Category Archives: Ruby Tuesday Too
Flood
Detail of a carpet in a church in Wellton, Arizona
If a mighty flood should come,
Sweeping through the church’s doors,
Carpets would be overwhelmed
As would all the parquet floors.
When the mighty flood subsides,
Just as in the Bible lore,
There will come an olive branch
From the One who makes waves roar.
Photo and poem © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Flood”
Cardinal
A cardinal on a calendar
first day of the month—
the calendar cardinal
keeps singing yearlong
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
A mask on the wall
Mask on the bathroom wall of artist Anado McLauchlin, La Cieneguita, Guanajuato, México
A mask on the wall of the bath
Represents such unholy wrath
That bathers do quake,
And shiver and shake,
While viewing the mask in the bath.
Limerick and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Masks”
Blue Monday: Stars
Detail of a patriotic wreath for sale in a New Mexico gift shop
Photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Clerking
lipsticks on the left
hairspray on the right
a narrow aisle between them
clerking in a white smock
she squeezes her hips
through the straits
looking for something
a customer wants
seldom does she walk home
after her shift is over
without wondering how she can
do this chore for the rest of her life
the wisp of a dangling spider web
sticks to her left eyelash
startling her out of her reverie
and she brushes it away
along with her thoughts
More Sunday’s Whirligig #118
More Poetry Pantry #360 at Poets United
War
Cholla cactus blossoms at daybreak, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Southern Arizona
You’d think that a cactus would welcome the light.
Instead, it was fighting with all of its might
The vanishing darkness, the lengthening day—
How strange was the battle I saw by the way!
The battle continues, or so I am told;
The stones and the sands repeat stories of old.
The warring goes on between darkness and light,
With cactuses getting caught up in the fight.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “War and Peace”
Gifts
Puerto Nuevo, Baja California Norte, México
gifts from the ocean
strewn along a sandy beach
free for the taking
Haiku © 2017 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Ocean(s)”
Her birthday
Painting of a grand celebration (maybe a birthday!), Prescott Public Library, Prescott, Arizona
Her birthday,
crammed with memories,
one in particular:
rising at the meadowlark’s song
to walk across the dew-drenched grass,
her feet bare and cold and wet,
humming little nonsense tunes
to greet the light, bolder now
than when she’d left the house,
turning to see him at the window,
her ancient father;
how small he looks,
how like a cattail reed,
brown and brittle
at summer’s end—
and then he is falling,
clutching at his breast,
sailing off beyond the morning light,
the midday light, every light
there ever was or will be.
Pulling her phone from her skirt
pocket, she calls her friend:
“It’s over now. Come.
Come quickly.”
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Sunday’s Whirligig #114
More Poetry Pantry #356 at Poets United
No smoking
A warning to smokers at the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, Yuma, Arizona
No smoking in the garden—
You’ll kill the tender plants!
No smoking in the garden—
You’ll chase away the ants!
Tobacco smoke is deadly
To people, beasts, and plants,
So, put away your ciggies,
And do the smoke-free dance!
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Smoking Tobacco”
From the ashes
Ocotillo blossoms during the spring 2017 “super bloom,” Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
Although these blooms are lovely,
They will not come again;
Blasted by the desert heat,
They vanished with the wind.
Yet I believe the promise
That beauty will arise
From the ashes of these blooms
To grace the desert skies.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
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More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Flowers”
