Open to the Sun

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I won’t focus on shadows.
I won’t hide my head.
I’ll open to the sun
like the tiny phlox
that blooms,
even on cold days, Continue reading

Hope is Green

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hope is scented like
green tomatoes on the vine,
bitter and earthy

Copyright 2020 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading

Silence of Swallowtails

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this green world
teems with bees, toads, and slugs,
we’re never alone

even silence seems happy
when a swallowtail visits

Copyright 2020 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading

July Scents

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Bitter-scented tomato vines
rub elbows with zucchinis
behind fireworks of kale. Continue reading

Hold Fast to Dreams

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Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams fade
Life is a silent symphony
That cannot be played.

Copyright 2020 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading

Fly By

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The world hums with voices
as the warm days fly by,
people in pain
virus numbers climbing
exhausted frontline workers
and protestors in peril.
Continue reading

Colors Unbounded

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All colors
should be free
to be,
to be as covered in glory
or as mired in earth
as needed,
or to stretch between the two,
bowing faces to roots or
lifting shining faces
in sunshine, Continue reading

Art and Artifice

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Every child dreams,
creates art,
writes poetry,
sings songs.
Why do most stop? Continue reading

Glorious Color

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As the cardinal calls
pretty, pretty, pretty,
apple blossoms
quiver like
cabbage butterflies
in lilac-scented sunshine. Continue reading

Music in the Trees

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I miss shaking a newspaper,
folding it closed, washing
black ink from my fingers,
feeling accomplished before
moving on with my day.

Instead, I hopscotch a crazy-quilt —
CNN. BBC. MSNBC. Fox. Round
and round, site to site and back,
never washing the stain
of sad news from my heart. Continue reading

Justice

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All the flowers, poems
cards, and teddy bears
left on sidewalks
after someone died
somehow
don’t fill
the painful void
where a person
we loved
once lived.
Only progress
toward justice
can ease the pain.
A little.

Copyright 2020 Brenda Davis Harsham Continue reading

June Came Late

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June came late,
after May rains slanted,
and gardens were planted. Continue reading