tenWord Winter

    Photo by Mary Bach

Tracking my grief

through winter woods

this all looks familiar

       ~ ~ ~

Time stops

in the winter temple

drifting at the door

       ~ ~ ~

We shiver

in the winter room

while dreaming of green

       ~ ~ ~

As dusk curls

around my shoulders

stars beckon me, "Come!"

These are ten word poems about winter, sort of.  The tenWord from is in response to Victoria's dVerse prompt.  The form itself is from another member, Brian, who (rightly) stated,     "...after ten words no one is listening anyway." The subject of winter is from Fireblossom at Real Garden with Imaginary Toads.  I'm not sure if I quite captured the human emotion she asked for but, oh well!

Cabin Fever

February in Wisconsin

gets old.

This is time for tropical vacations,

this is why we are the fifth drunkest state

in the US.

Outside it’s snowing fluriously;

not the fresh, hopeful snow of December,

not the ‘each-flake-a-unique-miracle’ snow,

or even the big flakes children cut with

blunt-nosed scissors

to decorate classrooms…

just more damn snow

This is for G-man's Flash Friday 55.  Go check it out.  And, just for the record, this has been a very mild winter in Wisconsin, not much snow at all.  In fact yesterday it was about 45 degrees F (which is just not right).  It's just that 'cabin fever' time of year.

Image from stillwatertheatre.org

Brrrrds

Chillin’ with my peeps

January in Wisconsin

Cool man, really cool

*Photo by me

Dark December

In her holy dance

Earth turns away,

            from light

            from warmth

            from life

With each inspiration

of cold, sharp air

lungs ache

Visible breath,

ghost at the lips,

dissipates

leaving jewels of condensation

on all it touches

The austere landscape

is covered by

a night sky

of extravagant beauty,                       

hung with pulsing diamonds

As we run

tears freeze in our eyes

cold burns our ears

we taste darkness;

            no light

            no warmth

            no life

Yet this is the dark of hope-

the cold that sets the bulbs- 

the death that brings resurrection   

What are we running from?

Grace surrounds us.


This is a poem I wrote some time ago, which I am linking to Poets United for their prompt Winter.  Check out their site here: PU Thursday Think Tank I highly recommend it!

Then Winter - Poetry Potluck

This is one I wrote some time ago. It's a cold, misty day today, which feels just right for this. I also think it fits, sort of, into the poetry potluck category.


Then Winter

Trees stand cold as iron;
Mist, like tattered souls
Wraps ‘round limbs,
Blows through branches,
Gathers and swirls
Thick in one spot
Above the pond.

From the center rises
A ghost-pale woman,
Hair and eyes grey like smoke.
She whisks off
In a great hurry;
Translucent robes
Stream out behind.
She is bone-cold
And world weary
There is anguish in her eyes -
No ‘rest in peace’ for her.

She is wind,
Blue-grey and icy,
Chasing autumn south,
Making way for winter,
Frost at her heels.
She must rush
Or it will encase her
In a brittle, crystalline statue of herself -
Then winter…winter.

Winter Haikus #1-3

Have been reading Julie & Julia, and realized right off that it's quite different from the movie that inspired me to start this blog. I am fast coming to the realization that even though her blog was wildly popular, mine will differ from Julie Powell's in several important ways. For starters, I will not be writing about the condition of my uterus, ovum or any other details from my gynecological exams (she does in the book, see pages 5 and 6, just fyi). Another difference is that mine will have the word f*** markedly less. I'm not a linguistic prude or anything, it's just that I think use of that word decreases with the addition of children into one's life. And if you checked out pages 5-6 of J&J out of curiosity from the above reference, you will know that she didn't have children - at least when she wrote that. Of course there will also be less food, which is a shame, because when writing about cooking there are all kinds of terrible, embarrassing and highly entertaining accidents to write about. Whereas, when reporting on messing up the cadence of a line of iambic pentementer is much more difficult to make it sound interesting. But, be that as it may, I press on.

Here are a few haikus to start things off.
(Quick reminder: haiku is a 3 line poem with 5 syllables in the first and third lines and 7 in the second)

Haiku #1

Bright hanging dagger
Sparkling as it threatens
The icicle falls

Haiku #2

Soft, gentle water
Expanding as it freezes
Overcomes hard steel

Haiku #3

Cold, white, sparkling
Rests the snow beneath my feet
Crunching with each step

And yes, this is Wisconsin in winter - brrrrrr!