Pumpkins

“Pumpkin Patch” by Jani Freimann

 

pumpkins on a vine

press the weight of

their plumping identity

into the life-giving soil

sharing green leaf and

stem born and grown

of a season marked out

by sun-shortened days

in whose hurry of time

they have come to exist

cheek-to-jowl learned

the intimate character

each of the other yet

know not the least of

themselves introspection

a faculty much too

complex for the homely

simplicity settled by

untended botany wild

existence that waits

to be plucked from an

unaware field given

solipsist gifts of real

personal purpose

experiences never

dreamed now laid out

for a sentient month

or more mingling

with alien species now

blessed with a freedom

to think and enjoy feeling

live interaction with

affable beings possessed

of a healthy self-worth

personality even short

lived fully realizes all

that biology down in its

chemistry promises life

 

 

From my book Ephemera

Mapling

“Three Bucket Maple” by Bruce Sherman

 

sapwood straddles

the freeze line

sun-made sugar

drawn into liquor

of lifeblood

that quickens the

root and the branch

obverse natures of

xylem and phloem

in rise and descent

overlapping that

uncertain seam

between seasons

life coursing

enriching tall

tissues and cells

with new nectar

near sweet come

in yield to the tap

rustic business

this harvest of

delicate gifts

learned from

reverent hands of

indigenous centuries

Holly

Holly Painting by Heidi Malott

 

the chill’s on the holly
berries blaze with hauteur
impossible poison
too red for the wane
of deciduous totems
whose glory fades
into the pallor of coma

the sheen upon deadly
serrated green thatches
an undying undergrowth
eager for winter
to showcase its arrogance
daring alike dove and deer
in the cold throes of hunger

 

 

(originally posted October 2013)

Mandrake

 

Medieval Illustration of Mandrake

 

human of form

finding nourish

profaned with

the shed of dead

fluids of felons

in soils who rim

mare nostrum

torn from its root

hear it scream of

nefarious harvest

hell bound be the

murderous hands

of magicians and

mystics with

malice in mind

let the dog and the

chain save the

necromance soul

Angel Oak

1,500 year-old “Angel Oak” tree, Johns Island, SC – Photo by Lewis Carlyle

 

sweeping majesty
reigns sandy loams
half a million warm suns
drawn through filigree
tresses dressing in green
mighty live-oaken limbs
boughs exquisitely curling
through spiral paths piercing
veils misty with history

stalwart and ancient
deep drinking roots sink
into Gaia’s warm womb
where first shoot emerged
from the ocean teased ground
when Byzantium flowered
Muhammad gave prophecy
Mayans raised temples
and Europe fell darkened

wily it dodged fate when
siblings went kidnapped
for seafaring timbers
plantation laid millwork
courageous it stood against
one thousand hurricanes
scarred by grave wounds
but surviving the traumas
of wind and wave furies

and so it yet stands
on its perilous coast
beyond civilizations
past powerful dynasties
outlasting concepts
philosophy’s artifacts
testament to the abiding
endurance biology knows
as the sheer will to live

Saguaro

“Cohabiting” by Amy Tuso

 

 

 

desert skyscrapers

repentant fingers upstretched

beseeching heaven

 

Figs

“Figs Still Life” by Jeffrey T Larson

I lie among the fallen figs

the sweet dropping time

of our synchronous lives

come from soils and seeds

shared in common

that fruit and this flesh

theirs and mine

fully ripened by suns

we counted together

our succulent minds

engorged with pink

glistening decades of dew

now attaining our harvest

no longer our need

to be wrapped against cold

in the muslin of ancients

the season has turned

to arrival of feasts

it is time we are eaten

by hungry eternity

Aspidistra

Aspidistra Flowers

(Regarding the “Cast Iron Plant” of Vietnam and southeast Asia)

fertile yellow skin

shot with troubles

steaming doctrinal

isms envelope lithe

jungle green ghosts

trenchant histories

turned through wet

tunnels and paddies

inseminate vegetal

lowlands with blood

of aggression sharp

starpoints invading

the shade give smart

sanguine resistance

to whole generations

young warriors come

courting conquest to

die among dreams in

a land with too many

belligerent centuries

grown into cast iron

root stem and flower

a killing field planted

with waves of defeat

Sunflower Theater

“Sunflowers”
Painting by Federico
From rubylane.com

sweetened by rain-scent

adorned by a fading

declined astronomical

greasepaint of sun

standing tall on their

downstage marks

cool in proscenium soil

ready to take final bows

to the thunder’s applause

giving seed to new seasons

of windborne productions

as the drama of summertime

reaches its scripted finale

Intoxication

“Magic of a Summer”
Painting by Mario Zampedroni
From zampedroni.com

sweet summer air
sifted scents of wild blossoms
heady breathing