Maybe it's the Moonlight

Maybe it's the moonlight that's keeping me awake,
here on this summer night with teenagers wandering the streets
and cats fighting in the yard.
I heard their caterwauling,
then a car goes by,
and I am sitting here
in the false glow of my computer screen
missing out on moonlight.

I think I'll take a break
and shut this computer down
so I can hear the soft plop of water droplets from the recent rain,
and see the silver light of the summer moon
as it slips down the velvet sky towards dawn.

~Kathie Adams Brown (7-15-11)

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)

Fire Song

Laughing, dancing, licking,

Yellow-warmth-light

Wood smoke and embers

Sizzle sing and spark

POP!  Snap! Crackle song,

Fragrant and warm,

Curling around me,

Embracing me,

With comforting music

On a cold and dreary

 day.

~Kathie Adams Brown  (5-23-11)

Water Music

I can hear the music
the steady lullaby
of water in the night
slipping through the dark,
sliding down the roof,
falling to the ground.
My soul is thirsty
for this refreshing song
of water music--
a rainstorm in the night.

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 19, 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

The Dragon in His Den

The Dragon in his den,
separate from men,
in a world of his own making,
unattached and unacknowledged.
He is angry that the world
does not notice him,
does not bow down to him,
so he ROARS!
He spews his anger and his pain
on everyone he meets, then,
grows silent again.
He yawns his boredom at authority,
he never meets your eyes,
He strikes!
then scampers back to his cave
to wallow in his own stew
of fear, self-pity, and arrogance.

~Kathie Adams Brown (May 19, 2011)

I Did Not Know What Spring Would Bring

Red-winged blackbirds that trill at dawn,
Robins hunting on the lawn,
Muskrats swimming in sunset light,
Wood ducks nesting in the night,
Phoebes freely flicking tails,
Reeds and cattails hiding Rails,
Tree swallows swooping through the air,
Grackles, grackles, everywhere,
Chipmunk sitting on a stone,
Great Blue Heron flies alone,
To see it all makes my heart sing,
I did not know what spring would bring!

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 13, 2011)