herbaceous perennials
annual
biennial
low subshrubs
basal stems.
opposite, simple, mostly linear
strongly glaucous grey green
blue green.
five petals,
frilled or pinked
all pale to dark pink.
Closing her eyes, a delicate waterfall materialized
magically meeting her every desire
bathing in its mists
arching her back to sip its nectar
shampooing her silken hair with its energy
letting its spray free her from the heat of the day
Corned beef on rye bread
steaming hot
Tangy mustard, fresh sauerkraut
~ Salivate
_____________________________________
'Essen' means 'Eat' in German....
Of course, you didn't need me to
tell you that.
Delicate creatures from heaven,
making flowers smile and giggle.
Wings lite as tissue paper,
colors coming from God's palette.
Graffiti of Butterflies,
makes the heart love.
Love seeing these little beauties,
as they flutter by.
an emerald band
round opalescent pearl
a ring never worn
just two delicate
I am not a careful gal
something might happen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They travel without passports,
these delicate immigrants,
their wings like stained glass windows
in a cathedral of wind.
They rise into the August sky,
a thousand orange and black wings,
paper-thin, trembling
with the weight of a journey
they do not remember
but instinctively cannot refuse.
They drift over highways,
tiny, winged ghosts in the exhaust,
mapping routes older than concrete,
older than borders, older than names.
Some will faIl, for
a highway stitches
through their flight path,
and the milkweed grows scarce.
The rest push on,
carrying the sun on their backs,
a flickering pulse
toward a home they have never seen.
What is migration but memory
written in the body?
What is memory but a debt
passed down in veins?
the companion memoir vignette can be read at poetrysoup.com/short_stories/dinner_with_the_butterfly_whisperer_13613
Once I was wandering in my backyard to scan the previously latent place,
The ongoing search was for a rare herb blessed with divine grace.
My senses compelled me to go each step forward in slow but steady pace,
That place was so silent and latent that something unknown was creeping in solace.
A Sudden break of silence with hissing sounds grips the entire space,
Oh! An elegant black cobra fighting with a clever cat in the nature's palace.
Looked like a routine work to be performed by two super flexy guys without suffering,
The situation is evenly poised where no one is voluntarily retreating.
The snake stood tall and dare to look into the fiery eyes of the stranger and clever cat.
The valiant cat with quick reflexes carefully dodges the poisonous with tit for tat.
I reacted and disrupted this endless dwell as my delicate herb was suffocating,
Finally both the agressive creatures left the place with a deep and divine briefing.
I never understood how fast an afternoon could fade
until the chair you loved sat quiet in the room,
as though the sun itself limited our time.
Your heart was a warm campfire
on the coldest of evenings,
and in those moments,
you told me of days
when the tea kettle’s whistling
wove through a home
that had forgotten your name.
You taught me
that a candle loses nothing
by lighting another.
But you were the candle,
the first flame I could follow.
“You’ve been hearing my story
so patiently for a lifetime,”
you murmured,
though it was the last season of yours.
Still, your tongue became a flow
of sweet memories,
and I caught each one,
collecting the last sweetness of summer.
When you left,
you bled the sky into your veins,
and the sun itself slipped out of orbit.
Now stars hide in the frame of your picture,
as if night itself mourned your absence.
Still, I sing a secret song to you
each night we are apart,
a reminder that the path to heaven
is paved with the hands that stayed
and the kindness given freely
in the final light of your days.
The gentle beauty of your blooms
are delicate and exquisite to the touch ~
your history's fraught with wrongdoing
but through ne'er fault of your own
AP: Honorable Mention 2026, Honorable Mention 2026
He gently holds her arm
They tread cautiously to cross the street
Them ~ his cane her walker
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
delicate ladybug faerie was lady like and fine
so tiny, you could barely see her wing or outline
she rode around on ladybugs, so this tells you a bit
About how tiny she is, but she has a fine wit
She has to use a megaphone to speak to the other fey
because she is smaller than most of them, her name is Linda Lou Kay
She talks about love, and wants everyone to be friends
When you hear her stories, you hope they will never end
Ladybug faerie is upbeat and positive all the time
With a magnifying glass I can barely make out her outline
She is tiny but sassy; her ideas are wonderfully sharp
In the evening, she becomes a musician and takes out her harp
delicate as a whisper in the night
AP: 1st place 2025
delicate brushstrokes
beachside rendezvous
captured on a breeze
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
DELICATE DANCE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In nature’s exquisite ballet, a moment of perfect harmony unfolds before me. The hummingbird, a tiny, iridescent wonder, hovers with impossible grace over the trumpet flower. Their fleeting encounter, a delicate dance, speaks volumes of life’s fragile beauty and the miraculous interconnectedness of all things.
iridescent sheen
sunbeams dance upon her back
summer’s tiny queen
fragile, fierce, and free
hummingbird's bold, beating heart
wild and free she sings
invisible threads
connect her to flower’s heart
God’s subtle design
Souls are delicate, like threads of mist,
They bend with sorrow, they break with a twist.
Words strike like stones, careless and cold,
Cracking the quiet where secrets unfold.
A whisper can wound, a silence can burn,
Once spoken, the harsh ones never return.
They echo inside like a haunted refrain,
Leaving behind invisible pain.
So handle with care the hearts that you see,
Their strength is silent, their wounds unseen.
For souls are spun from glass-like grace,
And words can shatter what no hands trace.
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