FIREWORKS IN PRETTY COLORS TAKES OUR MINDS OFF THE CHILDREN/imaginary gardens with real toads camera flash

FIRWORKS IN PRETTY COLORS TAKES OUR MINDS OFF THE CHILDREN

Morning is filtered through the curtains

The sun already high in the sky

The world waits for me

As it waits for no one

What is it I am waiting for

Still in my night gown

Here I sit on the side of the bed

A river runs through

The water level low

There is promise of rain

Clouds form on the horizon

Children locked in cages

If I am quiet

I can hear their cries

It is a secret of sorts

The press is kept at a distance

No pictures allowed

Bad things happen in secret

What about the least of us

Who will care

Who holds the key

Who will unlock the cages

July 5, 2018

PEACE IS NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE/ imaginary gardens with real toads

PEACE IS NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE

You speak to me 

In your gentle voice

Sounds like notes played

On your guitar

There is thunder 

In the distance

In the mountains

Do you think they 

Are peacefully bowling

Peace would not include fear

It would include kindness

And laughter

Peace would include play

And children

But life is not that way

Life is made up all things

The good and the bad

And it could not be another way

When we are invited to the banquet

We want to taste all that is offered

Things happen

And they are not things we like

And almost at the same moment

Things happen that we do like

We choose to wear a coat of many colors

We choose to be sad when loved ones die

We choose to celebrate births of new people

When it is possible we choose peace

It is not always possible

July 5,   2018

LAND OF THE FREE/poets united midweek motif/Lady Liberty

LAND OF THE FREE

Lady Liberty

Mother to us all

She speaks in these words

She asks for your tired

Your poor

Your huddled masses

Yearning to breathe free

My family came in 1858

From Ireland

Two brothers

Who were millers

Who became farmers

Raised cotton

In Trinity County, TX

She holds the lantern

Lights the way

We all came

Came from somewhere else

Who closes the door today

Who separates families

Takes small children

From Mothers and Fathers

It is hard to take pride

In what we have become

July 4^th, 2018

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.”

LIFE ON THE MESA/imaginary gardens with real toads

LIFE ON THE MESA

The city seems far away

Crowded

Busy

Bustling

Hurry, hurry

Noisy

Still the energy runs high

Ideas breed new ideas

Rest is not found for long

Slips into the gutter

Like rain water from the sidewalk

Still it is amazing

It all works as well as it does

Best to stay on your side of the street

Freeways congested

Each new day

The sun rises

And sets at the end of the day

Which seems to have only began

I keep my distance

In memory I drive the freeways

Spend the day in the studio

With sounds of trucks

Buses and trains

Filling every space

I do not long to return

I am happy here

The hermit that I am

On the mesa

The sun rises in silent morning

Traveling through the sky

And setting at the end of each well-worn day

July 3, 2018

JULY ONE/the sunday whirl wordle #358 -- poets united poets pantry

JULY ONE

July one

More hot days expected

Birds in flight over the mesa

The cycle of days never ending

Even the gods are naked

Seek a shady place

Remember the spirit of winter

Take nothing for granted

Walk the spiral

Return to the heart

Remember home

And the lessons learned

Passions hot 

Along with the hot days of summer

The humming birds are not here

There is no flitting in the garden

Will they ever return

The words come quietly

Perspiration trickles down your cheeks

The watermelon cools in tub of ice

It is the essence of summer

July 1, 2018