Archive for the ‘Poems’ Category
“The Peace of Wild Things”
Poems: May 4, 2022
“The Peace of Wild Things”
It is a rainy day.
That’s ok. I needed a rainy day.
Rainy days often cause for some reflection—and this day is one of those.
A friend sent me this Wendell Barry’s poem the other day—and today seems a good day to read and think about it. I had not read it in quite a few years.
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
—Wendell Berry
A Poem Plan
Turkey Tracks: December 13, 2021
A Poem Plan
In this dark time of the year, it’s good to spend a little time contemplating…the past and the future.
This poem came into my social media the other day. Is a gift of the universe?
RBG: A Life Lived Fully
Turkey Tracks: September 28, 2020
RBG: A Life Lived Fully
I grew up and married in the days before Ruth Bader Ginsberg began to change the American culture with regard to discrimination of all kinds. I could give you lots of examples of where I was not only “lesser than” the men who formed relationships in my life, but under their thumbs, which meant I was considerably less free than these men were.
Now I’m 75, and I am having a really hard time believing that we have returned to a time where much of what was changed can be made to revert. And, that a solitary white woman who thinks she has the right “truth” might be the fulcrum that makes this reversion possible.
We are all now faced with the power of a minority of white male politicians to change our lives in ways many of us cannot imagine. In the end, I do not think they will be successful, but the burning question is how far away “the end” lies.
Here’s a screenshot of a poem that might have been read at RBG’s funeral service and that holds something different: the power of love to change a culture in ways that are healthy for all human beings.
RBG will be powerfully missed and is powerfully loved by so many people in this country—precisely because she understood the power of love.
Turkey Tracks: Celebrating Spring Snow Drops
Turkey Tracks: March 9, 2020
Celebrating Spring Snow Drops
The Snow Drops are here—at least in some warm, sunny places.
I have not seem mine yet up here on the hill, but Lion Jerry Stone has some, which gives us all joy.
He celebrated with this message and picture.
Thanks Jerry!
****
February 29, 2020
Fine friends & friendly foe,
Nothing more excites me as March crawls closer to introduce Maine to spring than the precious, plucky snowdrops along the front cellar wall at Bette’s & my modest Camden home. Few things in life attempt “gilding the lily”, for they are themselves already perfect. And so, annually, snowdrops revive my restless soul & poetic pursuit. Enjoy my early spring welcome with picture & poetry.
This Leap Year spring arrives on March 19th.
Blessings to all who hope & dream!
Jerry Stone
Oh, Brave Snowdrops Now Here!
by Jerry Stone, 2.29.20
Oh, gentle & glad surprise!
Oh, now-exposed, perennial plant pals.
Oh, slender & slim, at-risk snowdrops.
Oh, cute cotton swabs just before green flap & flower.
Oh, feeble friends, sneaking up this hardest early hour
In February’s frosty earth this Leap Year Day.
Among snow & stone & lazy tannic leaf you lay.
Oh, surprising bloom, Heaven-sent & hope-filled!
You signal mild winter’s end & salute spring’s slow start.
Oh, modest firstborn, oh, feeble firstling, “lily gild”,
By example, I’m also here, vulnerable but humble in heart.
Poems: Walking Haiku 19 and 20
Poems: February 7, 2018
Walking Haiku 19 and 20
It’s often warm in Maine this winter. And it’s often really cold. We have yo-yo weather these days.
As I write, we are expecting a major snow storm, but here on the coast the snow may turn to rain later today.
No No Penny and I had a lovely walk on Monday, the first in some time.
19.
February 5, 2018
Hard rain all night long
In February, in Maine
Global warming comes
20.
February 5, 2018
February thaw
Sunshine brims from blue sky and
Sparks fire on the lake
Poems: Haiku 13
Poems: December 2, 2017
Haiku 13
13.
December 1, 2017
Colors coat the lake
Sky blue, cloud silver, fir green
The sun comes and goes
Poems: Haiku 12
November 30, 2017
Haiku 12
12
November 27, 2017
The air smells of snow
Ice crusts the river shallows
Solstice time draws near
Poems: Haiku 11 and Learning Herringbone Pattern
Poem: November 27, 2017
Haiku 11 and Learning Herringbone Pattern
11.
November 26, 2017
White birches in the
Winter woods seem like ice spikes
Piercing the sky bowl.
Here’s my first attempt at making Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s herringbone pattern—from her new book MODERN QUILT MAGIC. It uses 2 by 8-inch strips. This SAMPLE has been trimmed to make a pillow. For right now I’m just putting this sample into the Parts Department box. Lord knows I do NOT need any more pillows in my house!!!
And I learned what I need to know.
I do think that I will use this pattern to make a Cotton+Steel low volume lap quilt—a project I have longed to make for some months now.
Poems: Haiku 10
November 27, 2017
Haiku 10
Haiku 10
November 16, 2017
Beneath white snow sky
Cold-frame planted with seeds
Promise of green spring
Poem: Haiku 9
Poem: November 27, 2017
Haiku 9
9.
November 25, 2017
Louisa Enright's Blog 