I-395 South in Winter

Photo Credit: darkroastedblend.com

Contrails etched in the newborn sky

burst into flames at dawn.

 

Diamond-studded acres of frozen snow

bristle at sun’s caress.

Photo: listofimages.com

We descend the mountain road

into a bowl of milky fog,

 

creep forward through thick mist

then emerge beneath its weighty layer.

Photo: Alex Boywer
Mono Lake Fog

There lies Mono Lake, still and peaceful

as light breaks through in the East

 

illuminating her surface into

a pool of liquid silver.

 

A gilded strip on the horizon beckons.

We rise again through the miasma,

 

We arise to crisp blue that shimmers,

shivers, surrenders its secrets.

 

In the desert, Joshua trees, tipped

in gold leaf, bow at our passage.

Photo: tripadviser

Contrails etched in evening skies

burst into flames at sunset.

Photo credit: joabess.com

We’re arrived in the desert after a two-day drive. This stunning trip never ceases to amaze me but this winter topped them all. I wanted to pull over and take photos every few miles but because of the conditions, it took longer than usual. Wish I could find the words to describe the PEACE and beauty that this dip into nature brought to me…and Peace in the theme Mary has invited us to consider over at dVerse Poetics!

Monotone

Winter Snow – Landscape (Photo credit: blmiers2)

Monotone

Staggering through a maze of words,
The poet gropes for one to fill the emptiness.

Dark skies obscure even shadows.
Monochromatic gray scales the horizon.

Flecks of asphalt sprinkle once-white snow,
heaped in mounds beside the road.

Remembrance of beauty fades, evades.
November dies with dreams of loveliness and magic.

Winter doldrums stagger through a maze of words,
extinguish artistry, ignite loneliness.

Perhaps a bit out of season for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. This is an old poem, edited and posted for dVerse Meeting the Bar where Gay Canon challenges us to write poetry about poetry. I’m late, but there’s still time to join!

Write2Day–Writing from the Light Side

Image via Wikipedia

This will be a somewhat short post, since I’m compelled to give my elbow tendonitis a rest. Last week we discussed writing from the dark side. We all know, there’s plenty of darkness to go around. So today, in order to add contrast to our writer’s palette, let’s light up the place…an appropriate topic for this season of the year when so many traditions celebrate light in one form or another. Think of Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, Diwali…all celebrations that revolve in one way or another around light.

So, for today’s prompt, consider writing about your celebrations of light–or light sources such as the moon, the sun, stars or candles. Maybe you would like to post a humorous piece or something with bright happy colors. How about an event that features joy: children at play, dancing, or music. Take it wherever you like, but let’s get out of the doldrums for this week’s prompt.

To participate:
Write your poem or short prose and post it to your blog.
Access Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post.
Include your name and the direct URL to your poem.
Visit and comment on other participants.

You will find my poem for dVerse OLN in the previous post!

Next week at dVerse I will be hosting Meeting the Bar (Thursday, 3 PM EST). In that post, I will focus in more depth on the subject of contrast. Hope to see you there as well.

Waning

Photo: V. Ceretto-Slotto

Waning

If only Autumn
would not go away
so soon.
If Winter
would hold back
and not rush in to
fold us in
her gray embrace.

If we could just
go back in time
to summer days
and love beneath
a canopy of stars.

But youth evades us now
and so we settle in
and wait.

Hey, I’m going to dVerse Poets’ Pub for Open Link Night in an attempt to shake off this gloom. Hope to see YOU and your poetry there. Can’t wait!

Lauds and Loons

Image via Wikipedia

Lauds and Loons

In a former life
I chanted Lauds
soon upon awakening:

morning prayer,
quiet time and
praise of the Creator.

Now I join my voice
to songs of birds,
early morning joy.

In winter dark
when hearts are cold
I go within,

remember how it was
when not so stark.
Listen to the call of loons.

Loon Call from soundbible.com

I’m posting this older poem to Gooseberry Gardens and dVerse Open Link Night. Both sites are a feast of poetry and friendship. I usually prefer to offer something unique for each, but this week is a bit overloaded.

Goodbye, Copernicus–dVerse Poets Pub

Image via Wikipedia

Goodbye, Copernicus

According to astronomers
the world is round but
when we lived in Indiana
the cornfields behind our place
spread out as far
as anyone could see.
In winter, snow piled high
so that our chimney
stood alone on the horizon—
a tombstone marking the
demise of heliocentricity.

Posted for Open Link Night at dVerse Poet’s Pub: http://dversepoets.com/ Stop by and belly up to the bar. Enjoy a brew, some wonderful poetry, great company. Maybe you’ll want to serve up a round of your own poetry!

Stars and Midnight Blue

Cover of A Christmas Story (Full Screen Edition)

Stars and Midnight Blue

In winter stillness
deep within the Earth Mother
tiny seeds gestate.

White rose in winter
miracles we don’t expect
our God comes to earth.

A long winter sleep
introspective mother bear
prepares for new life.

Christmas Eve arrives
children with eyes wide open
Stars and Midnight Blue.

Nature celebrates
light in the midst of darkness
a Christmas story.

Lobster and champagne
leaving the past behind us
ring in the New Year.

Harsh winds bitter cold
North Dakota immigrants
Giants in the Earth.

Escape winter cold
snowbirds get out of this place
fly to Palm Desert.

Palm Desert-Photo: D.Slotto

Quote:
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. ~Andrew Wyeth

Poem:
The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of pine-trees crushed with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Favorites:

Word: Stillness

Flower: Rose

Animal: Bear

Song: Stars and Midnight Blue by Enya

Movie: A Christmas Story

Food: Lobster

Book: Giants in the Earth

Town: Palm Desert, California

Image:

Photo: V.Ceretto-Slotto

 

Linked to Broken Sparkles’ Season’s Favorites Challenge: http://brokensparkles.wordpress.com/

Cricket’s Song

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

Cricket’s Song

When I awaken to sounds
of mockingbirds and scents
of jasmine blooming

and ducks begin
their mating nods and bobs
and doves build nests

when breezes billow
fluttering the leaves
scattering pear blossoms

and winter slips away
behind the blush of bronze
on snow-topped peaks

I know that soon the earth
will warm to sunlight’s touch
and revel in the song of summer.

Linked to One Stop Poetry: http://onestoppoetry.com/

Through This Dying–Jingle’s Poetry Potluck

Image via Wikipedia

Submitted to Jingle’s Poetry Potluck: http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/  This week’s theme is: Aims, Goals and Ambitions. This poem is loosely related to the theme, especially for those of you in snow-bound regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Through This Dying

When earth returns to stillness
and robins pluck the fruit
from unclothed branches,

when boughs of junipers
lay, crushed beneath
the weight of snow,

and when the nighttime sky
gives way to swathes
of white and gray

then, without sight,
you hope,
await another day.

Crossing Donner Pass in Winter

Image by Telstar Logistics via Flickr

Submitted to One Shot Wednesday: http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/

Crossing Donner Pass in Winter

Cars line up
waiting for a chain monkey:
prisoners bound together.
Semi’s slog along,
splatter the inmates
in mud.

Donner Pass is along Interstate 80 in California and is the route traveled through the Sierra Nevada between Sacramento and Reno, Nevada. In the winter, during snow storms, chains or snow tires are required to provide traction for the crossing. There are areas where motorists can pull out and pay someone to put the chains on their tires. Chain monkey is a term designating these seasonal laborers.