Blog Archives
When I Forgot My Morning Smile
When I forgot my morning smile, the fish reminded me
That every river wants to rush headlong into the sea.
When blackbirds carried messages beyond the barnyard fence,
Five famous people came to see—they paid but seven pence.
If shuffling gets me to my goal, I’ll shuffle day and night,
But barefoot I will have to go—my boots are much too tight!
Remember on the day I die: No wailing is allowed!
Now promise me that buttonholes will decorate my shroud.
Poem © 2021 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Uncommon Questions
What do night, an owl, and a rose
have in common?
Do the birds know what caused
the sun to rise this morning?
If you found the caws of crows
in an oak tree,
would you leave them there
or put them in your pocket?
Why are you perched in the oak,
ready to flee?
More Sunday’s Whirligig #133
More Poetry Pantry #375 at Poets United
Books
A boulder surrounded by birdsong in a remote location, Apache County, Arizona
Some books I found in passing
Contained disturbing words:
The end is near, they seemed to say,
Pay heed to stones and birds;
For in this warming climate,
Where things are changing fast,
Not even stones and blackbirds
Have stamina to last.
Poem © 2017 and photo © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Books”
Teacher
A tuft of feathers, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
Planets lose their way,
birds and flowers turn to dust—
the old teacher weeps.
Haiku © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Teaching”
The Probability
the probability
that she will be sleeping
when he comes
to bring her coffee
bleached white with powder
instead of cream
is great
he sees her lying there
in an impossible heap
of bones
her skin
stretched tight over her skull
and he wonders
if even as she sleeps
she can hear the birds singing
just outside the window
or the sound the bricks make
as they shift uneasily
in their bed of mortar
causing a startled raven
to slam against the house
Suicide Note
She scribbles her suicide note with fervor,
envisioning birds and thorns, and her
arrival at a crossroads in the night.
She tells of a thread, stitching
rose and crocus and
chrysanthemum together in a
crazy-quilt of seasons out of joint.
She sings of a great horned owl
with the shine of moonlight
in its left eye, but not its right.
She curses the mud
from whose ravenous sucking
not even the strongest foot
can pull free. Then,
in mid-sentence
Creatures Great and Small
curious weaving—
two whales swimming side by side
in the tapestry
~~ ~~ ~~
inevitable—
the birds that followed Jesus
pecking at my eyes
~~ ~~ ~~
wary and alert
two flies meeting for breakfast
in the sugar bowl
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Curious, Inevitable, Wary”
Teacher
The old teacher weeps—
birds and flowers turn to dust,
planets lose their way.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More September Heights 2013: “Teacher”
Magical Mystical Teacher 