through my telescope I spy teepees
bonfires
Watusi dancers
a wrecked plane
hostages
pirates
witches
angels
faeries
stories march in and out of my mind
I cannot slow them down or stop them
I am a writer
Categories:
teepees, writing,
Form: List
I paint with acrylics
Oils are more vibrant;
But I have no patience
For letting anything dry
Watercolor is uncontrollable;
This is too close to my own personality
I cannot fathom the enjoyment of watching the paint take over
Doing what it wants when it wants, like my dogs and children.
Using neon paints I paint dwarfs, faeries, pixies, dogs, cats
Mushroom houses, igloos, teepees, pirate ships
Pirate queens, sexy cartoon women, witches, and castles
Painting is my always-always-land
It was an accidental hobby, inspired by a nine-year-old granddaughter
I decided to ”waste”one canvas when she begged me to paint with her.
Sixteen hundred canvases later, I reach for my paints.
Categories:
teepees, art,
Form: Free verse
Eve chose neither red nor green between these,
Eat, sweetened me' feet needn't desert Eden,
Keep earthen delved deep beneath heightened trees,
Heedless sell serpent issue agreed in.
Centuries teems decades, millennium,
Free Verse verses' a-peck-o-peppers-herbs,
Elves live in teepees Sumer pole Autumn,
Presley name per some steep fee minced-free verbs.
Requirements necessary--get there,
Senseless feather-headed time essential,
Execute effectiveness engineer,
Acquiescence evidence credential.
Set preferences effectuate a theme,
Elevate efforts of the letter E.
Categories:
teepees, analogy,
Form: Sonnet
Sacred Dwellers
I am of Native American born
To be caretaker of Mother Earth sworn
I heal with powers, a medicine man
Tribal’s wise supernatural shaman
I am a sacred carved out Totem Pole
To recount familiar legends, a toll
Insightful spirit animals pride in
Taking a part as a loved guardian
I’m the buffalo hunted to survive
Tipis, meat, fur, vital to stay alive
I’m the turtle known as the peacemaker
That’s firm, serene never a forsaker
I am lizard, killing me brings bad luck
The creation story I play, soul struck
I butterfly bringer of dreams, arrange
Transformation and life cycle of change
I the wolf early ancestor of thee
Totem animal, wise, social, and free
Icon salmon renews energy rays
The legend conveys, respect natures ways
* Shaman translation- The word originates from the language of the Tungus people of Siberia. It can directly be translated literally to “one who works with fire”.
* Tipis (teepees)
Categories:
teepees, animal, native american, spiritual,
Form: Couplet
We cannot eat lies
or feast on empty promises
No more than the bison,
starving in the desert sand
We cannot clothe our children
as we run from the Wasichus
Our teepees torn and freezing
amidst the winter snows
(Pine Ridge South Dakota: Late September, 1994)
Categories:
teepees, prayer,
Form: Free verse
Dream catcher made of turtle shell
Elemental magic, soul bringer, dream walker
Enlightens papoose, savoring his knowing smile.
Grandfather Shaman feeds the fire
Whose pleasure to warm is well-known in teepees.
Tribal spirit faeries hide in furs
Braves will return tomorrow
Hopefully from a good hunt.
Innocent ones sleep soundly,
Unworried, on small pox blankets.
Categories:
teepees, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Free verse
Walking my land reminds me of why I am here in lieu of other places
It is a magical lilting land where Indian teepees used to reside
An unfettered meadow forest mix with wild strawberries,
Queen Anne’s lace and renegade daisies and red mushrooms
The second I saw this land I wanted to be a part of it
Surrounded by full grown oaks; bombarded by masculine walnuts.
When the ground gets soft I can pull tiny trees up attached to their acorns
If I am careful and I am. Woodland and forest creatures reside here
In peace and love with my family, sharing their lives gladly
Hoot owl is happy here, infusing her voice into our dusky nights
In the early morning I often see mama snake sunning herself on cement
When I put the steps there I never dreamed of this wonderfulness
We share our tiny purple violets and sweet clover with whoever needs them
In giving moods due to the thankfulness we feel for getting to live here
Land owned by no one but shared in great ways with many.
Categories:
teepees, environment, how i feel,
Form: Free verse
pyramid outlines glazed against desert skyline
castles and teepees in recesses of her mind
daydreams and nightmares she couldn’t shake
through the modern world she tries to break
feeling out of whack
she struggles to look back
knowing her present does not seem contemporary
each incarnation is but temporary
only a famous hypnotherapist
finds a way her mind to untwist
“Many Lives, Many Masters”*
through time’s tunnel she falls faster
discovering what had once been blocked
now with the keys, past lives unlocked
her love for Native American art
born of memories carried not in her heart
but in her eternal soul
modern life just part of a whole
now she knows why she’s not contemporary
but feel no desire to be ordinary
*”Many Lives, Many Masters” was a best seller by Dr. Brian Weiss,
who used hypnosis to uncover the past lives of a patient suffering
from confusion and bad dreams.
Entry for Joe’s “Contemporary” contest
Categories:
teepees, introspection, life,
Form: Rhyme
Just 'fore words formed inside my head
as my mother put me to bed
her sweet voice would rhyme to lull me
tales of children wild and misled.
Who ran and played and sang and danced
deep in teepees as in a trance.
Or climbing atop the walls of castles
dueled with broom stick used as lance.
The children’s hour was our time
to kiss and snuggle laugh and sigh.
And she taught me of Paul Revere
of his rushed ride with red coats nigh.
So many Longfellow tales told
of bold, real or imagined feats
that never did I want her voice
to stop or pause or to repeat.
Tennyson could tell a tale of
charging brigands in full retreat.
But, none could met the glory of
Longfellow’s stories so replete!
*Longfellow wrote Hiawatha, The Chidren's Hour, and Paul Revere's Ride
among dozens of other poem stories. In the 1920's children were taught
history through the use of poetry.
Categories:
teepees, adventure, caregiving, childhood, love,
Form: Quatrain
Imagine for a time with me
Look out across a huge prairie
As far as the eye can see
The winds blowing softly
Making waves like on a sea
Imagine for a time with me
How the indians lived you see
They lived in teepees
Out on this huge prairie
Imagine for a time with me
The summers so hot
Winters so cold
And never enough food to eat
Imagine for a time with me
The people many, old and young
No medicines to heal the sick
No doctors in their mist
Imagine for a time with me
With death brought life
And made them cry and sing
I really do wonder how
Through all hard times
They ever exist to be
Categories:
teepees, life, native american, nature,
Form: Free verse