Best Leafed Poems
For Jack and the Blueridge Mountains
Close my eyes ~
I’m on that mountain
lush with Autumn taste.
Close my eyes ~
We are love entwined
in crisp fall leafed lace.
Close my eyes ~
Lips of first perfect kiss,
once more bliss moist my lips
Close my eyes ~
We are young again,
connecting eyes, souls and skin
Close my eyes ~
Sharply, my satin-sad edged truths
wonder if autumn ever takes you … too …
Close your eyes ~
Kiss me with eager touch. As fire’s savior,
thrill to shivers in dew soft, mountain air.
Caress-wrapped, we lay in misty vapor
from dusk’s bursting promise of brazen flush
until dawn’s fresh sonnet on takings rush.
Close your eyes ~
Grasp our hearts of innocent stares
watching how teenage summer dies
when feelings are autumn implied
Just as days long ago, when decorum resolved,
before composure, and poise,.. were corsages, unknown
Where propriety mattered, and was favored as gold,
high society, has gathered to flavor their tea
There's a trellis, embraced by a rose climbing vine
Places are set, for dining in jade
beneath shadows that stretch under arthritic old trees
While slivers of sunshine, squeeze through the branches
of silver leafed limbs, in magnolia bloomed shade
Tea will be served, by large knuckled hands
at several round tables dressed with Swiss lace designs
Wearing lavender silk is our proper Grand Dame'
who fits her surroundings, as vintage as wine
Voices are lilting like the birds in the trees
Laughter and chatter, mingle with soft, summer breezes
A bouquet of old friends, around a few scattered tables.
Silver coifed hairdos, to make celebration
Crepe myrtle and wrinkles, beneath ashes and maples
Water cress munchies, and triangle creations
Sweet honey-suckle, tucked over the porches.…
Rose petal blossoms, are painted on china
Bridge cards, tumble by Blue Willow dishes
Biscuits from England, crumble sublimely
Large bosoms bouncing, and big floppy hats
Gossip dished up with lemon-sliced frowns
Up in the tree is the neighbor's calico cat
who catches a glance, and a chance to crawl down
Are they ladies of leisure, from a time that is lost?
Or a painting I've seen on the wall from the past?
______________________________
Inspired By the Garden Party Contest
Sponsored By Cyndi McMillan 6/6/14
Beyond prevailing heart songs
I yielded to fashion a tune of wonder
pulses and beats that do not belong.
I pondered over and over
decoding layers of mystery
a speck of awe within is reached.
I roved about along the fields
expanding beauty nurturing my touch
a rush of melodious breeze flooded my fancy.
Deep into a distinct essence
gorgeous voices started resonating
one secret is leaked!
Hills and mountains carved my air
what a flair!
I drifted out to the lake
lost for words in my world
I reached for a sip
an aura of magic wrapped my core
brimful, but wanted more.
Wide my heart
I leafed through abundance of scenic allure
Supreme fascination beheld!
A puff of relish is breathed
my tune of wonder is conceived!
June 23rd, 2018
I haven’t sat here for quite some time.
Our back patio, beneath the brown umbrella, in a chair that glides.
Someone else is with her now,
So I am here.
In this special space.
Remembering times together and with friends.
Loud laughter broken with many careless words.
Bravado to spare.
Burgers on the barbeque,
Some slow sipping wine, others chugging hard lemonade.
Too many ‘if it should ever happen to me.’
All healthy then, so such words were cheap.
But now
Green-leafed vines grow through and around
Our barbeque - not used in a year, or perhaps it’s two.
When I decide to take it back
Those damn vines won’t give up easy.
Oh, I could do it if I wanted.
But won’t.
Least not today or tomorrow.
Now black-leafed vines have taken hold,
Wrapping tight within our lives.
Oh, they’ll never let us go.
I know that now.
But still, I hold on,
Trying to kiss all better.
While black-leafed vines grow
Deep inside her
And shred my soul.
Dear swollen-trunk maple, deemed
diseased by the saw-happy tree guy,
you who have stood silently, supposedly
slipping your ailment through your roots
to the neighboring trees, now fallen
full blast down, geometrically down,
right angle, then parallel at last, your flat-
sawn stump blotched with incriminating
evidence—you came and leafed
and are gone, and I who have grown old
in your lifetime, who intuited you rather
than knew you, felt you in my bones,
now feel the slightly thinner woods,
the hint of frailty. Scott the tree guy
has carried your eighteen-inch logs in his
red wheelbarrow and stacked them
for winter: a little Williams, a little Frost.
Oh tree, everywhere I look
I have to pledge reclamation, fill
the forest floor with ferns, mushrooms,
pine needles, and in the side corner
place the outhouse, practically unused
anymore, still in good shape, emitting
its rich human-waste smell, its wood
smell, its few spiders climbing
their trellises with their sticky feet.
Oh tree, so much has been discovered
to fill in the space where you were:
seven new species of Philippine
forest mice, a new genus of blind
Bulgarian beetle, four new species
of jewel beetles, six of New World
micromoths. I have filled my note cards,
I have left the vertical space open
for the Ur-tree, the canonical vision
that will take your place, even the stigmata,
your bulged and arthritic joints, the
whither of your leaving, the grand word
whither standing where you were.
On a Sussex farm works a golden haired girl
Surrounded by guys as she makes their hearts twirl
But her love and soul are miles away
In a Highlanders heart, she hopes to meet one day.
Its nearly a year since they were first in touch
As she's grown to adore him oh so much
Her delight will be, is too invite him down
And show him round her lovely town.
Her joy and smiles, as she holds his hand
Her heart pounding as she feels a million grand
Stopping for cuddles as they share a kiss
With her Highlander she's in sheer bliss.
The countryside where this English Rose stays
Flowering crops grow and animals graze
Noisy tractors Harvesters reap
Under a blistering sun, the baaing of sheep.
In her yellow dress, flowing golden hair
She takes his hand, as they climb the stair
Above up here is where we keep the hay
Again she takes his hand and down they lay.
Facing each other they start to kiss
This English rose in her mind she wish
To share her body with her Highlander
To adjoin their bodies as their loving stirs.
As they undress each other on this summers day
Bare skin warms the golden hay
Passions flow as their hands explore
Loving scent from their loving pores
Joys and sighs, they feel their bodies mix
Emotions and feelings in adrenalin fix.
Warmed and content,consumed in each others arms
Two heavenly bodies sharing each others charms
Kissing and cuddling on the flattened hay
As they stand up and look where they just once lay.
Dishevelled clothes, hair astray
This loving couples summers play
Standing embrace their bodies quiver
Holding hands they head to the river.
At the river bank they undress each other
Under a shaded green leafy cover
Her naked body and long golden hair
Makes him proud to be standing there.
As they enter the river
They caress and wash each other
Under this shaded leafed cover
They kiss and embrace to share their love
Under the leafy tree, chirping birds all above.
Heading home hand in hand
This loving couple feeling two million grand
They head to bed, spooned and cosy
This Highlander and his English Rosie.
http://www.thehighlanderspoems.com/love.php
"Their Queen Pheromones"
Nectar
attracts
foraging
honey bees
with components
of their
Queen Pheromones
the butterflies beckon
their inner wasps
to sup on clover
four leafed, beds of velvet
green virgins unseen
herein slumbers
far too gone
to lie in wait
love expells
from his fevered pate
the crown of Lysander
fragrantly torrid
oriental orchids
for the hidden deep pink
in those errant
loose lusty forget-me-nots
whispering in the naked ones
those of deeper blue hues
thorny bent over, then
faces to the sun
long dark night violate blooms
those blushing black roses
supine against a lux body
of moist work
pushing lust and love
hard as a rock
in the fertile mind of
the luscious Lillith garden
no socks.
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
"I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl
You're the bird on the brim
Hypnotised by the whirl
Drink me, make me feel real
Wet your beak in the stream
Game we're playing is life
Love's a two-way dream “
"I'm a path of cinders
Burning under your feet
You're the one who walks me
I'm your one-way street”
"I'm a tree that grows hearts
One for each that you take
You're the intruder's hand
I'm the branch that you break”
Down where the wisteria's leafed
Blossoms gone but not forgotten
The magnolia buds are poppin'
And clouds cover morn's risin' sun
The distant dove coos at daybreak
And I've never seen a fiery horse
What were Elisha's thoughts right then
Or this an everyday sight of course
From Gilgal to Bethel and to
Jericho the two did depart
On down to the Jordan where
Waters Elijah's mantel did part
On the other side of Jordan
Elijah asked Elisha his desire
Elisha wanted a double
Portion of Elijah's spiritual fire
Elijah could not promise this
Only God could be the giver
If you see me when I'm taken
Then this gift too will occur
As the chariots of fire and
horses pulled them asunder
Elisha saw Elijah taken
Quickly in a whirlwind's dust stir
As the thick clouds and fog drip mist
And roosters crow in the hollow
Will this wet day be the day
When lifted up all Christians hallo
Finis'
Based roughly on 2 Kings 2: 1-22
Verse 12 is very important
Hallo_to cry with a loud shout or voice
Ponded and becalmed after the downpour, lying in shining stillness, I reflect an earthly existence; above me newly leafed limbs, and beyond, the wild beauty of motley skies in the afternoon’s brightening quietude. On the side of a country back road, I daydream. As leftover clouds drift in light and dark moods across my mirrored face, I ponder the possibilities of ‘what ifs’. What if life had taken me elsewhere - to a different time and place, filling another space, in another form and shape? What if I had fallen soft as a summer drizzle instead, dressing spider webs in misty strings of mini crystal beads.. or had filled a rusty-relic watering can, left behind ages ago beside an ivy-smothered stump.. or maybe had been wind-whipped with a vengeance into a swollen river rough and ready to ride the rapids.. What if, I had fallen as snow eons ago and now was found deep in an ice core in Antarctica.. how exotic! Straying cumulus find themselves captured in my imagination as well as in my liquid looking-glass oval, and my thoughts stray back to the soothing smoothness of my present reality. I know my time here, though sweet, is short-lived; and so I set my pondering aside and decide to seize upon the moment with contentment in my tranquil state of repose.
placid puddle mulls
lost in reflections of clouds -
spring rains laid to rest
Susan Ashley
May 1, 2019
~Third Place~
Contest: Happy Haibun
Sponsor: Caren Krutsinger
Like morning light break forth of eastern skies
And astound with beauty the waking eyes
So did my heart before you rose to praise
A seraph in the nectar of flesh, May's
Brightest bloom in the garden of gladness
The purest form of earth's bare loveliness.
To you, O joy, O let me sing
Let me tell of love first coming.
Cho.
Awake the woodland choir for my song
Awake the primal hour of spring's soft throng
Awake the lark not yet on wing
Awake the world, an anthem bring
Of praise, of praise to beauty, praise
To the sweet rainbow of our days
Sweet fragments make the rainbow bloom aloft
Light splintered is yet in beauty so soft
And whole, the healing balm of my parched soul
Each little wonder a stair a bright stair
A garden of glory on heaven's scroll
I climb to suck the breast of worship here
I seek your worth and find God there
Uplifting me from mortal care
Inside the tabernacle of the soul
Wild and dusty, the dry harmattans roll
And every tender tree gasping for rain
Beheld sapphire arid sky and pray in vain
The pearly cumulus would sable turn
Where on the eye pivots the graceful tern
And then so suddenly you came
The phoenix of another name
Too deaf the deft pianist fingers toll
His litany your virtue to extol
You the image's bone transformed, transcend
All that desire loves and love declares right
Eden's broken wings yet make praise ascend
As prayers in the fluid light, a flight
Of rapture, leaving silent stars
And earth's tumult to jealous wars
Nothing but you, and you alone exist
O sacred symphony of heaven's bliss
And all earth shambles fore you fall again
To rise in your glory a better tale
The joy of beggining the end of pain
Lighthouse eternal, love that cannot fail
Sweet still the night aglow parades
Yet star like flowers morning fades
Morning melted into mist, grass perspired
In the cool, leaves transpired droplets of bliss
The rainbow my thoughts like heaven attired
Beauty its providence hasten to kiss
Time had divinity at its leafed door
And seas and rivers in long triumph roar
The rhythm of earth so to begin
To break the carnal rule of sin.
Mother Nature, Mother Earth.
If Mother Earth stood in front of you what would you say?
Sorry for taking your whales away,
Sorry for cutting your forests to shreds,
Sorry little animals for taking your beds,
Sorry polar bears for melting your ice, having to swim further to save your own live,
Sorry to all the fish in the sea, because its to hot you try to flee.
Sorry for the birds and the bees, not many left on the all gone trees.
Sorry for the nuclear plants, but man seems to think that he must advance.
Sorry for the wars we cause, they certainly are not gods or yours.
Sorry for the faith man has lost, your biggest creation is losing with cost.
If you were Mother Earth and told these things, what would you say to me?
“SORRY, SORRY, SORRY”, is all you have to say,”
You destroy everything which we have given you”.
” The animals are going have gone extinct,
You kill the air you so precisely need,
You fight each other and call it in the name of god, which god do you perceive,
The one with love to all, for all, which he created,
Or the one who fell from grace with hatred.
I would look at her with glee
Because the earth sounds like the second scenario to me.
The next question I would ask
Mother Nature are we going to last
. If everyone on the earth of today
threw down their arms and started to pray
would god hear our prays in just that day
mother nature would look at me
and look around at the all gone trees
then she would bend down on her green leafed knees
A tear in her sunlit eyes saying to me
“Sorry to late”.
What would you do if Mother Earth or Nature stood in front of you?
The End.
on one gold-leafed limb
where shadows now sooner fall. . .
a forsaken nest
Posted 8/12/2010
For 'Favorite Nature Haiku' Contest
Sponsor: Constance La France
Down yonder in the large-leafed kudzu patch
Where it is thick, silky, and very green
Clinging to gullied hills it tries to catch
Where young lovers tucked away, won't be seen
That is, if it is during mid-summer
And a couple can hide in the vines
But do you want to meet him with murmurs
Running around, that will be some grand lines
Is that a memory you want to face?
When you are old, worn, gray facing the judge
It is good that Jesus gives His grace
For through His grace, He erases every smudge
The summer kudzu patch is a nice green
Jesus in His grace is an awesome King
Where did I leave it,
the key to my heart
Guess it doesn’t matter
can’t find anyone
To give it a jump start
It’s been so long now
starter motors probably gone
Thinking too hard about
where it’s gone wrong
Want to feel the rush again
Heart beating and pounding so fast
When someone special finds the key
And unlocks the passion at last
I want to feel that lurch
When butterflies flutter
In the pit of my belly
For when he is near my legs turn to jelly
Want to find my book in the fridge
My shoes on the table
Cos my mind is a mess
Concentrate I’m not able
To just think his name
And say it over and over
Like I’ve found the four leafed clover
Will I be that lucky
Or will the door stay shut
And the key lost forever
And my heart will turn hard like
An empty nut.
I'm Restless and defeated
Feeling overwhelmed and cheated
My Plate about to topple
Don't you dare pop that waffle
Shut your mouth and the door
Clean the dog pee off the floor
Fit to be tied, mouth foaming
Computer died, phone roaming
Don't look at me with that cheesy grin
My patience, like ice, that's growing thin
Just finished my Alaskan shower
Thanks to you bathing for an hour
Spent my last dollar topping off my tank
Just to find, my car won't crank
Pants ripped when I bent over
Picking up a 3 leafed clover
Dog ran off, didn't think he'd go far
As luck would have it, he was hit by a car
thought we'd spend the day, saying goodbye
Would you believe, he didn't die
At the vet, running up my credit
I'll revise my budget again and re edit
Sporting a cone around his head
The doctor said he should be hand fed
It's ok, I have time to spare
Out of work due to an allergy flare
Looking like a blowfish with chicken pox
Hamster got loose at the delight of a fox
Kids called the cops for animal abuse
Handcuffed for 2 hours before they let me loose
Neighborhood kids, come knocking
I wish I could say it was the least bit shocking
Leaving doors open, letting in the flies
I hide in the bathroom and find I have spies
Little feet under the shower curtain
Bottoms spanked, hands hurtin
Crawl in the bed at 1 a.m.
Sleep for 5 hours, then do it again