Baobab World

The world is a baobab

teeming with life and water

without water it shrivels

and dies

[Ibu Batuta an Arab explorer in East Africa saw a baobab and recorded it in his 14th century travelogue

botanist Alpino in 1592 ate the fruit while in Egypt and called it Bahobab from the Arabic buhibab which means many-seeded fruit

French explorer Michal Adanson observed a baobab in 1749 on the island of Sor in Senegal recognized the fruit described by Alpino and called it baobab]

Now the singing tree of superstition is alive

and filled with water

holding perhaps 12,000 gallons

replenishes itself in the rainy season

kuokoa

who stops the rain?

bwana anaokoa

Oh singing tree of superstition

bark taking water in

smooth bark

leaves like a vegetable

everything here for survival

pulp of the seed like candy

ciru

beautiful inside and out

qualities that go forward into the ages

living thousands of years

Oh singing tree

withering prophet

speak for the world

tuokoe

save us

Oh singing tree that gives blessings

and curses

in you there is life

__________________

NaPoWriMo Day 8 “Twenty Little Poetry Projects”

Advertisement

Let Go

let go

of love

and death—

you think

too much—

when love comes

you will be joyous—

when death comes

you will be ready

_______________

NaPoWriMo Day 6 prompt inspired by Portuguese poet Vasco Graça Moura and his poem a dog for pompeii

Swimming

I went out into the sea

ready to die

waves crashing at my knees

salt water lifted me

I was made alive

beach walk brought me home

sand sucked my toes

sun on skin

and out on the horizon

the boatman comes

Crossroads

“My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” Mars rover Opportunity

I slept deeply under the strawberry moon

had dreams of your fear of traffic

you would not cross the highway

even though the signs were clear

you were lying on the sidewalk

unable to get up and move

while I was at the other side

waiting and calling

I had to go on

alone

_______________

dVerse prompt using a quote from a list. I loved the quote from the Mars rover.

The Magpies

When just a boy

his Aunt Eva sat at table

playing cards with her friends

they called themselves The Magpies

and he crawled beneath

among their sequoia legs

while over head the squawking

of the birds

At the internment of this aunt

one lone magpie

flew into the small cemetery

as if to say

I am here

I am here

remember me

______________

dVerse prompt to write a corvid poem

The Fig Tree

In Sunday School I learned about the big red apple of original sin in the garden. How Adam and Eve ate thereof. Caste out. Ashamed. Hid from God. What I didn’t learn— it was really a fig. They ate a few. Clothed themselves in fig leaf. Hid from God. Caste out. Separated from God. How Jesus went to the fig tree for food and finding none, he said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” Explanation mark. A curse that lifted a curse. And the tree withered and died.

Jesus new Adam

the sin of man forgiven

reunite with God

________________

NaPoWriMo Day 29 prompt on curses.

This is how the end comes

This is how the end comes.

It is wrapped in silver like a gift.

The gift is most welcome,

eager to see what is inside.

Inside was not what I wanted.

It was full of memory.

Each memory had a story.

They played inside my head.

The head was filled with irrelevance,

as I sought for the divine.

What could be more sought after

than a life of heartfelt love?

In love with the only One—

this is how the end comes.

____________

NaPoWriMo Day 27 prompt to write a duplex sonnet.

Zombies

Night of the Living Dead was a scary movie I saw when I was a teenager. It was even scarier driving past a cemetery on my way home that night. The plot line resembles Walking Dead— cannibalistic zombies walking around attacking and eating people. Walking Dead is in the eleventh and final season of guts flying and spilt brains and many ways to slow down, trap, and kill a zombie, not to mention the unraveling of society and its attempt at restructuring.

taking from the past

brings unimagined seasons

fuels a greater fear

____________________

dVerse prompt on a fear that was experienced— my experience with zombies has only been in movies

More Than I Know

I

Woke this morning

cloudy with chance of rain

brown of death hanging

from trees

waiting to fall

II

Inside where it is warm

oven holds greater heat

melts the butter

sugar and flour and eggs

holds the cookie together

III

A child pets the dog

soft fur under her hand

rising and falling with breath

curious to greet

this nonhuman being

IV

Preparing for winter

I mend the armscye

thread moves through fabric

brings together these parts

making it whole again

V

There is much more to life

than what I know—

enter from the inside out

breathe deeper

rejoice

_________________

dVerse prompt on cadralor— five part poem each part can stand alone. Parts seemingly unrelated. Fifth part brings wholeness.

Heart

This muscle

pumps

babump babump

I can feel it

in my fingertips

babump babump

if it stops

flow of blood

no babump babump

other organs

cannot survive

without babump babump

will make me cold

and rigid

come back babump babump

fill my heart again

_____________________

dVerse prompt is a quadrille using the word heart.