Where The Heart Is

The pink hibiscus tree
Was so small
And now it's not
There
At all
Instead brick
That glows in
Pink time
Painted on the
Pavers and pond
Spread by setting sun
So thick feels
Like you can breathe
It in
Star gazing
Fish catching
Friends laughing
Watching
Trees and children
Grow towards the sky
Or just the wind
Shaping smiles on the pond
Dorothy had it right
Home is Oz-some

Okay, so she didn't say that :-)  Was in my head when I woke up this morning and it made me laugh, hope you get a grin from it too. 25 years in one place, nearly all of it renovated by now (except that one bathroom off the kitchen...). Love looking out the kitchen window at the pond (photo is my view).  We were married here, tons of kid birthdays, etc. Lots of memories, and 3 hurricanes where the landscape was debris, and not so pretty.  Mary at dversepoets, dversepoets.com asked us to describe one of our favorite places and this is definitely one of mine. Also shared with my friends at Poets United Poetry Pantry, poertryroll.blogspot.com.

Lover's Leap

Perhaps I felt

The fractures

Fault-rumble

And when he

Got that job offer

Three thousand miles

From everything/one

I loved

Closed my eyes

And leapt

Tried to

Keep together

But not enough

Of me survived

The trip

This is tale of sacrifice for commitment-my naïve move to Florida from the Golden State of California, for my then husband, thinking things would be fine—left best job, best friends, best weather for worst job, no friends and awful weather. But I stayed, because I did eventually find love...(and a good job and good friends...) offered up for the prompt of Sacrifice at Poetry Jam poetryjaam.blogspot.com, Laurie's first night (yay Laurie!) and for prompt of Committed at Poets United (yay Kim!) (felt like I should be committed after I moved to FL) poetryblogroll.blogspot.com and also shared with OLN at dversepoets.com where we are all committed to sharing :-)

Yes I Am

They said

You acted like a kid

I laughed and answered

Yes, I did!

I want to live joyously

I’ll oooh and ahhh

Frequently

I’ll laugh out loud

And

Skip and play

No matter what

Other people say

I’ll lick my fingers

If they’re sweet

And smile at everyone

I meet

I’ll hug my friends

Squeeze them tight

And shout in delight

At the stars at night

I’ll spin spin spin spin

Till I’m dizzy and fall

And not care

What anyone thinks

At all

This is offered for Poetic Bloomings where they asked us to write a silly poem--it was supposed to be for a child, but hey, we all are children at heart!...and for Poetry Jam poetryjaam.blogspot.com where Mary asked us to write a "yes or no" poem :-) The answer is Yes!! and...for a shot of Yes at the bar with dversepoets at dversepoets.com Open Link Night-Cheers!

Second Thoughts

Magnificent Photo by Peggy Goetz

I,
have tasted the wind
And pounded wild grass
Into submission
And heard a frisky mare
Next to my pen
While finishing my oats ration
You think you want to
Saddle me?
Think again...

This is offered up for the prompt from Poetry Jam poetryjaam.blogspot.com, where Peggy asks us to write from an animal's point of view and provided this photo that inspired me on the spot! Thank you Peggy :-)

Bird Brain

When you're raised
With the smell of leather case
Snap of latch, and cold, hard metal
Of binoculars
Dog-eared bird books
As company in the back seat
Wonder surrounding all things avian
Is not questioned, it's like breathing

A reflex
To check a flash of feather
Pause and peer
Through light and leaves
Find that bird shape
Check markings and
Mentally file for
Later identification

Though
Most are known
Deposited during decades
Of watching parents point
And classify

Blue jay, Scrub jay, Stellar's jay
Mockingbird, Bushtit,
Yellow rumped warbler,
Tennessee warbler,
Red bellied woodpecker,
Downy Woodpecker,
Red tailed, Red shouldered,
Or Cooper's Hawks

My feet automatically stop
To watch any flock
Fly overhead
Shifting from shadow
To white or color

It's a love forever
Nested in my heart

This is written for the prompt at Poetic Bloomings  poeticbloomings.com  to write about a bird--With parents as birders, that is near impossible.  They are all wonderful to me and every time I see one, it makes my heart lift. Also shared for OLN at dversepoets.com, I'm a bit early, but the early bird....:-)

Cold Truth

Blame it on the
Cold
Or hot chocolate

Arrived at school early
Frozen from the walk
Left for 7-11 and
Hot choc-
olate  (ah!)
Thaw-
ed

Returned on time
But didn't hear the crack
Of the infrac-
tion

Called from class
And was blas-
ted for breaking a rule
I never knew

Lunch break
Serving time
Elbow to elbow
With twenty or so
Fellow
Trouble makers
Rule breakers
In front of Administration
Public humiliation
Was the goal

Instead, learned breaking
Rules
Didn't kill me
Actually fairly arbitrary

Fear of breaking rules
Forever Brok-
en

8th grade there was a rule that once you were on campus you had to stay. Didn't know that:-)  Really was a life changing moment. Even though I'd never done anything wrong, they treated me like I was a "bad kid" which really rankled my sense of injustice-- and then making us stand in a line, was ridiculous--and I didn't die...been breaking rules ever since...thank you to Dani at Poetry Jam poetryjaam.blogspot.com for the excellent prompt to write about breaking rules!

Wind Blown

When the wind

Blows

Through that

Wind-

dow

Sent that

Scent

From long

Ago

Made you

Won-

der, wist-

ful

That

Fist

Full of dreams

Where

Did they go?

A little melon-choly muse today. Got into some wordplay and here's where we ended up. Offered to Poetry Jam for “Danger” with quotes of the danger of not taking chances, and Poets United for Wonder for our favorite place—already wrote about that with my last poem, didn't want to raise your sodium level too high--so slid in a little wondering over lost dreams instead.