The Poetry Patio

Rush

my neighbor cut down his tree
after it fell into his fence during a storm
so now I can see the sky as I lie in bed
the clouds are moving fast
in a hurry to end this hot dry month

from the bald stump,
the tree is pushing back up
with a quickness, a thousand saplings
rising from the one old root

dragonflies are racing in crazy
second storey zigzags

the leaves are shaking with wild
startled darts in the morning wind

on the ceiling the fan zooms;
its cranky motor ticks like seconds passing

my daughter can hardly wait
for school to start again

the only one not in a hurry
is me

Thanks, readers!

Late July

Portrait with sparklers | photo by author

August is knocking at the door
a hot mess of back-to-school
with new shoes, pencils, and
a new backpack

It used to be that
kids got to run wild
during the dog days,
endless sprinkler parties
and popsicle sleepovers

Now they are lucky
for any vacation, any gasps
of time blissfully away
from the hard thumb of authority,
the arch and watchful eye
of educational agendas,
the crack of principles’ whip

I guess you can tell how I feel about how early school starts these days! Thanks for reading.

Summer Burn

Port Aransas, TX | Medium format film image by author (Diana camera)

all season we flew close to the fire
when a puff of wind put out a flame
we hurried to re-light the wick,
digging it out of the wax,
from end to end,
never minding the singed wings

but in the end
fire still burns
the fierce factory of the sun
will not be denied
the old barrel gets lopsided
from being rolled out
again
again
and again

Thank you for reading!

At the Airport

Austin Bergstrom Airport | iPhone photo by author

traffic flows like a river
the escalators are tributaries
ferrying passengers in
and out of the main stream

giant baggage boulders
make rapids

giant metal aquatic birds
dip down
make deposits
drink deep

they leave again
with full bellies
migrating to the next
asphalt pond

A little poem written while I waited at baggage claim at the airport. Thank you for reading!

Fucus canaliculatus (pelvetia) – channel wrack, Dúlamán

cyanotype by Anna Atkins (public domain)

Brave branches gracefully
attending the daily flux
mingling with the grasses
that dance atop the salty cliffs

Hear your fronds sing
when you come up for air:
gentle daughter,
feed me in my time of need
guide this traveler
into the beautiful shoes
that enliven my path

The research for this last poem in my series based on Anna Atkins’ cyanotypes took me down an interesting rabbit hole, including learning about the Dúlamán. Thank you for joining me on this journey; thank you for reading! (PS World Cyanotype Day is the last Saturday of September, every year. . . . got a question about it? Ask me! )

Laminaria saccharina – sugar kelp, tangle, Devil’s apron

Cold water comfort
sweet forest home
for secret wide-eyed water-darters
now a tangle-rooted knife
upon the page

Would the devil wear you
around his fiery waste
as he prowled among the shore?

Let the waves push that
unwelcome long fellow back
into the deep,
where time’s corruption waits

Just one more left in my Anna Atkins’ cyanotype ekphrastic series! Last poem will run tomorrow. Thank you for reading!

Cytoseira fibrosa (baccata) – berry-like

Little lemons full of air
rafts pulling delicate life
from the depth of pools,
branches floating toward the light
white berries in a wash of blue
still firing connections,
still holding tightly to the common thread

This is the third poem in my series based on Cyanotypes by Anna Atkins. Thank you for reading!

Himanthalia lorea (elongata) – Sea thong / Sea spaghetti

How you chase the daylight
as it departs at the end of the year
shooting out among the rocks
to leave your mark
before the moon pulls you,
gathering deep piles
in great sandy knots
worthy of our efforts to untie

Foodie beach delight,
noodle-heaped upon a plate

This poem is the second in my series of ekphrastic writing on cyanotypes by Anna Atkins. For details about why I did this etc, please see yesterday’s post! Thank you for reading!

Laminaria digitata – Oarweed

Cyanotype by Anna Atkins (image public domain)

Great hand, whose fingers
raked through the sea
no longer holding fast
but now your ghost displayed
as it reached for the sun
a dream of the meadows
where your brothers and sisters
swayed with applause
delight of urchins,
a tidal clap
breaking free to rush alongside
swarthy boats,
palm to palm with the oars

I’m not sure how much of a deal I’ve made about it here on my poetry blog, but I am a major cyanotype enthusiast, and have a tendency to make a lot of them. You can see some of them on my website. Two years ago, I saw a post on Hundred Heroines’ instagram – a call for poetry ekphrastic style in response to Anna Atkin’s cyanotypes. HERE you can learn about Anna Atkins, if she’s a new name for you. THIS was the instagram post.

Of course I was interested, and had a wonderful time picking out some pieces of hers to write for! I’m not sure what happened to the project; I know I sent off the email but this was a couple of years ago and it’s all water under the bridge. So I’m sharing them with you now – the result of my enthusiasm for an art form and a bunch of research I did on the types of “algaes” she used for her work. Thank you for reading – stay tuned for a few more of these!

Sky Jewelry

In the wee hours
the stars blanketed the sky
the Milky Way stretched
and constellation rhinestones
punctuated the darkness

The stars in Colorado were incredible. We were lucky with the moon (I’m guessing it was either pretty new or rising very, VERY late, or maybe both). The photo I’m using for this post wasn’t made there – this was at our campsite in 2021 near Big Bend National Park. I was too astonished in Colorado to get out a camera! Somewhere I have some digital photographs of the Milky Way from previous camping trips, made with a real camera, not my phone; they are locked inside my defunct hard drive right now. Anyway photo tangent over: thank you for reading!