pink cottage roses
frosty hats at rakish angles
sporting the first frost
Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham
Notes: Winter has skated into town on frozen sidewalks, catching some late blooms off guard. They are rising to the occasion, though. I hope you’re having a magical week.
dance in time
winter’s coming,
but not today
Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham
Notes: Here is a haiku for healing. A Poetry Friday friend, Mary Lee Hahn, is hosting a December haiku extravaganza. I haven’t committed to a haiku every day, but after reading so many good ones in PF this weekend, I found myself writing one. A toast to the lingering warm days.
The pale of winter shines
from pine cones dangling,
left by wind and chance,
promise of saplings future. Continue reading
The Olympic dream is one
that bites young and grown. Continue reading
Greening glade
seems still and quiet,
but it’s a magic circle
where birds sing
incantations Continue reading
Note: Curves appear everywhere, especially where the Daily Post is popular. Republicans may have blocked gun control for now, but if we get enough signatures on petitions to ban assault weapons, we may yet throw a curve ball to the NRA.
http://petitions.moveon.org/keystoneprogress/sign/president-obama-make-10
Purple party hats prickle
Continue reading
Snow showers
bury
spring flowers
deep Continue reading
My nose misses roses
through long winter days,
but Trader Joe’s knows.
There, summers scents
come in cellophane.
Continue reading
Brown bear, brown bear,
what do you see?
Reindeer herds or
Santa in Rovaniemi?
May to August,
the midnight sun lights Lapland.
Under that luminous sky,
the Sámi teach that all
beings and objects have souls.
Paintings, pottery,
dolls and blankets have stories.
A Sámi kota is a circular tent,
a place for visions and healing.
Brown bear, brown bear,
what do you see?
A Lake Saimaa seal,
cut off from the sea?
Long winer nights are
lit by aurora borealis,
heaven’s fireworks,
the celestial dragon.
If we listen,
what will we hear?
Notes: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a classic children’s book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle. I pay homage here to a book my kids love, and I reread so many times it feels part of my DNA.
I’ve seen a rise in visitors from Finland, and I wanted to learn more about it. Finland’s cities of light are dwarfed by its vast wilderness near the arctic circle. In between Sweden and Russia, Finland flies its cross-of-blue flag over lakes, mountains, forests, rocky inlets, migrating birds and northern lights. It’s a place of magic, with trees frozen like trolls, glass igloos and brown bear roaming free.
The painting is a watercolor of mine from twenty years ago, tweaked by iPhoto.
Wet-Toes the rabbit hops,
scrapes snow from grass,
dodges grumpy crows,
and wriggles his cold nose.
Blue day breaks the dark,
and newcomers arrive.
Lop-Ear, he knows,
but following him is Rose.
Lop-Ear’s sister is peachy pale,
with silky fur and eyes of blue.
The sharp Nor’easter blows,
but does he feel it, old Wet-Toes?
Enchantment is all he knows.
Warmth has the name of Rose.
Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Do you ever see a story in the snow, hear romance in wind song or imagine characters from thin air?
“If you never did you should.
These things are fun.
And fun is good.”
— Dr. Seuss
Thanks to Dr. Seuss for his whimsy, rhyming, hokey bunkum, soft soap, hullabaloo and malarkey. Most of all, thanks to him for making the world a better place.
Happy Birthday, Theodor Seuss Geisel!!
To the final berry,
trembling and silent,
life is scary.
Unchosen,
unpicked,
half-frozen.
Squirrel-missed,
bird-pecked,
sun-kissed.
Little, red and round,
when the snowdrops bloom,
I’ll plant you underground.
Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: My son was at the ER this weekend. My internal compass has been swinging left to right and back again. Upheaval, danger, chaos, progress, crisis. Spring will bring me back into the garden, and life will resume it’s course: toward magic and joy. I hope you are having a magical week. Warmly, Brenda
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