Not Closed

For De’s Quadrille Prompt over at dVerse Poets Pub and for Positive Prompted Poetry.  The word for today is “closed”.

 

Not Closed
“The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing.” — S. Brown

small business and restaurants
are closed – as is schools
government offices.
I walk around the neighborhood
and smile.
Not closed is the blue sky over head
and the dogwood trees,
the birds singing,
small yellow butterflies
hovering over dandelions.
lilacs bloom –
Spring is open!

Haibun: My Tree

A haibun for the theme of solitude at dVerse. This is in the style of the original haibun created by Basho – not a lot of description and words. Just the experience.

My Tree
“Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year.”
― Chad Sugg

Being alone in a tree is heaven to me. There is one in our woods I climb on a regular basis. I sit there enthroned in his branches watching the clouds, listening to the sounds of woods creatures around me. In any weather I love sitting alone. Sometimes I take my violin and play for the tree. I think he likes it.
birds fly and make nests –
a fox passes at the base –
seasons pass in my tree.

 

Smells of Home

For Gina’s prompt at dVerse:  Comfort smells of childhood.

Smells of Home
“As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly; you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life–and travel–leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks–on your body or on your heart–are beautiful. Often, though, they hurt.” Anthony Bourdain

Ivory soap – pure white and floating.
My mother scrubbing me clean and later
Mme scrubbing myself clean.
My father shaving off bits with his pocket knife
and putting into a bowl of water to melt
and then blowing soap bubbles.

Fresh laundry – the smell of sun
and later starch, ironed and fresh.
Diving onto the bed and rolling from one side
to the other – reveling in the clean crisp scent.

My grandmother’s lipstick and face powder,
my father’s Old Spice,
my mother’s clean fresh smell
as she came in from the outside.

Smells of cooking fresh green beans,
frying chicken, freshly baked bread,
freshly squeezed lemon juice into the
pitcher of sweet tea,
the fresh coconut cake, the scent
of tomatoes fresh from the vine.

Cedar and pine for Christmas,
oranges and cloves.
Carnations spicy and rich for Valentine’s day
and magnolias in a crystal punch bowl,
roses and honeysuckle and newly mown grass
In the summer.

Smells of childhood take me back to happy times.
Smells to remind me the dead are always with us.

Eres Tu

Today is day 14 of Nannerwomo. Marian has given us our prompt today in the form of a music video about a happy gay wedding – Eres Tu. I was totally unfamiliar with the artist and music video prompts annoy me. so I cut off the sound and loved the video! This reminded me of my wedding day. My husband invited his aunts and uncles, I invited my friend, most of whom come from the LBGT community. Unlike the happy video, his family did not speak to my friends. They had a good time anyway and we all danced and disco’d down. His family left early. My best friend who is a lesbian was actually my husband’s “best man”. Come to Real Toads to read poetry for this poetry month. #30 in 30

Eres Tu
He looked at the picture and realized –
he looked like his father.
His father who disowned him.
He shaved off his beard and looked –
like himself.
Today of all days
he looked like himself –
Happy and at peace
and totally in love.
He stood with his partner
surrounded by friends and grandparents,
by those who truly loved them and wished them well.
The two figures on the wedding cake,
Two grooms –
will be placed in their china closet
to remind them of this happy day.
And that thankfully,
he isn’t his father.

public domain

SamCat sez: International Smile Day

I’m looking for SMILES today!!!!!!   I hope you find ways to make others smile.  I’m going to try my best.    🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Make Every Moment Count

We do not remember days,
We remember moments.

Cesare Pavese

Photo courtesy of Wiki Free Images

Meme…..blast from the past

Oh my, Rickrolling…but dang, what an incredible voice. I had a call tonight from an old old friend and I remember so well the day he sat me on the back steps and lipsynched this song while dancing for me. I should have been brought to tears by his voice, but that hot August afternoon was all I could think of. It wasn’t always tears and regret, so many times, it was just downright fun.

 

あなたは私を笑顔に

Have a smile on me…..

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