Marveling at your bird app
Mimic sounds of a species
Make a tufted titmouse sing
Move in on a sandhill crane
Mating call is now released
Menacing drop of its head
Mark your retreat with rigor
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dVerse prompt to use the Pleiades form—
seven lines, each line has seven syllables and must start with the first letter of the one word title (true story about my husband and his birding)
I remember sleeping out under the stars during a Girl Scout campout. It was an open area, few light pollutants and a cloudless night. I learned the North Star (Polaris), the dippers both Big and Little (Ursa Major and Minor), Cassiopeia, and as we lay on our sleeping bags looking up, a cross directly above us. The scout leader shone a flashlight into the direction she wanted us to look and we could follow her light to the next star or constellation.
Decades later I woke on my cot in the middle of the night. I was at the Upper Tanner on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. New moon. Deep sand. It was so hot, I lay naked on my sleeping bag. I couldn’t sleep, watched the Milky Way, and saw Pleiades rising.
under this one sky
a circle magnificent
above or below
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dVerse prompt to write a haibun of an experience in the natural world that influenced your life. Going through the Grand Canyon on a rafting trip grounded my life to the power of nature (God).
November pulls the daylight shorter
crisp long shadows
a cool moon
hallways of justice écho
will there be unfaithful electors
in this month of political aspiration
migrating birds begin their journey
when there is snow on the ground
they will come to the feeder
Today the hawk came
perched on the fence
I do not want to witness
hawk swooping
to squirrel or bird
or my small dog
the hawk
ready
with talons
and hunger
___________
dVerse prompt on November combined with prompt on witnessing
THOSE stories we tell—
PALE riders going from
FLOWERS to flowers—
MIGHT return before dawn
STILL busy depositing eggs—
HAVE this one last task
TIME & fulfillment
TO perpetuate a species
FRUIT for thé next generation
—————————
dVerse prompt to use this line by Karina Borowicz—
« Those pale flowers might still have time to fruit. »
The luna moth lacks a mouth so it cannot fed. Its purpose is to mate and lay eggs, which is done in six to ten days before it dies.
Image from the Field Book of Insects, 1918
outside
eaves dropping rain
then
a torrent
(no gutters)
inside
sound of rain
on roof
makes river
plummeting down
(no gutters)
outside
Florida squall
passes over
lightning strike
tree down
then gone
(no gutters)
inside
sound of dripping
from ceiling
must have
a leak
_____________
dVerse quadrille on eavesdropping. Had a fast storm the other day.
Beach hikes are the best because there is no elevation. I can walk for miles, barefooted, sand between my toes and shells strewn along the way. Waves repeating melody cancels the cares of the world, healing power of sound and saltwater.
Except in some beaches of Portugal where the hike to the small beach among rugged cliffs is near impossible. A road leads down, the surf pounds and beware of being pulled under.
In Crete the road winds along sharp curves, narrow, sometimes one lane, for miles going down until finally, there is an expanse of beach, pink sand and clear water.
in any season
this offering to the land
brought by the sea
..…when it is over said and done…..
I packed my bags before the way out was too distant. The longer I stayed the greater the possibility of maybe this time, maybe tomorrow, I would walk out the door. This time would be different; a perfect opportunity, a break through in a time of near disparition.
It had been five months since I had traveled. Was flying safe? Was driving safe? Would I accidentally walk into someone else’s sneeze? Touch a surface that hadn’t been Cloroxed? Where would I eat? How will I get water?
So many questions and now a hurricane was rolling through the gulf. Evacuating made it possible. Evacuating blew me out of the house, into the car and down the road. Evacuating meant I could leave everything behind in an instant, hoping I will return another time.
____________________
dVerse prompt on verbing. Evacuating— evacuate now— so many people evacuating from fire and hurricane. I was planning on leaving before the need to evacuate. Quote from Allison Adele Hedge Coke from “A Time”
Leaves fall
from pepper plants
sweet banana
jalapeño
ghost and scorpion
Habaneros did just fine
picked with gloves
slit seeded and diced
cooked outside in two cups water
don’t touch your eyes
Add vinegar and blend
into tasty habanero hot sauce
good on everything
____________________
dVerse prompt on a garden quadrille. My garden is a hot mess.
great souls in little bodies—- Virgil Book 4
It was the first death I could remember—-my father’s father, my grandfather. It came as a surprise, an aneurysm, as the family sped on the highway trying to get to the hospital. We were too late. I never saw the body.
How could I make sense of death at such a young age?
When we returned home, I picked the butterflies off of the grill of the car. These were dead, their soft bodies smashed, the wings intact. I took those colorful wings to the garden across the street. I sat under the overgrown asparagus in the corner of Laird’s garden and buried the butterflies one by one.
life is a flicker
mind what is more beautiful
pathway to the rest
____________________
dVerse prompt on how nature plays into our lives. This is a haibun about a death and how nature played a role in how I dealt with that death. I was six years old and loved butterflies.
