Color of a Rose

Black Rose on a Pink and Purple Fence

Used with Permission of Resa Swork

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Meeting McDoodle

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Doodly
doodly
doodly doo.

An eye
in the sky
and a cloud or two.

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Hyacinth Hats

Purple Hyacinth crushed by snow

Purple party hats prickle
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Echos

New spring leaves

Anyone who falters to a stop,
mid breath, and
lets her words breathe,
then echo,
then die,
is a poet.

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Yellow Thing

Daffodils with blue sky

I enjoy every
yellow thing
that blooms in
early spring.

Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham

Note: This ditty is in honor of writing and rewriting manuscripts galore. Plus, today, I won an award-winning book thanks to a cat named Maggie. Continue reading

Happy World Poetry Day!

Some people never go crazy.
What truly horrible lives they must lead.

— Henry Charles Bukowski

purple crocus shining in sun

I have greatly enjoyed my crazy poetry-filled day. Continue reading

Puddle Heaven

Puddle on a sidewalk reflecting trees and a chain link fence

Stamp, stomp,
puddle heaven,
fountains everywhere
when you’re seven.

Laugh and howl,
wet socks,
drippy drops everywhere,
forget clocks.

Arrive speckled
with muddy blots,
not welcome everywhere,
stomach in knots.

Will mom see past hems
dripping dark dots?
Rather than dirt everywhere,
she sees cheetah spots!

Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham

Notes: Poets find joy in puddles:

“The world is mud-luscious…
[and] puddle-wonderful”
—  e.e. cummings

Since writing a haibun on puddles, I’ve wondered how cumming’s mother viewed him, arriving home. My poem’s been in its chrysalis, but finally that wondering took shape and spread wings.

Another fun poem about puddles is Puddle Splash by Roann Mendriq:

What is it about rain puddles,
that make one want to splash?
That turns us into children,
in a quick and happy flash?

Read the rest here.

Poetry Friday with kids

Big thanks to Robyn Hood Black, a wonderful poet and author, for hosting this week’s Kidlitospere Poetry Friday extravaganza.

Three Limerick Tale of Leprechaun and Kitten

Glass plate with a stained glass shamrock

Tiny O’Toole loved a kitten.
He felt himself hard bitten.
“Ouch!” he cried.
“Open wide!”
He stuffed her in his mitten.

“Now, that’s not fitting’,”
complained the kitten.
“Let me out
or I’ll shout.
After all, I’m no Briton!”

O’Toole sipped mead,
and then he agreed:
“Come out!
No doubt
you mistook me for tweed.”

Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham

Notes: Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The art work is a stained glass plate I made with my daughter. A limerick is a light-hearted poem with the rhyming pattern AABBA. A lines are shorter than B lines. My all-time most viewed post is Leprechaun Limerick. I also wrote a set of three limericks on being Irish.

Gamine Grin

Bark ruffled into a grin

Gray rain, icy day,
can’t take my grin away.

Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham

Note: It rained all day, and I have the flu, but I can’t let it get me down. Have a magical week.

Peace Crane Mantra

Four folded origami cranes

cares folded
their power is transformed
peace grows

Note: A mantra is a word, phrase or sound used to focus the mind during meditation or prayer. I wrote the first draft of this mantra when I read a poem by Advocatemmmohan. My family loves origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. We folded the cranes after enjoying leftover birthday cake. Happy International Women’s Day!  I’m celebrating by meditating on peace, an important women’s issue.

Heaven in a Wild Flower

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This cold, blustery day, I dream
into being another spring day.
This one is mountain-flavored,
nearer to heaven than the sea,
far away from here, far from me.
A mountain meadow blooms
as far as my eye can see:
pink heads nod their approval,
as if they like what they see.
I’m atilt, upright on this slope,
keeping my feet, holding out hope.
Pollen coats my skin in gold dust
and I run as lightly as a wind gust.
I lift my arms to the sky,
I’m not a gazelle, but I can fly!
l reach the dim of the tree line,
and each leaf sings harmony with me.
Part of me dwells there, in that perfect hour
when spring is eternal: sweet, soft air and
cool breezes. Infinite beauty. Birds sing,
deer graze and rabbits nod to the grass.
The scent of wildflowers is heaven.
Heaven is in our memories.

Note: The title is from a quatrain that has been niggling at the corners of my attention all week. I decided to embrace it, celebrate it. This is the first of two posts about it. Do you know it already? It’s this one:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.” 

William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Spring Dreaming

Cherry blossoms

close dreaming eyes
fragrance of cherry blossoms
intoxicates, breathe

Note: Dreams are magic. I dreamed spring into being today as I soaked up the lemon winter sun. The park may have been wet with snowmelt and smelling of mud but I was remembering cherry blossoms.