettled air

I stir from my summer stupor

I wonder

What will tomorrow bring?

But for tonight

As trees toss limbs around me

Waving leaves like black lace handkerchiefs against the smoky sky

I am caught up in this wind and carried on a dream

And I fly.

~kathie adams brown (August 14, 2013)

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.

The Mulberry Tree

I watched each leaf unfurl in springtime
and then each blossom with bees nuzzling into
each delicious throat,
and as the berries ripened to red,
and then deep purple,
the catbirds came,
dressed all in gray,
with fine dark berets,
and cinnamon breaches,
they feasted and fed,
filling their beaks and bellies
with the ripening fruit.

But the fruit has gone by
and there are no birds in the Mulberry Tree;
only the groundhogs that have grown fat in its shade
waddle around beneath the tree as it leans out over the yard
reaching for the sun.

And while cicadas whine in the woodland,
the fledgling blue jays flutter and fret,
begging the adults to still feed them.
there are no catbirds in the Mulberry Tree
because summer is half gone
now.

~Kathie Adams Brown (July 17, 2012)

Old Tree (Part 3)

Old Tree knows

The ways of the woods

The life that goes on and

The life that ends.

Old tree knows what renewal is

As each spring it is reborn again and again.

Yet old tree knows that when its time is done

It’s time to let go, release and become

One with the earth from which it was born

Supplying new roots with fresh nutrients from its tree bones.

~Kathie Adams Brown (December 23, 2011)

Old Tree (Part 2)

Old Tree,

I want to reach up to that cerulean blue sky,

I want to sway in the wind when it passes by,

I want to reach down with roots to grasp the earth strong,

Old tree, like you, I just want to belong.

~Kathie Adams Brown

Old Tree (Part 1)

Old tree in the woods,

Quiet and tall

Standing there day after day

Through storms and sunshine,

Sunrises and sunsets

Leaf drop and new leaves

and all that you’ve seen,

if I come close and listen

will you whisper your secrets to me,

or, lend me your strength

so I can reach down,

take hold, and grow

strong roots like you?

~Kathie Adams Brown (12-23-11)

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)

Inner Strength

That muscled oak
Outside my window
Lifting strong gray arms
To hold up the sky
Lifts me up also
When I feel weak
Inside.

~Kathie Adams Brown 2-5-11

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

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.

Skywatch Friday: Things That Sway

(Photo by Kathie, June 12, 2008 6:23 p.m. MST)

I love things that sway in the wind;
The flowing grass,
The dancing trees,
The willow boughs,
The bamboo leaves,
All caught in a breeze,
Or windy gale,
Toss and sway
And sigh and shake,
Reflected in an azure lake--
Their fluid motions
Their restless leaves
Reflected in my inner sea.

~kathiesbirds (27 February 2008)

Purple Fountain Grass and Whirling Butterflies (guara).

To see other Skywatch photos please visit Wiggers World.