Wildflower

Wildflowers in our garden
whilst not a meadow are
nonetheless quite lovely
if not spectacular
From little tiny daisies
to blue and purple there
with bright red in the background
there's little to compare

A Fourth of July 2021 Limerick

In the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers made a statement that is the heart and soul of our great country, a statement that makes America the greatest country in the world –

Jemaiku #1

Syllabic sequence crafted
something that I love
for poetic syntax here
in verse to cherish
and to capture life's essence
in just a few words

Three years…

My birthday bonsai's ready
with its little seeds now sewn
the long haul now the waiting
as three years til it is grown
But I have plenty patience
and contented I will wait
watching as it prospers
and will then anticipate
what when 24 comes round
and sixty-five am I
my little tree will look like
from this my new bonsai

Blank Canvas

The seedling blooms like lavender.
The golden sunlight shines and we
remember all, the way things were.

Forgive, we do, each enemy.
No secret shadows stand today.
Forgive us, too, both you and me.

Now every tear that turned life gray,
that smeared our pasts into a blur,
He’s wiped away, He’s wiped away.

Written for Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip challenge.

One Hundred Sixteen Degrees Fahrenheit

Even the bees pant and drink deeply

in a cluster at the edge of the birdbath

My flowers wilt in the searing heat

dropping their petals to survive

their leaves sunburn

The cats stay under the house

cooled by damp earth

A young pigeon sits on the lawn

in a heat-induced torpor

Lavender by the wall

I didn't plant this lavender
that's growing by the wall
in fact I'm really quite surprised
that it is growing here at all

It must have grown from seed of course
from the crop I grow each year
and a stray stem I must have missed
though I'm careful, let's be clear

To harvest every one of those
as precious they all are
so I'm careful not to miss a one
I'm most particular

Beginning XI

11 of 12 in the ’12 months IV’ series from Jemverse

July the first and summer continues
warming up just a tad I presume
Cos with May the rain
in bucketloads came
which continued cool into June

The golden hour

The golden of the evening
is a lovely thing to see
glistening on forsythia
and shining off its leaves

Particularly through the strands
of our new sunscreen door
colourful it gently sways
which is what we bought it for

And there is birdsong out there
as the sunset it arrives
a joyful song to end the day
and the pleasure it derives

Church Cottage Twitten

Betwixt Church Street and Middle
in the ancient of the town
is 'Church Cottage Twitten'
where I'll often wander down
It's a short cut to the High Street
and it's quiet and very quaint
besides I like the older things
'Cos young though now I ain't

Little yellow

Little yellow very lovely
dainty in the sun
at the bottom of my garden
now the summer has begun

It catches my attention
every time I pass it by
and it's so very gorgeous
that it brings a tear to eye

Tears of joy lest you should worry
for that's what yellows bring
the colour of the sunshine
and 'cos yellow is my thing

Something Jack said

"Are you still writing each day"
Jack said and I grinned
for when wouldn't I
like the blow of the wind
For winds are like breathing
I need them to live
and craft them to lines
the syntax to give
The writing my solace
my 'raison d'être'
and the rest you all know
with my poems right there

A week off

And now I am on holiday
no working for a week
the precious time all of us need
and starting as I speak

I suspect there'll be some sunshine
and some days down on the beach
relaxing at the beach hut
as it is in easy reach

And I'll take in the six-miler
on the hills above my home
as I've not done that in quite a while
so walking skills I'll hone

So good the sun

So good to feel the sun again
and let its warmth envelope me
as I lie down and drift away
at ease and blissfully

So good to see the good it's done
to grass and bush and tree
as growth abundant blossoms
quite unequivocally

Tri-sedoka VII (Thursday)

And so it's Thursday
another week almost gone
but not to wish time away
I still live each day
to its complete fulfilment
for every day is precious

Zip

To give in once may seem OK.
It’s not like we’re addicted so
around the carousel we go.
“Hey, you could leave, but why today?”
Around again we go. We stay
to win the prize, a precious rag.
Our anxious minds want more. They nag
us with new offers: “Want a sip?”
“OK.” “OK?” They now can zip
us tightly in the body bag.

---

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “zip” to be used in a D line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge.

Sussex Trug

Got a Sussex Trug on Father's day
an antique one as well
it really is quite beautiful
and though not keen to dwell
it's something I have wanted
for as long as I recall
something made in Sussex
and from local wood and all

Gardening

The garden's gone ballistic
over just the last few days
with branches full of colour
grown in lots of different ways
It's looking like a jungle
so we'll have to see to that
giving it a summer trim
with branches for the hack

Trees have feelings too

A tree jumped out as I walked by
surprise upon its face
I laughed and smile right back at him
as I passed close by his space

He seemed quite pleased to see me
when the shock had passed away
so we had a conversation
on this lovely sunny day

He said it was polite of me
to stop and give him time
as most just passed and never paused
which borders on a crime

And then came the rain

And then came the rain
close after the sun
a deluge which lasted
for days on the run

The gardeners and farmers
were over the moon
but all the sunbathers
said it was too soon

For the weatherman said
that the heatwave would last
but all of a sudden
it's forgotten and past

An Avoiding Marital Tension Limerick

That is NOT how to do it. This is.

Sunshine VII

Thought I'd missed the sunshine
but thank goodness there it was
the sunspot in the garden
in full sun still there because
although we are north-facing
the setting in the West
gives sunshine in the garden
until six o'clock at best

Celebration

In faded denim, rosy blush,
he offers her a polished stone
from water where the rivers rush.
She knows that she is not alone.
In greens and yellow, alpine light,
Today the festive way is bright.

Inspired by two prompts, Eugenia’s Thursday Prompt and Linda Kruschke’s Paint Chip Challenge.

Born to the sun V

Back in the fifties
and born to the sun
a Thursday's child
knew he had begun

Growing up in the sixties
never sun to eschew
this Thursday's child 
was still nearly new

And then cam the seventies
formative years
a teen to his twenties
with joy and yes, tears

Heatwave

It's been one of those sultry days
that summer sometimes brings
when the sunshine burns intensely
with heat haze shimmerings
and though it's now past five o'clock
there's little respite here
so I feel quite contented
to pour a nice cold beer
And with mock orange fragrance
heady in the air
sit here a little longer
the evening sun to share

Modern Semantics of an Archaic Belief System 1.1

White Christian America ended in the 2010s (nbcnews.com)

Blow

Lot didn’t want to leave that day,
but angels dragged them by the hand.
His daughters didn’t understand.
His wife looked back. She’d have to stay.

“I drifted slowly from the way
through sweet deception. What a blow:
I thought I knew; I didn’t know.
That’s why we’re rushing out of there.
We heard the screaming in the air,
but it has stopped. We have to go.”

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “blow” to be used in a C line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC in this week’s challenge. I was thinking about Lot and Sodom from Genesis 19.

The man in the mirror

The man in the mirror
looks back at me
he is a lot older now
He's seen a few things
but still his heart sings
despite the lines on his brow

Maybe he's wiser
and maybe he's not
it's something I'd not really know
but he'll never leave
his own joie de vivre
so he's happy to go with the flow