A Gift from Nature on Christmas Eve

Winter solstice is two days spent,

a half moon floats in the velvet dome of night,

I see Orion falling towards the western horizon,

a pale constellation over city lights.

Here in the desert the cool night breeze

wafts around my legs bare beneath my robe,

for I have run outside in response to the wild calls

of two great horned owls with romance in their hearts!

Love is in the air and on the rooftops of Tucson

on this Christmas Eve

I’m listening to the owl choir

as heaven and nature sing

on this not so silent night, this Holy Night,

I stand beneath Ursa Major

so thankful for this gift.

~Kathie Adams Brown (December 24, 2013)

End O'Day in the Catalina Foothills

I listened to the thrasher’s call

I heard coyotes sing

As the sun went down and the cactus glowed

And Gambel’s Quail took wing,

In the Catalina Foothills

When daylight fades to night

The birds and I—we are Wild Things

Dancing in golden light.

~kathie adams brown (October 2, 2013)

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

The Song of the Say's Phoebe

I awoke to the song of a Say’s Phoebe

Calling me out to the dawn,

It pumped its tail while on the tall vent pipe,

It lifted its beak to the gray monsoon sky,

And as the sun broke through the wooly clouds

Suspended over the Rincon mountains

A single sunbeam reached out to caress

The soft gray breast of the bird who sang

with such a plaintive voice:

A plaintive voice,

--a  two-note sigh,

 I heard its longing

Fill the sky.

~Kathie Adams Brown (September 12, 2012)

Return to Tucson

It is so quiet here
in this desert city
under this pale blue sky
where lizards creep across my yard
drawing warmth from sun-heated stone.
I have hummingbirds in my backyard,
and pigeons overhead.
In many ways it is like any other city, yet,
it is so different too.
I have returned and I am new,
new to this part of town, this neighborhood, this house.
The desert wind that caresses my face is familiar,
and I know these lungs have breathed
the scent of creosote bush that perfumes the morning air before.
I look out to the circle of mountains surrounding this city
and I feel their embrace
as a stony hug.