September Moon

Moonrise over the Rincon Mountains

The harvest moon
rising full behind the Rincon Mountains,
a glowing orb in a cobalt sky,
with poorwills calling from the rocky canyons
and a dry desert wind running free
like a ghost horse
between cactus and sagebrush
telling me an age-old story,
whispers from the past
illuminated by the light
of a September moon.

~kathie adams brown (September 20, 2013)

Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

Handprints on the Wall

I’ve cleaned these walls before

In a different house

Twenty years ago

when you were young

cheesy handprints on the wall

sticky imprints of your life

Your own DNA embodied

 in the small boy

Who races through my house now

with joyful abandon.

I get the spray bottle and the cloth

And as I wipe I smile

At this connecting thread.

~kathie adams brown (8-26-13)

The Quail is a Gray Shadow

The Quail is a Gray Shadow

The quail is a gray shadow

Nestled in the spindly arms of the green desert broom

Sanctuary

From sun, rain,

and predators.

Hold; hold still. 

~kathie adams brown (8-19-13)

Poem for a Boy Coming Home

I have waited for you with beating heart

Trembling with anticipation

Arms opened wide for an embrace

Waiting to see your eyes, your face.

How can you know the depths of my love?

I do not think most boys really understand.

Your boyish smile is the delight of my life,

Your desire to protect me is a quality I love,

Your striving for respect is beyond admirable,

And all that you are I love.

I am your mother, your grandmother, your sister, your wife.

I am all the women in your life.

You are my boy, my son, my grandson, my brother, and My Man.

~kathie adams brown (8-16-13)

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)

Gold, Green and Gray Days

Covered Bridge at Devil's Hopyard State Park 6-29-2013

Gold, green and gray,

These are the days

Of early summer in New England

When the sun has yet to dominate,

And mosquitoes start to rise on clouds

From wet forests and flooded fields,

Where humidity turns into rain

And back again

In the ageless alchemy of water

and life

and emerald.

It is the time before the blazing days of summer

When everything starts to wither and wilt

And turn brown.

These are the gold, green, and gray days,

The pensive days, the dreaming days,

The remembering.

~Kathie Adams Brown (July 23, 2013)

Sultry

Gilded Flicker

Heat blazing

White skies

Flesh turned to liquid

Sticky and salty

Melting into the heat

Cicadas whine

Their whirr reaching a fever pitch

Birds pant in the trees

Shade does no good

The air is still,

Thick and still,

Suffocatingly still,

and still 

It is summer

With autumn but a distant dream

of color, and coolness, and relief.

~Kathie Adams Brown (July 17, 2013)