Short Witch Hazel Poems

witch hazel has come
the ghosts are green with envy
how blue their spirits

10/22/2017...

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Witch Hazel

There once was a witch named Hazel
Mistook poison oak for sweet basil
She finally conceded
New glasses, she needed,
For Halloween spells reappraisal...

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B rewing her potions one Halloween eve, Witch Hazel
R eceived a sting from a bee;
E liciting the response of a flyswatter smack.
V ulnerable bee, he lay upon the dark, dank floor.
I nstead of sweeping away, little bee, Witch Hazel
T hrew him into her brew and laughed with glee,
Y a, haha, ha, I’ve got you now, take that for your sting!

...

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if I had witch hazel I could do my incantations
gladys my neighbor said this over and over
I knew she was not the white witch she professed to be
for we passed witch hazel in my yard six or seven times
as she was lamenting that she could not find it
maybe mushrooms would do? I suggested, knowing better.
I could tell she had no idea what it was
And I was not about to tell her...

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Small things were
witness to genes
of freak mutation.
Tooth in eye
becoming boat in blindness.

Witch hazel
fails to stop leakage.
Thumb with beads of lymph
stung high in stillness,
wants to peel off
the concept of injury.

A brace
stops the smile.
Blue-chips have nothing to offer.
A king had hemophilia.
Timbers drip the blood
from heartwood
drop by drop.

SATISH VERMA...

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Small things were
witness to genes
of freak mutation.
Tooth in eye
becoming boat in blindness.

Witch hazel
fails to stop leakage.
Thumb with beads of lymph
stung high in stillness,
wants to peel off
the concept of injury.

A brace
stops the smile.
Blue-chips have nothing to offer.
A king had hemophilia.
Timbers drip the blood
from heartwood
drop by drop.


SATISH VERMA...

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The sounds of water:
	a gentle gurgling
		in the glades;
			brooks babble.

The rains have awoken
       the waterfalls.
                All the little valleys sing.

Drops bounce
       from rock to rock,
                joyfully jumping
                             valleyward.

On the banks of the creek
       witch hazel
               foretells
                             the coming of spring.

2/18/2018...

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oh, perfect harvest moon, my surprisingly wonderful friend
what are you doing, hanging around the sky in May?
we need you in October, so I sketch you rapidly
afraid you will disappear before I get your lines down right

the cherry blossom trees appear magically orange tonight,
there is a witch hazel ambiance in the wind
I feel like chanting, drumming, stomping and twirling
and so I do, enjoying May’s odd harvest moon.
...

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AWAKE FROM SLUMBER


Awake from slumber,
Rip’s somber number*

Samples of sweet sunshine and robin’s song
Duo of dawn’s serendipitous Spring

Touch my skin with mirth
Witch-hazel sun of earth

Sweet foliage of harmony, the scented
Honeysuckle, pretty petals of rose

Moss glows with newfound light
Cerulean sheaf takes flight

3/19/2017

*For it feels like Winter never ends
Rip Van Winkle slept for 20 years...

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Witch hazel jumps the 
gun. Questions arise.
Why the cuckoo will not sing today ?

I am drumming the wall
raised between us,
opening a small window towards the sea.

Strange things happen.
Full moon was bleeding
Astringent. I call for the mountain’s music.

This fractured statecraft.
You become a stone after a blast;
moving towards the periphery.

Half-naked a statuette
was walking in night to find a 
mortuary where Apollo was laid to rest.


Satish Verma...

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Witch Hazel failed her flying test.
She crashed her broom.
The worst marks in the wicked west,
they sealed her doom.
Her magic was deniable.
Her spells were unreliable.
Too low, too fast, I would assume.
She crashed her broom.

But Hazel wanted to be best,
the brightest bloom.
With lots of practice, she progressed
and shed her gloom.
She took the test a second time,
but struggled as she tried to climb.
Police blamed alcohol consumed.
She crashed her broom....

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NEIGHBORHOOD WALK


strolling posthaste past neighbors

a walk to kickstart spring

“too fast drivers”

“lovely day”

woman on cell

no fence, defense, boundary

wave, keep on moving

witch-hazel shrub, same as last year

those lovely crepe myrtles

brisk movement, brisk cold

little pooch on a leash

climb the hill that i drive

a sudden dash for the hose

as the wind kicks up

a bush on fire

my neighbor quenches

what could have been

a catastrophe...

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