Blog Archives
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!
More Sunday’s Whirligig #241
More Pantry of Poetry and Prose #5 at Poets United
The Filling
Underneath a palace table hungry dogs eat husks and wings;
Even twilight does not daunt them when the regal peacock sings
Songs of anger, songs of yearning, songs of drawing forth a knife—
Runic songs that bid the Presence come as fire to be our wife.
See, she vanquishes injustice! See, she turns things upside down!
Then the fiery Presence fills us, and at last we wear her crown!
Poem © 2019 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Distant
Organ pipe cactus at twilight, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
a new year’s twilight—
peering beyond the cactus
to a distant path
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Riffs on Autumn
Cottonwood leaves with autumn color, Yavapai County, Arizona
~~ 1 ~~
her passion for trees
especially in autumn
when leaves turn golden
~~ 2 ~~
autumn afternoon—
hoping to find her lost keys
under yellow leaves
~~ 3 ~~
drifting near the edge
of a little woodland pool—
seven autumn leaves
~~ 4 ~~
autumn afternoon—
wandering with my lover
through the browning fen
~~ 5 ~~
autumn afternoon—
somehow the sky seems lighter
shrugging off the rain
~~ 6 ~~
late autumn twilight
making me blink once, then twice
in awe and wonder
~~ 7 ~~
With wild geese wheeling,
how can I count the autumns
that have flown away?
Haiku © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #82
More Poetry Pantry #325 at Poets United
Twilight
Distant mountain range at day’s end, Maricopa County, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
Wilderness twilight—
who will lock the clouds in place
to shroud the full moon?
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku Horizons: “Lock”
More Carpe Diem’s Summer Retreat 2016: “One with Nature”
Rustling
Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
just before sunrise
a rustling in the branches—
white dove lifts one wing
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Carpe Diem’s Summer Retreat 2016: “One with Nature”
Twilight
Organ pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) blossom, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
Not a breath of wind
ruffles the cactus blossom
at the twilight hour.
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Haiku Horizons: “Wind”
More Carpe Diem’s Summer Retreat 2016: “One with Nature”
The Miners
gritty and filthy—
their faces at twilight
when they come home from the mine
one of them enters an empty house
(his wife left two months ago)
one of them finds
only fetid cabbage soup on the table—
not enough money for meat or milk
and one of them sips a bitter drink
from a mug with a broken handle
all three of them know
that nothing will ever be the same again—
the streetcar that used to stop at the corner
to carry them to the mine
(ten cents round trip)
sits rusting in the rail yard
and not even a vow to the gods
will make its wheels turn again
Cluttered
Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
early spring twilight—
even my desert garden
is cluttered with clouds
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Swing
May twilight, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
imagine a swing
hanging from the stoutest branch—
one child flying high
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku Horizons: “Swing”
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