Long Pampas Poems

Like Hannibal we crossed the pass and crossed 
   the Alps (okay, the Brynderwyn Hills) 
and a bridge too far on north-west passage.
   From out of the Valley of Mizpah 
to...

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Fukuda Chiyo-ni Haiku

Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703-1775) was a celebrated Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period, also known as Kaga no Chiyo.

Because morning glories
held my well-bucket hostage
I went begging for water!
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael...

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Ethel Hurst

1889 – 1918

I saw the town rise up
Like a single blade of grass after a spring rain.
I played a multitude of hop-scotch games
With my best friend Hannah on Penn Street.
And sipped a hundred ice...

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Heaven’s Servant

The grass of the earth The King of Heaven generously gave
People to enjoy Kentucky Bluegrass nice lawn, nutritious hay,
Timothy grass highly cultivated and seed easily harvested
Stock cattle, sheep, and horses healthily eat by day...

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Sunlight at an angle dancing through colored leaves
Cool nights to snuggle beneath the sheets; warm days of ease
Last of gardens harvest; goodbye to summer's bees
Joyful time to harvest soon days a breeze
Pumpkins, winter squash, turnips,...

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Sunlight at an angle dancing through colored leaves
Cool nights to snuggle beneath the sheets; warm days of ease
Last of gardens harvest; goodbye to summer's bees
Joyful time fo harvest soon days a breeze
Pumpkins, winter squash, turnips,...

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Pampero you rush across the pampa's of Argentina
blowing fast and strong bending all before you.
Mighty and powerful you make your presence known
as you travel o'er the pampas in triumphant passage.

Ah Simoom you shift around the...

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Even when time stands 
Still the wings of smiles 
Crumble in darkness
Life stands still in places
Even where moons twinkle in

Passing moments the only
Picture hanging in this corridor is
One blank captioned “Silence” 
Is always seen when...

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Once I roamed through the woodlands 
With my large old shepherd companion.
We walked fearless, through redwoods and pines, 
Through vines and ferns 
To the top of the Cross mountain.
There we stood gazing out over the...

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Beady black-eyed bird perched in the bush
outside my window cocking his head
from side to side eying the squirrel-proof
feeder that is coated thickly with a layer of
Vaseline not to keep the squirrels away but
to keep the...

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We set foot on dry grass at the cockcrow 
 of a nascent union. 
Cheek to cheek as Cupid towers 
over the rose inside my heart,
shooting arrows at a dyad draped in fire,
gliding through the...

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IN NOVEMBER'S CHILL
 
When red leaves from sleeping trees draped in snow
rest easy on the rock hard icy ground
I wait for you but I plead please and hurry
to appear to me

To love you
to warm you...

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Day lilies assorted and bright
With flox flowers purple and white
Crisscrossed expanses of soft green lawn
Thus was my first April day born
Palm branches the worshippers brought
Lining staircases and streets
As they ought;
Red Cardinals, Florida grass, hydrangeas, lavender
Scenting...

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The Odd Narrative 

Steamed up window my finger I paint a landscape,
 Mountain, forest and a lake; the peak cries into 
             ...

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The Voyage 

The big seagull sat on the bow of my rowing boat 
                     ...

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Patrick Ferguson and the battle of Kings Mountain

He rode up to the mountain in great haste
planning vile acts, and much wonton waste.
Hiding, the whigs taunting, scattered about.
They were in waiting, the mountain through out.

Brave volunteers...

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Anna Pearl Longman

1900-1916

Dewey Hicks truly loved me.

Loved me as Mark loved Cleo,

Loved me as Pyramus loved Thisbe.

We took many a determined stroll,

With hands entangled delightedly,

Down the cool expectant streets,

Of this quiet Quaker town,

Across the strident...

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Tango in Argentina 
It was eons ago, in Buenos Aires, many of us around a table at a cafe
 I can’t remember why I was there think it was something to do with 
buying race...

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An Odd Bird
  
   The seagull and I were flying over the Andes.
   the mountain was brown, and we saw a lake green
   as an emerald ring on...

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Mother’s Vacation 

1946 the warmest May ever in Norway, mother went camping 
with her lover on an island. I was 8 and could boil potatoes and 
look after myself, but evenings that had no darkness...

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by late dusk, I commune with the fresh wonders of nature
inhabiting reverence from a well-designed woodland.

how an avian rhapsody greets me through mellow chants
where comfort of quiet soothes tired soul in this lined woodland.

and potpourri...

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Argentina.

When I got up and looked out of the window the village was 
floating on a cloud. I walked to where the cloud ended and 
saw the pampas of Argentine and horses galloping in a...

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The duet of a garden's music in June,
afloat with all the season's notes can bring...
The milder one is where chant of orioles 
join honeyed air's refrain 
as dragonflies flip a spin  to answer
the humming...

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White Horse Mountain

Teacher teacher
life or deceiver
pampas delusion
the contemplation
can a man of Christ
be antichristian
spread the light
or misinformation
take the time
look up Mathew twelve dash nine
these words are God's and now they are mine
no need to read between...

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My Twin Brother 
It was a curious case on how the mind can play tricks
on the innocent and preoccupied. I was working when
my twin brother came in, stood in front of my desk,
said he was...

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