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Great Is the Grief of the Grapes
How can the grapes endure such grief?
What forgotten strength contained within
their skins must they summon,
now that the pickers have come with shears
to fill their empty baskets?
They must be aching,
knowing they’ll be tossed in the press
that will crush every drop of life from them.
There’s nothing subtle about destruction.
It doesn’t steal over you
like the fleeting shadow of a wren at twilight,
but lands like a stone on a toe.
Great is the grief of the grapes!
Poem © 2019 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #241
More Pantry of Poetry and Prose #5 at Poets United
More Sunday’s Whirligig #241
More Pantry of Poetry and Prose #5 at Poets United
Faithful

Yuma Conservation Garden, Yuma, Arizona
Do fishes have faith?
Or how about palms?
Only the faithful
Live life without qualms.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Faith”
Fearing

Palo verde tree, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
in the tree debris
a tiny hidden creature
fearing for its life
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Life

Iron wheel on farm equipment, Rancho Los Alamitos, Long Beach, California
a moment
of divinity
in one’s self
~~ ~~ ~~
Life keeps rolling on and on.
Text and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Six-Word Saturday
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Carpe Diem: “God Realization”
Knitting

Section of a mural, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
knitting life and death
together in a pattern
inextricable
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Our World Tuesday
More Carpe Diem: “Symbiotic”
Dangling

Yuma Pioneer Cemetery, Yuma, Arizona
tombstone to tombstone
dangling between death and life
a young soldier’s ghost
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Our World Tuesday
More I Heart Macro at Shine the Divine
More Carpe Diem: “Garry Gay’s ‘In the Cemetery'”
Fortune Teller

Bougainvillea petals litter a sidewalk, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
a single sunbeam
scribbling runes on fallen leaves—
autumn graffiti
the half-blind fortune teller
sniffing for a sign of life
*Opening gambit by Mark M. Redfearn
Final two lines and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Our World Tuesday
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge: “Mark M. Redfearn’s’A Single Sunbeam'”
Tiny Tales

~~ 1 ~~
twenty months of drought
the fortitude of pine trees
blackbird’s plaintive song
~~ 2 ~~
At the nursing home
the moody night shift nurses
wait for the next death.
~~ 3 ~~
a broken platter—
crickets jumping at the chance
for dabs of jelly
~~ 4 ~~
on gossamer wings
mist stealing through the forest—
fragile little bird
~~ 5 ~~
Though your life is brief,
you may take a stone in hand
while you are weeping.
~~ 6 ~~
the simple brilliance
of this singular moment—
blue iris blooming
~~ 7 ~~
Spontaneity—
from the dust of wilderness
healing pools arise.
~~ 8 ~~
inevitable—
the birds that followed Jesus
pecking at my eyes
~~ 9 ~~
birth pangs at midnight
the poem in my belly
kicking to be free
~~ 10 ~~
in a barren land
no pattering of raindrops—
plethora of light
~~ 11 ~~
difficult to see
on the dark and stormy way—
stories no one tells
~~ 12 ~~
first evening shadows
creeping into dead men’s shoes—
blackbird turns to ash
© 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #200
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 159
Holy Tree

Ironwood tree at dusk, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
holy tree
giving life to those
who hunger
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem: “Crann Na Beatha”
Bountiful

Virgin of Guadalupe by native artisan, Galeria Atotonilco, Atotonilco, Guanajuato, México
Life mysterious,
life bountiful and holy,
flow in us always.
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Carpe Diem: “Qi”
More A Virgin a Day at Recuerda Mi Corazon