Category: Poetry

Categories
Nature Writing Poetry

Magnolia Buds

Magnolia Buds

by Gerardine Baugh 

 

 

Green buds grew overnight

The weather had warmed

Lying to the flowers,

Bushes and trees

It called out

Spring is here

Gliding around the house

The winds softly sighed

And repeated the rumor

Green buds appeared

Soft, fuzzy, avocado green

Buds the size of my finger tips

This worried me,

Freezing winds stung my face,

Burning my bare hands

Ice had recaptured the ground

Winter is suppose to solidify

Send life to sleep

And then, reawaken it in spring

Not freeze and refreeze

Green buds and weakened roots

Exposed to water and ice

Damage can be done

They will shiver and shake, and

Continue to sleep

When spring really does arrive

Underneath the magnolia

I stepped onto the ice

Unsteady and thin

It cracked

Cold,

Cold water

Ran over and in to my shoes

I shivered

*
*
This is for Jingles, “Thursday Poets’ Rally!”

http://jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/thursday-poets-rally-week-3-jan-28-feb-3-2010/

Categories
Nature Writing Poetry

Winter’s Song~A Whisper Of Spring

Tinkling icicles

dangle heavily on branches

glistening in bridal white and

looking glass silver

wisp of a breeze

radiates musical waves

vibrations

that dance across the snow

stirring out dreams

that teeter

on the edge

of cold and

ice

awaiting

the sun to melt its prison

warm its roots and

route its

life’s blood coursing

upward

into its stem

pushing out

 budding flowers

between spring’s

sweet

green

leaves

it will exhale…

and pollinate wanderlust

a breath

of warm caressing

air

Pressed between pages

of music

penned for tomorrows

melody

for now I watch

and listen

to winters song

Set inside

a crystalline tree

of chimes

*

*

*

Written for jingles- Call for Thursday Poet’s Rally

http://jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com/

Categories
Poetry

The Horizon Touches The Sky

I wrote this May 1, 2007- I re-edited today-

I live in the mid west, so the horizon touches the sky

Not like in the Rockies where the land raises up to the heavens

 I was walking my dogs, and feeling down…

 Zeus and Uriah ran off to chase a chipmunk… 

Sampson walked slowly next to me

He had a hard day today

The heavy air brought on grand maul seizures, three to be exact

The bump on his head was larger

So he was moving slowly

I parroted him as we made our way around the yard

I turned and looked into the setting sun

With my hand on Sampson’s head

We stood, and watched 

The sky was bright with orange streaks

With shadowy clouds below

That barely touched the tree line on the horizon

Darker clouds stretched out in a half circle then moved outward

I kept staring, thinking

I was missing something

Something bigger than myself

The colors were changing, glowing pink then deeper red

The darker clouds stayed in the same pattern

I felt I was on a shoreline

Looking out over water

Off to the right a pier stretched out into the waves

And then beyond that, more water until it reached the far shore

At this moment, this place was real

It existed

This place of deep heavy colors

Gold, orange, reds and pinks, dark blue and purples

Colors blanketed me, with hope

Sampson sighed…

Then moving slowly in the fading light

He headed to the pond

Where he hesitated

For only a second

Then stepped into the mirror like water

Startling a duck that flew off quacking towards the setting sun

The Frogs stayed and shared his swim

Thirsty, he drank from the pond, loud and sloppy

Then slowly, extricated himself from the muddy bottom

He turned and looked up at me

Pleased I was there

Then raced up the bank

Flopped onto the green grass and

Rolled around like he was in heaven

 

 

*Sampson had to be put to sleep because of a brain tumor; December 5, 2007 . 

This dog literally saved my life. I will write about that. He was  smart, sweet, gentle and very big.

Categories
Nature Writing Poetry

I wanted a bowl of chicken soup with carrots for lunch

I wanted a bowl of chicken soup with carrots for lunch. So, I took an old colander out to the garden. Kneeled, and carefully pulled up the small carrots. Their tops were still green and healthy looking. The Taproot, a tasty dark orange

This past spring, I had planted a six foot long line of carrots. They grew slowly and perfect, except I planted them a little to close together. Next springs carrots will be spaced apart more evenly.

Carefully I wiggled them loose like a child’s tooth. I have only half a foot remaining in the row.

It was easier than I thought to grow carrots.

Water a little,  weed a little, and then leave them alone.

This year, I have sliced them thinly and cook them into canned soups, homemade soups, and packaged dry soups. I have made beef stews and ‘any vegetable on hand’ soup.

I added the vegetables,  the garlic along with the onions and tomatoes, parsley and potatoes. All were grown in my garden.

The potatoes were a surprise. I had mixed in assorted vegetable peels and egg shells from the kitchen.  I was amazed to see potatoes growing with a dozen strawberry plants. I didn’t plant those either! They came from a couple of fresh, rotting strawberries thrown in around July.

Using  tree leaves  I  covered a large part of the garden in preparation of winter. I planned on moving the strawberries to a different section this coming spring. That idea may change; I have all winter to mull it over.

I pulled out two dozen finger sized carrots; they were growing in a massive clump. I broke off the tops and tossed the them in the mulch pile.  I tried and failed to remove all the dirt. I scrapped off as much as I could. I really don’t need to clog my kitchen drains with mud.

We have had a few frosts already. I was surprised we haven’t had a foot of snow. Some of the carrots have some frost damage; they are a reddish orange color. I set those on the side to be mulched.

I creaked and groaned as I got to my feet, looked up at the blue sky and walked into the house to make myself some soup.

Uriah decided to stay behind and started  hunting  the rat that lives around his kennel.

Clean up and sliced carrots

A quarter of an onion chopped

Rive one clove of garlic from bulb

Relish with a Pinch of salt, and pepper

Olive oil to sauté, Swanson chicken broth

Two skinless chicken breasts simmer till done

Carrot picture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrots

Categories
Nature Writing Poetry

Peace with nature

Its mid-morning, pale baby blue sky, painted with wisps of white clouds, the air is no longer cold, just cool. On the path the grass is about three inches tall and it shimmered in the morning light. Drew drops were everywhere, glinting along the gnarled fence post, to slipping slowly off bare branches.

If I had to describe this morning with one word, it would be ‘peaceful.’

I watched a family of Blue Jays glide noiselessly through the trees to the North. When I was spotted, a single long whistle announced me as trouble. Very similar to the whistle I use to call for Uriah. I whistled back at the bird, smiled and moved on.

I snapped my fingers at Uriah, and we headed for the path. Uriah ran in circles and headed into up the incline to the south, the scent he caught was over powering to him. He had to find it! He didn’t… I could smell a faint a faint musky order it lingered over the damp ground. I knew the animal was no longer here. Finally, Uriah figured that out and came back to me; immediately he pushed off in the opposite direction when a new smell caught his attention.

 A Red-tailed Hawk screeched in the trees to the north. His call reverberated in the morning air. Blue Jays answered with their danger whistle and the Hawk screeched back at them.

Both are extremely beautiful birds. The bright blue of the  Jays and the intense pride of the hawk, for me, their voices carried the soul of the land.

That may sound corny. Yes! But standing here listening, takes me back to my grandmother’s house, and brought me peaceful feel to the day, to this moment.

Peace is more than a word, a thought, or a phrase. It is a way of living. In nature, animals come together to drink from the same pond without killing each other. Just for the sake of replenishing their thirst…?  Or, is it more than that?

Nature is calling out today! With the same whistles, growls, screeches and yelps as yesterday. A peaceful coexistence, caught in a split second where I can connect with the land.

Tomorrow may rage a storm so severe the trees could be ripped up from their roots. This moment of peace, this moment is all I have right now. I am enjoying it immensely.

I have been playing with acrostic poetry.

 Peace

Place yourself within nature

Embrace your creative arc

Actualize your personal Mecca

Confidence regained in solitude

Enliven a past friendship

 

 

 

Picture from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_hawk

Categories
Nature Writing Poetry Rambling

Curiosity can always get to me, and today is not an exception

Curiosity can always get to me, and today is not an exception.

corn 

The farmers haven’t cut down the feeder corn,yet and I find it so mysterious, scary and beautiful all at the same time. When I get enamored by a thought I will end up acting on my curiosity, which is how I ended up wandering around my fallen, barbed wire fence, and standing in the sinking mud to get a, “good look” at the corn field. 

 There are other plants that grow along the edges of a corn field; Milkweeds, Queens Anne’s Lace and a multitude of weeds that as you step past them will deposit burs in your clothing, hair and along your ankles connecting to your socks and shoes making it a treat to remove.

None of that mattered.

  I wanted stand next to the towering rows of corn.

Golden, browns and beiges streaked with green and yellows stood in formation. The large ears of corn still connected to the stalks. Some of the corn had deep orangey, yellow kernels peeking out. This is not the type of corn that if you squeeze a kernel with your nail it will pop a milky sweet juice.   These kernels are hard. They may end up as Ethanol, livestock feed, a starch, sweetener or for use in fermentation.  

 I could see where a passing deer, or a hungry raccoon, possum, or Badger ripped off some ears and carried them onto my property and under a bush to feast. A few kernels were on the ground. I knew from years of walking around here, that tomorrow morning if I were to check they would be gone, eaten.

 Pulling my feet from the mud, with a distinct gooey sound I stepped next to the first row of corn stalks, and looked up, at their waving tops. I tried to focus on the rows deeper into the field. They were so thick I could only see two ahead of me, and then they blended together like a wallpaper field, or a movie set with either zombies, or dreams being chased way.

“Hey Uriah can you chase away a Zombie?” I laughed as Uriah looked around nervously. “I guess not.” I signed as he seemed to take offense by ducking his head and starring at the ground. 

The bitter smell of brown wet leaves, moved around me. Then drifting past as the wind picked up, racing the rain clouds into another county, allowing the sun to spread across my face.  The sky brightened with white puffy clouds and a deep blue sky.

This is the moment I relish! The tops of this corn field wave around me as I stood quietly. Here in my old, mud covered gyms shoes, with wet socks while something crawls down my back.  I am happy.

Corn moves my car…and then

My attitude

Sweetens my dinner… and

My desserts

Then eases through my digestive track

To return

Looking as if it never left

 

 

 

“Illinois Corn”

http://www.ilcorn.org/uploads/documents/uploader/184It%20Begins%20with%20a%20Kernel.pdf

“National Corn Growers Association” 

http://lepton.marz.com/ncga/comm_dev_center/index_PG.asp

“Kane County Farm Bureau”

http://www.kanecfb.com/links.html