Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 21, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

54 Comments

Honeysuckle

Wild Honeysuckle

Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, 
Hid in this silent, dull retreat, 
Untouched thy honied blossoms blow, 
Unseen thy little branches greet: 
  No roving foot shall crush thee here, 
  No busy hand provoke a tear. 

-- Philip Freneau

Hummingbirds hover, long beaks seeking
Trumpets of nectar in a wild blooming hedge.
Honeysuckle, so sweet and fragrant,
Small, shy flowers, perfuming the air.
What magic allows you to bloom early and long,
Leaves first to green and last to wither?

Reference: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/wild-honeysuckle

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 19, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

76 Comments

Lilac Longing

Lilac-scented grandmother memories,
How her face lit up when we arrived, tired from hours of driving.

White hair tightly curled and steel cat-eye glasses above her beaming smile.
We walked in Mill Creek Park, enjoying the sun and flowers at Fellows Garden.
My photographs have turned yellow and orange, faded like my memories.

Pink and purple lilac stars shine now as they did then,
Sitting on her warm lap, wrapped in soft arms, hearing flower names.

From her, I learned the names of roses, lilacs, impatiens and daisies.
She taught me to tell time on the face of her nurse’s watch.

I remember when she seemed so tall, and then I grew taller still.
She loved powdering her face, sharing conversation and keeping her home tidy.
She peppered her conversations with the word, “evidently,”
A word gone from fashion, like her name, Dorothy.

I remember how she loved spring flowers and touring gardens.
I still do that every year, and I miss her. Some aches are precious.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 16, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

20 Comments

Bewitching Haiku

fae iris magicks
sprinkled generously
bewitch passersby

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 15, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

52 Comments

Forsythia Fairy Path

Forsythia: golden bells curving overhead;
A green path winds through the hedge.
I step under the archway and stop dead.
A forsythia fairy flutters, about to fledge.

The air is filled with crystalline shine,
And a magic gale forces me backward.
I catch a glimpse of the fairy in flight, sublime.
Then the path is empty; my tale fractured.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 13, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

75 Comments

Charming Ladies Haiku

grand duchesses
charming ladies in waiting
tulips for the queen

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 12, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

37 Comments

White Wakerobin: Alliterative Haiku

found in a forest
longing for large, long-tongued bees
tranquil trillium

Note: This haiku is Alliterative, which means that its words start with the same letter.

Reference: https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/species/trillium/grandiflorum/

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 10, 2014

Posted under

Holiday, Poetry, Tales for Kids of All Ages

Comments

47 Comments

Nature’s Joy for Moms

Plugged into pretty pink,
Powered on, pumped and plumped,
Pleased to hear parties planned.

Just jazzed by joy,
Jumping for color,
Jogging my memory.

Many other happy springs:
Mingled colors and aromas,
Mother’s Day memories.

Note: This post is dedicated to all moms, full-time, part-time, for-all-time moms. Moms near, moms far, moms always in the heart, whatever the name: Mom, Mum, Mam, Mama, Mommy, Step-Mom, Ma, Mamasita, Mother. Please let me know other names for Moms, and I will add them here. Much love to all Moms!!

Happy Mother’s Day to these special moms:

Sue Ann, Fairport, New York (Get Well Soon and come home from the hospital, too!!)
Jessie, Palm Springs, California
Jo Anne, Los Angeles, California
Mary, Bedford, Massachusetts
Cathryn, Burlington, Massachusetts
Julie, Billerica, Massachusetts
Jennie, Billerica, Massachusetts
Mickey, Syracuse, New York
Susan, Fairport, New York
Ellen, Newton, Massachusetts
Donna, Machias, Maine
Elizabeth, or Betty, Matias, New York (and Happy Early Birthday, too!!)

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 8, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

58 Comments

Fairy Fiddlehead Haibun

[Sh]e was a poet; and they are never exactly grown-up.
― J.M. Barrie

Walking in the woods today, I listened for the music of the wind. I heard the crescendo of growing things, and a soft decrescendo of falling magnolia petals. Trees in leaf harmonized with delicious sap running, after a long frozen winter. Squirrel feet danced so fast, they seemed to be touching only clouds. Bees, drunk with plentiful nectar, wobbled in flight. Landing on pear blossoms, the bees turned round as though tumbling down hillsides, spinning, dizzy, buzzy.

stretching straight sunshine-ward
furled fairy fiddlehead,
music makes me merry

Note: A haibun is prose followed by poetry, often a haiku. If any of my other haibun-writing friends are parched from a reduction in prompts, feel free to take my picture or the quote as a prompt, and write your own haibun, just please give my name as the photographer. Ping me or leave a comment here, and I will be happy to read it! I don’t know how to do the linky, so I can’t offer that. The quote was originally “He” not “[Sh]e” so it can be either way.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 8, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

35 Comments

Clarity Pyramid: FAE

FAE
Fairy
Magical

Winged joy in child’s heart
Connected to nature
Hides in imagination

“For to have faith is to have wings.”

Note: The quote is from Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie. This was inspired by Paint the World with Words, hey, Amreen, I hope you are feeling better soon!! (She apparently had a bad week or two.) A Clarity Pyramid is a poetic form with so many rules that I decided not to write one, right before one popped into my head in that mysterious way ideas have. I’ll set out the rules: 7 lines, increasing in syllable count, 1/2/3 then 5/6/7 culminating in an 8 syllable quotation. The title should be the one syllable line, bold and in all caps, and then the rest of the poem describes or elucidates the title.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 8, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

15 Comments

Sunset and the Bee

Bees gather nectar, frantic to finish tonight,
Before the ending day’s golden twilight
Has turned into black, stormy night.
The first spring blooms are key
For life of tree
And bee.

Note: My poem has six lines, with the rhyming pattern, AAABBB, and 12 syllables in the first line, and then decreasing by two syllables per line, until the last line, which has 2 syllables (or: 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2). I wanted to use a diminishing syllable count to parallel the dwindling of bees from colony collapse disorder. This poem is similar to a nonet, but the nonet has nine lines, with 9 syllables on the first line, and then it decreases by one syllable per line until the last line, which has one syllable.

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 5, 2014

Posted under

Flash Fiction, Humor, Photography, Poetry

Comments

64 Comments

Flash Fiction: River Romance

The sun was setting, cherry blossoms perfumed the air, and Esme’s handsome boyfriend, Al, paddled at her side. His fine, green Mallard head feathers looked purple in the waning sunlight. She nibbled on bulrushes.

Nosy daffodils crowded round taking selfies. You’d think it was an award ceremony.

Esme would let nothing lessen the magic of the evening. There on the riverfront, she and Al sipped water laden with tasty seeds. The silvery twilight faded, and fairies flickered like fireflies. Al offered Esme a tasty tuber under the Three Birches. She sighed with pleasure.

Al raised his wings and drummed the water from happiness. Together they swam figures eights, intertwining their wakes, visible ripples of pleasure. Before Esme returned to her family’s nest on the far bank, her beak brushed Al’s farewell. A door had opened in her heart, perhaps Al would pass through one day.

sun sets on longings
solitary triangle of ripples
rushes bend in winds

Note: This is my farewell haibun dedicated to Al, but it’s fictional, so I called it a flash fiction in the title. Al has run the weekly Haibun Thinking prompt, which sadly has ended. I hope you don’t mind me making free with your moniker, Al! I am a bit late with my entry, but I was preparing for and attending a writer’s conference. I have to scale back my blogging in May. I will be rewriting my children’s chapter book. Wish me luck! My plan is to blog in the evenings if I have any energy. 🙂

References:

http://diet.yukozimo.com/what-do-mallard-ducks-eat/
http://www.ask.com/question/what-do-mallard-ducks-eat

Posted by

Brenda Davis Harsham

Posted on

May 3, 2014

Posted under

Photography, Poetry

Comments

42 Comments

Ideas Blossom at Writer’s Conference

Ideas blossom with a sweet fragrance,
Opening wider with rhythmic cadence,
Each part of nature has its special time,
Thoughts spring musically into joyful rhyme.

Note: Here is some pink for ThinkingPink. This weekend, I am away at the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators spring conference. Ideas are flowing, and I’m jazzed and inspired. If you aren’t a member of a writing organization and you have not yet been to a writer’s conference, I hope you’ll consider it. Not that WP isn’t great, but meeting people in person is powerful, too. I’ll be back next week, and hoping to catch up with everybody!