Category: nature

Myriad Things

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A single pond lily, on which

Dragonfly

Alights.

An anthropologist of sorts,

She studies

Me.

I’m no

Entomologist,

But I admire

Her. Where has she been in her brief,

Stunning

Life?

Will she be found in fossil form far in

Future?

Wings etched in limestone?

**

The word, beauty.

To many, many myriad things.

A kitten with amber eyes,

An amber necklace with a message,

Eeons old.

A tree of life that speaks a different language,

That maybe mourns lost

Friends.

Desert sands, artifacts revealed when

Wind moves dunes.

**

I wish a long dead author’s ghost to visit me,

Lord Byron, Emily Dickinson,

Tolstoy, Balzac.

How did they do it? The secrets and beauty of their minds.

Painters,

Monet,

Degas,

Renoir.

Was it Absinthe? The wine?

**

A bluebird in watercolor,

A painted bunting in pastels,

A raven in pen and ink,

Queen Anne’s Lace in amber.

Write, sketch, study so I remember.

So my ghost can tell

The Stories

**

Kidnapped

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Sometimes, I am

Kidnapped.

Likeliest, in

Summer

I have a thing for silks and slow dancing,

For snapdragons, and a song sparrow’s

Tune.

Stolen by my

Daydreams.

Words on pages, the laughter of a Murder

In black satin party dress.

They toast one another,

Salut.

Onward, they say,

Our flight leaves soon.

**

Sometimes, my heart, temporarily

Waylaid.

Also, likeliest on a summer

Day.

A dog walks with her

Person,

Tongue out,

Smiling.

All the smells.

My kind have passed here before,

Say they.

**

A strand of pearls.

I choose my day’s destination.

Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Peru

And I read my wishes.

I’ll land after the

Epilogue.

Home in time for dinner

And an excellent night’s

Rest.

**

Tomorrow.

Maybe to Colombia with Marquez,

France with Andre Gide.

Or best of all, England with Christie.

My favorite Murder might

Follow.

Dressed in black for

Adventure

**

Sometimes, I am

Kidnapped.

Ghost Honeybees

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A suspenseful tale, tells a crow,

A raven listens,

A treasure to be found.

Fruits of the hunt,

Savored,

Riddles, solved.

Brass buttons, worn silk

Ribbon,

Seed pearls, and tiger’s eye.

*****

Thunder egg,

Cut. Lines in stone make a

Map

Embroidered millennia

Ago.

*****

Blue darters,

Ephemeral.

A cabin?

Deserted, occupied?

Ghosts of a hive,

Walls dripping with honey.

On a solitary hanger, a tattered

Calico

Dress. Cherry red, black velvet trim.

Curtains, pink dotted Swiss at

Windows.

New in appearance, but is this riddle a

Deceit?

Out back, a peach

Tree, its fruit

Ripened to perfection.

Just one bite of one,

Nectar filled. Rest left for

Apiary’s Ghosts.

The buzz of their haunt.

Their sting, pleasure, not

Pain.

*****

A girl, fifteen, Elinor, spends

Sunday afternoons there.

She reads.

Ghost Bees tell their true tales only to

Her.

And she reads to them,

Austen, Dickens, Flaubert, mysterious Christie for good

Measure.

For Elinor, the Ghost Bees haunt the torn

Dress, mend it. Add some silk, more soft velvet,

In the color of honey.

The ageless alchemy of

Apis Mellifera

Uprooted

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I built a sandcastle

When I was four,

The tide took it, I watched it

Go

The moat didn’t protect it

Not the bailey,

Not the two

Towers.

********

I dreamt of where it went,

All broken like that.

Each grain, separated from its

Home,

I could build another if I chose.

One that looked just like

It.

Another day. Another beach. Other sand.

Alike, but

Different.

Different water, a deeper moat.

But the sea would encroach.

********

Wet sand. Built with

Water

Taken away by

Water.

Where do our castles go?

Moon pulls them away.

Sometimes as with

Lovers

********

A little Pine..

Transplanted.

Branches, trunk intact.

Not taken, but moved.

Still lost.

Home changed.

Fir a few feet away.

Similar terrain to former home,

But different ground. Unfamiliar arbor

Neighbors.

Alike, but different.

********

Same need for water, and to be cared for.

Its branches reach for new

Friends.

********

Transplanted or swept away.

Belonging finds a new

Place

********

Birds, Books, Blooms, and Bling

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These are images, pictures in words, that make me happy, and that I sometimes use to work my imagination or for writing prompts. Either that or I just enjoy thinking about them during quiet moments. 

Sweet mallard ducklings, pink peonies, Josephine Tey’s A Shilling For Candles, and a tourmaline bracelet.

Red dahlias, a ruby necklace, a strawberry finch, and Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile.

Purple coneflower, a just fledged nuthatch, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, and a pearl necklace.

Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders, a murder of crows, red roses and a black onyx pendant.

A copper bowl of fir cones, Rex Stout’s The Doorbell Rang, a pair of lovely goldfinches, and a pair of cognac sapphire earrings.

A raucous bluejay, or two, a barberry bush in autumn, Dorothy L. Sayer’s The Busman’s Honeymoon, and a little silver dolphin charm.

Italo Calvino’s Baron in the Trees, orange zinnias, two little dark eyed juncos searching for seeds, and a vintage seventies mood ring.

A celadon vase of pink hyacinth, a blush of robins, Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace, and an emerald necklace.

Castles Fall

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Shore welcomes the sea’s waves

But – waterfront castles

Topple,

Castles of sand, mansions not

Invincible.

Dungeon’s prisoners escape to destinations

Unknown

————

Islands under water,

Worlds in bellies of whales,

Homes, mobile,

Seafaring.

No homesickness for dry

Land.

Terra Firma

Long

Forgotten.

They grow gills,

Fins,

Sleep in beds of coral,

Beautiful, but piercing

Discomfort.

Pursued by ever airborne

Albatross –

Prey for orcas, sharks.

They gather in schools,

Interrupted.

Old weapons useless now

————

Stories, different told

Ancestral tales, only truth-

No mermaids, no Neptune, no magical

History

More power for some than for

Others,

As it was on The Shore.

No embraces. No arms that reach for love.

————

No legs for long walks

Moon and tides carry, hold them

Fast.

Their schedules are tight.

Punctuality, constant.

Do they miss their castles of sand, wood, or stone?

Days at the beach? Fireplaces, good

Books?

————

Shore welcomes the sea’s

Waves

But waterfront’s castles

Topple

————

Touch, Taste, and Colors

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Pink velvet, a purple aster’s petals, and peach of sunset,

Vivid softness

———-

A quilt, baby blue and white, pastel ink in a quill pen, and bright sun quelled to starlight

Quiet comfort

———-

Ivory chenille bedspread, a pale green pressed cotton blouse, and printed poem on parchment pages

Summer champagne stories

———-

Deep red dahlias, raspberry sherbet, and merlot, burgundy, earthy

High summer celebration

———-

Beetle, blue, nostalgic, drive-in movie magic, and popcorn plenty

Top down night sky romance

———-

Country roads, hills winding, vintage Corvette, gleaming red, fast, and wind in your hair

Speed savored sunshine

———-

Kisses, cherry red, Saint-Saens’ Bacchanale, and a moonlight waltz

Love constant long lasting

———-

Crow, inky, raucous, towhee, singing, spotted, and a chickadee, charming and cheerful

Blue sky solstice morning

———-

Ice cream, pistachio or praline, cake, red velvet or lemon, and pie, blueberry or banana

Delicious birthday or anytime desserts

———-

Looking for love

Gems, Flavors, and Flowers

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Pearls, pines, and peridots

A lovely treehouse where one can doze

– Roses, roosters, and sweet light rain

A farmhouse brass bed where one has rested, lain

– Sourdough, sweetbreads, and sparrows singing

On a countryside summer morning, no school bells ringing

– Lobelia, larkspur, and valleys of lily

Floral, fun, festive, and frilly

– Onyx, obsidian, and orange pop

A soda fountain stop, and a jewelry shop

– Marzipan, moonlight, and marcasite

Couples wed when the timing is right

– Asters, amaryllis, and azurite

Lavender, cobalt, ink, some colors of night

– Sambuca, sangria, and Sauvignon wine

Choose your cocktail, and deliciously dine

– Rubies, roses, and romance galore

Love’s in the air, forever and more

Shelter

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Gleaming, obsidian, volcanic

Not shattered, still

Sharp

Love, at many

Years.

Moonstone moonflower moonlight

——-

How many houses shelter this

Love?

Also in colors.

Some chosen, some,

Not.

Delicate shell

Pink,

Sometimes,

Deep green of

Forest.

——-

Some mortgaged,

Some fleeting,

Never

Forgotten.

Remember the one bedroom

Walkup?

One chair one couch one bed?

The oak tree out front.

“Ours” for a

Time

——-

The quilt, red and white, that accompanies,

Us

Two.

An old fashioned paper

Map.

Towns, cities, red pins on

Plots.

Plots, character based.

Occasional suspense,

But high octane, rare.

Twists and turns.

——-

Close to the road or far from the

Mailbox.

Long walks and

Short.

Tall delphinium, deep blue

Roses, Tropicana

——-

Our tabby, Delilah,

Our black lab, Geoffrey,

After Chaucer.

——-

Gleaming, obsidian, not shattered,

Still sharp.

Stardust star flower star shine

——-

Tropicana Rose

Images II

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A few more word paintings. Images in threes.  🙂

Three is my lucky number. 

Cobalt silk, pink dahlias in a milk glass vase, and pearl earrings

Lime green stilettos, a diamond and gold bracelet, and Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye

A little blue shovel, a sandcastle, and white sand

A little origami bluebird, a young maple tree, and Vivaldi’s Summer

Red clover, honey bees working, and white linen

A brick second empire Victorian mansion, a dark, stormy night, and Agatha Christie’s The Sittaford Mystery

An orange velvet wingback chair, Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter, and Canterbury Bells in a mercury glass bowl

An Old Fashioned, a girl with a Louise Brooks bob, and Josephine Tey’s A Shilling For Candles rests on a maple side table

A straw sun hat, a croquet match, and many two olive martinis

A summer morning, a murder of cows, and storm clouds brewing

A red dragonfly, lilies of the valley, and a lapis lazuli bracelet

Celadon velvet, a Strauss waltz, and purple irises

A flute sonata, Cirrus clouds, and blueberry cake

White Canterbury Bells