January 2, 2021
by Alanna
It’s the season of new
the Earth has spun through the heavens
and arrived at the place we call the beginning
a bookmark we humans have put in the order of things
the New Year, the first day of the first month of the 21st year of the 21st century
All is new, yet all the same
a cycle in a continuum of millennia
yet a comfort that we have a fresh start in our minds
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December 21, 2020
by Alanna
The Darkest Night
It is fairy dark
You can see their
Tiny torches in
The moonless night
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December 7, 2020
by Alanna
I am not fond of starlings
But in late autumn
Sometimes they crowd in the treetops
In a chirping chorus
Like a reunion of relatives
With an abundance of news to share
Who knows what stirs these rather uninspiring birds
To gather in in such a cacophony
Then on queue as if the din is too much
They rise from their perches to find positions
In an undulating dance that wafts over harvested fields.
They dip, swirl and twirl as one body
Thousands of avian forms performing with
Ballet grace in the sky
I pause from my walk to watch with reverence
A celebration?
A spiritual rite?
Scientists still don’t know quite how or why
A mystery
But I know magic when I see it
fot the backstory on this post visit byalannpass.com
artwork by the author
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November 23, 2020
by Alanna
I missed our walkabouts
His cattle dog body
All worn out
So I bought him a stroller
That saw four children grow
Then fixed it up
So he could go
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October 31, 2020
by Alanna
For the backstory on this poem go to byalannapass.com
Image by the author
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October 1, 2020
by Alanna
How do you mourn a forest?
The universe it contains
Tree, fern, fungus, moss
Lichens draping from branches
How do you mourn the creatures?
That lost their lives
Their homes taken in an inferno of flames
Fanned by devil winds
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September 11, 2020
by Alanna
As Oregon burns
A dry wind howls from the east
We extinguish the candles
and do not sleep
As Oregon burns
A black cloud draws across the sky like a flat curtain
Led by the dark horses of the apocalypse
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September 7, 2020
by Alanna
They appeared slowly
Like stars one by one
Vole holes
Holes from voles
Not a rat, nor mouse, nor mole
But a vole
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August 30, 2020
by Alanna
(Credit: RubberBall / Alamy) via bbc.com
To pick up a stray dog
To swerve for a mouse
To vote
To let another cut in front of you
To pick up litter
To eat less meat
To cook
To mend
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August 14, 2020
by Alanna
For the backstory on this post visit byalannapass.com
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July 17, 2020
by Alanna
Not flossing before bed
Saying no to the news
Watching a movie first thing in the morning
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June 21, 2020
by Alanna
I sought the perfect poem
for this longest day
It was a Goldilocks affair-
this poem too flowery
this poem- what does this one have to do
with Summer Solstice?
None were right
I cannot wear the words of these authors
comfortably
So I must write my own poem
of what the Summer Solstice means to me
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June 7, 2020
by Alanna
Bend, lift, snap, pin
repeat
the basket empties
the lines fill
the mind stills
banners of clothing
undulate with the breath
of a June morning
Image by the author
for the backstory of this poem go to byalannaPass.com
Alanna also blogs at One Sweet Earth (sustainability in small steps)
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May 4, 2020
by Alanna

Our discarded things go somewhere
out of sight
trucked onto sprawling piles of stinking garbage
we call landfills
leaching down into groundwater
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April 26, 2020
by Alanna
As I peer through the hole
enlarged by tiny pecks
the bird’s white face gazes up warily
feathers spread wide over her nest
Her eyes plead,
the dark fortress breached
I leave her in peace
never to return
Holding close a sacred memory

Top image by the author, bottom courtesy marthastewart.com
For the backstory on this poem visit byalannapass.com
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April 5, 2020
by Alanna
Food
Water
Shelter
-ing in place
Social-
Distancing
Heads down
Trying to navigate
this new reality
fragile as a teacup
pure survival for some.
Still, words fly fast
through what medium they can
reaching ears
exiting mouths
pencils held in hands
fingers on keyboards
expression
encouragement
words
Food
Water
Shelter
-ing in place
Social-
Distancing
poetry

Image by Pixabay
For the backstory on this poem visit byalannapass.com
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March 15, 2020
by Alanna
Beyond the scope of our perceptions
They live, thrive even
Unseen
The precursors of life
That once rose out of primordial goo
Giving rise to our modern-day selves
In the span of millennia
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January 1, 2020
by Alanna

Image by Alanna Pass
It’s the season of new
the Earth has spun through the heavens
and arrived at the place we call the beginning
a bookmark we humans have put in the order of things
the New Year, the first day of the first month of the 20th year of the second decade of the 21st century
All is new, yet all the same
a cycle in the continuum of millennia
yet a comfort that we have a fresh start in our minds
read more »
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4 Comments »
December 9, 2019
by Alanna
How can I help fill your final days
Of your precious life with beauty?
May we laugh or cry together
sharing memories?
Or should we create more?
May I help you write your stories
And poems to those you leave behind?
So you may say to the world
I lived, I was here
If nothing else
I am here
I am here
to listen
photo by pixabay
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October 31, 2019
by Alanna
Under an intense blue sky
My garden disappears
With each whack of the machete
As I work I discover monstrous cucumbers
Submerged in dying vines like green submarines
And overlooked onions hiding below the straw
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September 24, 2019
by Alanna
They are the cracked
The not quite right
Products of my hands
And soul
Victims of experimentation
Poor judgment
Or forces beyond my understanding
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August 25, 2019
by Alanna
They probe dreamily in the center
Of pie sized yellow flowers that nod towards the east
Keeping me company
As I work in the garden
These tiny winged beasts do their work
Heads up down, up down
Placing in precision their needle-like proboscises
In a sea of stamen and pistil
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August 18, 2019
by Alanna
A cup of steaming tea in hand
From my padded perch with propped up pillows
I gaze out the bay window
Observing morning activity at the feeder
Among the usual finches, chickadees, & nuthatches
Unusual activity catches my eye
A petite junco carefully feeds seeds to a juvenile robin
Three times its size
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July 14, 2019
by Alanna
MISSING OUT
You missed out on all the music
Yes, but did you see the patterns of clouds dancing overhead?
You missed out on all the fun
Yes, but did you see the swallows dart about in the evening sky?
The spotted horse grazing peacefully in the paddock?
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May 27, 2019
by Alanna
A germ of possibility
Tucked into a tiny package
Waiting to unfurl its cotyledons
Up in the sunlight
From the depths of fertile ground
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May 19, 2019
by Alanna

The rhododendrons by my bedroom window
have burst open
globulous booms of bright magenta
glowing against gray skies
of these rainy May days.
Birds are busy about the feeder
occasionally lit up by the fiery orange plumage
of the grosbeaks, who have arrived
from their homes to the South.
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April 24, 2019
by Alanna
The Earth continues to give
And we take away…
Have you thanked the trees
For the house where you stay
And noticed the birds
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April 9, 2019
by Alanna
It’s not about the art
It’s about taking lines for a walk
Splashing in puddles of colors
And playing musical chairs with forms
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