Out in the field is a bed of chicory,
down along the ditch, wild hydrangeas grow.
Dandelions in the yard are quite tasty,
so is the duckweed by the side of the road.
Wild lettuce, lamb’s quarter, and some wild onions,
there’s watercress, fennel, grape leaves, and cherries.
We also have mallow, milkweeds, oxtails, chives,
Chanterelle mushrooms, morels, and blackberries.
Along with sassafras, raspberries, and more,
you’ll have a lunch that will make your stomach sing.
God bless all of nature’s wonderful bounty,
providing an Ozark meal fit for a king.
Categories:
milkweeds, poetry,
Form: Rhyme
Why
The dandelion
Do we hold with poisonous contempt?
The word weed grown to our lips
From what past snare?
Ah, those words that pop up from nowhere
To keep the front yard order
Clean flat and spotless
Lines and squares
I propose a small revolution
To re-label all weeds
Flowers
Let them spread
Entangled
Roots and blooms of give and take
Sweep our graves with wild meadows
Dandelions milkweeds violets of winding rivers
Breadcrumbs for butterflies
Honey bees on these lily pads
Perfume
Upon our exhausted souls
Loss of control
Divine medicine for all.
Categories:
milkweeds, appreciation, change, earth, flower,
Form: Free verse
I was not carrying milkweeds like a maiden when you met me.
The thunderous blood-red holler my ear yet not been acquainted with.
You rode your moods like a vaquero. In and out of ranges near swirling up motes so thick and far you were nothing but a speck. I like to think I am a queen of our tiny kingdom-- though the monarch you are.
The flowing milk from the mothers breast became the host and breadth and depth of your trough. I am milkweed. You are monarch. You have and endless symbiotic DNA, that dines on energy. I flow like magma and cool to a crust of the earth that man tramples over into dust.
Categories:
milkweeds, relationship,
Form: Free verse
monarch lays her eggs
the milkweeds her nursery
and I her nursemaid
MagiCicada 17
*Doubly blessed, another female Monarch visiting my milkweeds
this morning, depositing her seeds of gold.
Categories:
milkweeds, appreciation, baby, butterfly,
Form: Haiku
I'm waiting for you
butterfly
milkweeds are in bloom
MagiCicada 13
Nb minutes after I penned this I received my first royal visit. I just saw her lay an egg!
Categories:
milkweeds, butterfly, flower,
Form: Haiku
A Midsummer Day
Locusts are buzzing high up in the trees
Birdsong is floating along on the breeze
Butterflies flitting between the Milkweeds
Chipmunks are chirping while munching on seeds
Flowers are blooming in bright garden rows
Boasting of colors akin to rainbows
I always enjoy a nice summer day
But the sun will soon set and take it away
Soon moonbeams are streaming soft pale light
On a clear, warm, starlit, summer night
Categories:
milkweeds, summer,
Form: Rhyme
daylight hours
Ozzie and Ben at the picnic table
milkweeds dance across the board
chess match underway all day, every day
many stories shared, some repeated; neither cared
till knights and pawns cast long shadows
eyes straining, elders would bid farewell
violet sunsets escorted them home
one brisk morning, Ben waited for his friend
hours on end, until the orb began to sink
fading light from the spectral sunset
usher of regret
Ben sauntered past Ozzie's home
black wreath on the door
Ben cast chess pieces on the street
no longer wanted to compete
after that day, Ben’s zest for life faded away
sun still journeyed across the sky
but Ben rarely rose from bed
twilight hours found him there, recounting the past
tales he and Ozzie had told
in his mind never grew old
memories locked within his heart
shadowed recollections of a fallen chess king
Categories:
milkweeds, death, friendship,
Form: Free verse
Secluded, far away from congested places
Lying In a field of green that graces
Picturesque valleys and rolling hills
Over laden miles of dainty daffodils
Thriving amidst a throng of flowers in nature’s realm
Untouched, adjacent to a woodsy glen
A place where Monarchs on milkweeds feast
In preparation for their arduous feat
They sip on purest nectar sweet
Then scale soft winds giving soul a treat
See how they flutter and in tranquility glide
Wearing their priceless beauty with humble pride
~*~
Categories:
milkweeds, happiness, life, peace
Form: Free verse