Category Archives: Three Word Wednesday
Whole Again
She is whole again,
the brutal disease vanquished—
no more feasts of tears.
~~ ~~ ~~
She is whole again,
no longer having to grope
her way through darkness.
~~ ~~ ~~
She is whole again—
the transfer from death to life
water in her cup.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Verse First: “The Cure”
More Three Word Wednesday: “Brutal, Grope, Transfer”
Ragged Flute Player
Ragged flute player,
if I douse your doleful notes,
will you seek revenge?
~~ ~~ ~~
Ragged flute player,
as you pipe your naughty notes,
monks begin to dance.
~~ ~~ ~~
Ragged flute player,
did you summon the pale horse
and its pale rider?
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Verse First: “Patterns”
More Three Word Wednesday: “Douse, Naughty, Pale”
Singing to the Wind
Singing to the wind,
I heave a sigh, and wonder
why I’m out of tune.
~~ ~~ ~~
Singing to the wind,
the crone begins to ponder
her next cunning move.
~~ ~~ ~~
Singing to the wind—
what sort of song is valid
for a nor’easter?
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Heave, Ponder, Valid”
Three Breaths
The dance and the feast
will backfire on the hostess,
so the weird guest says.
~~ ~~ ~~
In Pandora’s box
lurked creatures to embarrass
and harass the world.
~~ ~~ ~~
To tell good stories,
you must have a taste for words—
sweet and bitter, both.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Backfire, Embarrass, Taste”
In the Reading Room
In the reading room,
a girl chooses a drab book
from the lowest shelf.
~~ ~~ ~~
In the reading room,
three ancient volumes pulsate
with dark runic rhymes.
~~ ~~ ~~
In the reading room,
she finds a tiny tendril
curling round one word.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Drab, Pulsate, Tendril”
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Freestyle” (Poet’s Choice)
Enough
In my wilderness walks, I often come across piles of trash left by thoughtless humans. Today I stumble upon a tangled mess of bedsprings and old fence wire, fixing it with an icy glare. Who would dare to brag about cluttering the landscape with their castoffs? If I were to speak to the perpetrators, my words would not be polite. This stuff will be here for all to see until rust consumes it. This tangled mess will desecrate the desert for years. Paradoxically, it also gives birth to a poem:
On these rusty springs
silk sheets are superfluous—
driven sand will do.
Who slept in this now worthless bed—a grizzled old rancher and his wife of forty years? Maybe their three young children huddled together for warmth on cold winter nights. I will never know. But the wind and the sun and the stars know. And that is enough.
More Friday’s Fences
More SkyWatch Friday
More Carpe Diem: “Silk”
More Three Word Wednesday: “Brag, Icy, Polite”
Older than Words
No matter where I go in the world, I seek wild places. If I cannot find wilderness, then a place where there are more plants than people will do. Wandering through the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin one icy, grey January day, I imagine how this expanse looked when the Vikings invaded Ireland in the 8th century: “wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern” (Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Inversnaid”). Wild oaks clawed at the stars. Brambles raked the backs of unwary beasts. And then came humans:
Long ago the heath
was tamed into a garden
dotted with duck ponds.
Still, there are whiffs of wildness in this place: the raven, bragging of its exploits; the lugubrious willow, mourning the loss of its summer finery; even the eastern breeze trying to be polite as it rustles the reeds. By a language older than words, my soul is restored.
More Himmelsk
More Carpe Diem: “Heath”
More Ein Stück Himmel #56
More Three Word Wednesday: “Brag, Icy, Polite”
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Traditional Nature Theme”
This Is Not Your Time
This is not your time—
painting dismal desert scenes
with a twisted brush.
~~ ~~ ~~
This is not your time—
all the luscious fruit is gone,
stolen by the crows.
~~ ~~ ~~
This is not your time—
even a Belgian waffle
could have told you that.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Dismal, Luscious, Waffle”
In the Photograph
In the photograph
she is focused on her hair—
golden, flowing stream.
~~ ~~ ~~
In the photograph
a pair of apple trees bloom,
never bearing fruit.
~~ ~~ ~~
In the photograph
she stares out with vacant eyes—
no one knows her name.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Focused, Pair, Vacant”
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Photograph”
The Shepherds’ Story
Shepherds, an echo
from the angel’s startling words
makes you sore afraid.
Shepherds in the field,
all your hardship ends this night
with the angels’ song.
Shepherds from the field,
enter the stable softly,
falling on your knees.
A fuller version of this story can be found in Luke 2:1-20
© 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Echo, Hardship, Softly”
