Category Archives: Poetry Picnic
No Mist Mars Sweet Summer’s Face
No mist mars sweet summer’s face,
Bulky thunderclouds have fled;
I resign myself to joy
In our secret rooftop bed.
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: Casa Baden-Powell, Morelia, Michoacán, México
More Three Word Wednesday: “Bulky, Mist, Resign”
More Share the Joy Thursday
More The Poetry Pantry #101
More Poetry Picnic Week 37
More Ruby Tuesday 2
More REDnesday
Tres por miércoles
Sitting on her porch
swaddled in bulky sweaters,
cocoa calms our tongues.
~~ ~~ ~~
on gossamer wings
mist stealing through the forest—
fragile little bird
~~ ~~ ~~
A wind from the north—
I resign myself to frost
savaging the beans.
© 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Bulky, Mist, Resign”
More The Poetry Pantry #101
More Poetry Picnic Week 37
Only in Our Dreams
Only in our dreams
does the lock begin to sing—
riddles wild and free.
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: A securely locked door, Morelia, Michoacán, México
More Carry on Tuesday: “Only in Our Dreams”
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Haiku Heights: “Lock”
More Poetry Picnic Week 37
More Ruby Tuesday 2
More Macro Monday
More I Heart Macro
More REDnesday
Where’d They Go?
Where’d they go, our mom and dad?
Are they way back there?
We are worried, we are sad,
So we stop and stare.
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: Beside the aqueduct, Morelia, Michoacán, México
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Poetry Picnic Week 37
More Mellow Yellow Monday
More Ruby Tuesday 2
More Blue Monday
More REDnesday
You Know the Way
(This week’s whirling words are: hips, marrow, crocuses, stillness, massive, secret, flower, grief, window, perhaps, hand, clatter, colors)
What do I know of how
to move my hips and blood and marrow
from this place where they are rooted
to a land far, far away?
Perhaps some god’s benevolent hand
will write a set of clear directions on the wall:
“Here is how you know the path to take.
Renounce the empty clatter of your restless heart
and cultivate the stillness of the
secret garden in you,
where crocuses of many colors grow.
Even through the window of your grief
you see them,
along with hidden seeds about to sprout and flower
into an orchard so heavy with fruit
that ten thousand-thousand seasons will not be enough
to gather in the massive harvest.
Go, now, I think you know the way.”
Whirling Haiku and Senryu
The first line of each haiku or senryu below is taken from “August” by Arizona poet Richard Shelton.
This week’s whirling words are: hips, marrow, crocuses, stillness, massive, secret, flower, grief, window, perhaps, hand, clatter, colors
As if she owned them,
she charged her hips to swagger
down the dusty street.
~~ ~~ ~~
bruised moon and darkness
the marrow of the heavens
leaking from cracked bones
~~ ~~ ~~
a great blue peacock
seven golden crocuses—
eight spring gifts for you
~~ ~~ ~~
Our little fingers
settled into stillness,
then formed holy signs.
~~ ~~ ~~
We see her old ship,
its massive sails billowing—
no one at the helm.
~~ ~~ ~~
The lady in black
imparts to me a secret—
I decide to flee.
~~ ~~ ~~
In the market place
she buys a single flower—
then it turns to stone.
~~ ~~ ~~
She wears the postures
of grief and consternation,
mumbling to the fox.
~~ ~~ ~~
over her window
a map of all the sorrows
she has ever known
~~ ~~ ~~
We bring her our hands—
perhaps she can persuade them
to write poetry.
~~ ~~ ~~
With its dark cargo,
my hand is fit companion
for the furtive ones.
~~ ~~ ~~
Run out on the floor
with a clatter and a shout—
Spirit wants to dance!
~~ ~~ ~~
As if they belonged,
the colors settled on us—
lingering spirits.
© 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 57
More Poetry Picnic Week 36
A Wednesday Trio
Lord of the feathers,
do not dampen my pinions
as I cleave the air.
~~ ~~ ~~
You spit in the dirt
to keep my heart from straying,
yet I drift away.
~~ ~~ ~~
Tremble on this ground,
for it is consecrated
by ten thousand tears.
© 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Dampen, Keep, Tremble”
More The Poetry Pantry #99
More Poetry Picnic, Week 34
Are There No Raindrops?
Are there no raindrops
to soothe this tortured landscape
or my trembling heart?
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: Northern Arizona
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Landscape”
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Tackle It Tuesday: “Raindrops”
More Poetry Picnic, Week 34
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
to soothe this tortured landscape
or my trembling heart?
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: Northern Arizona
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Landscape”
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Tackle It Tuesday: “Raindrops”
More Poetry Picnic, Week 34
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
Tortured Landscape
This tortured landscape—
stealthy blooms and stippled fruit—
who could wish for more?
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: Withered prickly pear fruit, Northern Arizona
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Landscape”
More The Thursday Think Tank: “Wish”
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Poetry Picnic, Week 34
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Ruby Tuesday 2
More Macro Monday
More I Heart Macro
More REDnesday
stealthy blooms and stippled fruit—
who could wish for more?
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: Withered prickly pear fruit, Northern Arizona
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Landscape”
More The Thursday Think Tank: “Wish”
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Poetry Picnic, Week 34
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Ruby Tuesday 2
More Macro Monday
More I Heart Macro
More REDnesday
Only for an Hour
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
Psalm 103:15-16, King James Version
Only for an hour
blossoms tame or wild flower,
then they fade away.
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: An iris in bloom, Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado, Arizona
More Poetic Bloomings: “Returning to the Soil”
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Sunday Scribblings: “Wild”
More Poetry Picnic, Week 34
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Haiku Heights: “Hour”
More Mellow Yellow Monday
More Floral Friday Fotos
blossoms tame or wild flower,
then they fade away.
Text and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Photo: An iris in bloom, Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado, Arizona
More Poetic Bloomings: “Returning to the Soil”
More Straight Out of the Camera Sunday
More Sunday Scribblings: “Wild”
More Poetry Picnic, Week 34
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Haiku Heights: “Hour”
More Mellow Yellow Monday
More Floral Friday Fotos
More Macro Monday
More Blue Monday
More I Heart Macro
