For all its beauty, nature can play a joke, as in the time I once passed beneath a stately magnolia and spotted a nest with a tag likely torn from a pillow. It was a laugh-out-loud moment: a bird recycling human trash.
Tag: The Tears of Things: Poems
When I Found Joy in the Morning: “Swimming After Trout”
The exuberance of diving into a mountain lake inspired this poem, which opens the third section (Summer) of my poetry collection, The Tears of Things: Poems. It was a ritual that announced days of soaking up sun and swimming in pristine waters.
Mom’s Gift: Taking a Nature Pause in Early Morning
In recent years, I relearned a lesson from my mother: there’s beauty in common scenes unfolding before you if you stop to see them. When I lived in Atlanta, walking along the Chattahoochee River offered this daily gift and the chance to turn passing moments into poetry.
Poem: Before Dogwood Winter
I love plants that herald early spring before Dogwood Winter, the cold snap that occurs in mid-April when dogwood trees start blooming. This poem notes the painterly strokes I’d give these blooms if wielding a palette knife (page 25 from The Tears of Things: Poems (Madville Publishing).
Accidental poet? Yup, doing my thing (love or leave it)
Poetry’s payoff seems less about praise or copies sold. I figure you’re blessed if you get to paint images with words, fiddle with figures of speech, juxtapose the unlikely, ponder the human condition, celebrate nature’s wonders, forgive the relationships that broke (and built) you, sing of those you love, and mourn your losses.