A Toast for 2021

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 21^st 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

Winter Solstice At Midnight

The Darkest Night

It is fairy dark

You can see their

Tiny torches in

The moonless night

Murmurations

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

Stroller Dog

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

Kitten

For the backstory on this poem go to byalannapass.com

Image by the author

How Do You Mourn?

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

As Oregon Burns- a poem

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

Vole Hola

They appeared slowly

Like stars one by one

Vole holes

Holes from voles

Not a rat, nor mouse, nor mole

But a vole

Image courtesy https://www.thetimes.co.uk/

Why Bother

(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

P is for Pandemic

For the backstory on this post visit byalannapass.com

Small Acts of Rebellion

Not flossing before bed

Saying no to the news

Watching a movie first thing in the morning

Poem for Summer Solstice

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

Hanging Laundry

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)

                                   

There is No Such Thing as Disposable

Our discarded things go somewhere

out of sight

trucked onto sprawling piles of stinking garbage

we call landfills

leaching down into groundwater

Trespass

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

New Words on the List

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

Starting Fresh

 

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

 

A Toast for One One Twenty Twenty

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 20^th year of the second decade of the 21^st 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

 

SIX MONTHS

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

Putting the Garden to Bed

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

Beautiful Failures

They are the cracked

The not quite right

Products of my hands

And soul

Victims of experimentation

Poor judgment

Or forces beyond my understanding

In Praise of Bumblebees

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

Poem of a Different Feather

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

 

Missing Out

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?

In Every Seed a Promise

A germ of possibility

Tucked into a tiny package

Waiting to unfurl its cotyledons

Up in the sunlight

From the depths of fertile ground

Dear Universe

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.

April 23

The Earth continues to give

And we take away…

 

Have you thanked the trees

For the house where you stay

And noticed the birds

It’s Not About the Art

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