Sunrise

silence

ticking clock, humming furnace

sunrise tiptoes in

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Tradition

in this moment

past holds hands with future

tradition

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Winter WInd

persistent north wind

attempts to crystalize

water in my cells

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Indoor Recess Season

temperatures plummet

teachers prepare for long haul 

indoor recess season 

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Ornaments

box of ornaments --

felt, styrofoam, beads, ribbon --

still smells like Mom's house

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Tap Dance

flickr cc photo by Gary J. Wood

north wind 

oak leaves tap dance 

down the street 

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Christmas Cactus

Christmas cactus 

explosion of color 

winter fireworks 

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Storms

storms rage -- 

damage, injustice -- 

seek refuge 

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Stress

Unsplash photo by Michal Grosicki

stress relief: 

60% cacao 

melts slowly

 

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Fall Drive

Flickr cc photo by Nicholas Tonelli

rural PA smells:

smoking meat, spicy fall weeds,

hot pine pitch

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Hawk

Flickr cc photo by Shelly Prevost

above the playground

unbothered by winter wind

hawk soars

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Pomegranates

mom brought the whole world

to a rural farming town --

pomegranates

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Class Crud

stomach flu, pinkeye

sinus drainage, rattling cough --

hands chapped from washing

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Writer

Flickr cc photo by José Miguel S

writer cups hands

captures fragile fleeting thought

momentarily

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Teacher

oldest teacher

in spite of her greying hair

you'd never guess

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Hopeful

sunflower

face turned toward the east

hopeful

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Relax

Flickr Creative Commons Photo

boiling water

tea leaves understand

relax

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Unaware

Flickr Creative Common photo by Nicholas A. Tonelli

shagbark hickory 

unaware of scrambling squirrels 

crows stand guard 

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Enough

candy maker

licks spoon, fills hundredth bag

craves popcorn

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Old Chocolate

old chocolate

no longer melts well

tastes just fine

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

First Hard Frost

Unsplash photo by Autumn Mott

early morning walk

constant chatter of leaf-fall

first hard frost

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

If Truth Be Told

Unsplash photo by Charles Deluvio

I'm the type

who'd rather have dumplings

than blossoms

Issa, 1814

Unsplash photo by nabil boukala


I'm the type
who'd rather have breakfast
than cocktails

Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

I'm the type
who'd rather have sunflowers
than roses

Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

I'm the type

who'd rather have bikeways

than freeways

Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

I couldn't resist using Issa's haiku as a mentor text. It's so unlike any other Issa haiku that I've received in my email inbox via Daily Issa. 

What type are you? What can you learn about yourself through your "rather haves?"

How Airplanes Fly

Unsplash photo by Ross Parmly

How Airplanes Fly

Actually,
It's the wings!
Rushing air
Pushes up,
Lifts the wing.
Amazing -- it's
Not the
Engine that makes planes fly!


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Ode to Bluegills

Ode to Bluegills

Though you are small,
you are mighty,
fighting like a fish ten times your size.

You make us cheer
and call for the photographer.
And you make us cringe

when we remove the hook.
Why must you swallow the fly
so far down it takes magic to extract it?

Never mind.
All turns out well for you in the end,
and you swim away gladly.

We thank you for your spiky dorsal fin,
the distinctive black beauty spot near your gill,
your iridescent scales.

We thank you for the tug on our line,
reminding us that we are connected --
the two of us; all of us.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Bike Ride Blessing 3.0 -- A Counting Out Rhyme

Bike Ride Blessing--A Counting Out Rhyme

One for the moon

in the morning sky,

two deer watching

as I ride by.

Three steep hills

to make me work,

paired with coasting--

that's the perk!

Four herds of runners

clog the path.

Ring my bell,

pedal past.

Three ponds total--

rising mists.

Two geese honking--

they insist:

One is presence,

patience, too.

Eyes and ears,

one is you.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Bike Ride Blessing 2.0

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by stevep2008

ducks on the path

feet slap, slap, slap

I glide past

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Bike Ride Blessing

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Nick Step

Bike Ride Blessing

I want to stop,
gather my thoughts.

A deer and her fawn
ran across the path
so close
I swerved to miss them.

An ordinary day
suddenly goes soft.
All that was wrong
is lost.

Moments like this
can't be bought.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Black Swallowtail Haiku

the caterpillars

unrecognizable

disguise mystery

©Mary Lee Hahn

I still haven't seen a single adult black swallowtail anywhere, all summer long. They have found my dill and parsley, however. Caterpillars have appeared and disappeared several times. A couple of weeks ago, they were all over the dill in various stages of growth. I brought in six, excited about watching the ten (TEN!!) I left outside grow up. When I went outside later that afternoon, all ten were gone from the dill, nowhere to be found. Food chain, I assume. I am glad I saved six.

Of the six, three have successfully chrysalized (is that a word?) and two are close -- still eating, but nearing the full-to-popping size they achieve before they reorganize all their body parts so they can fly. The mystery of the changes from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly never gets old.

Caterpillar on dill, top left. Two chrysalises on bottom stick.

Two unrecognizable caterpillars -- top one is greenish, bottom one is brown.

Timing is Everything

Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes State Park

timing is everything

how we measure the seconds between
     toast and charcoal
     insult and injury
     impact and airbag
hands up, palms forward--stop!

how we measure the seconds between
     boom and sparkle
     joke and punchline
     notice and wonder
hands out, palms cupped--more!


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017



I took the title of my poem from today's poem at The Writer's Almanac. Gerald Locklin uses the timing of one event for his poem, but I got to thinking about the range of emotions possible within brief moments. What are some moments you'd like to have stopped or to held onto?

Dear, Sincerely

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Faruk Ateş

Dear Mac and Cheese,

I’ve got to hand it to you,
you perfected the whole dissemblance thing.
I mean, it was flat-out brilliant
disguising yourself in that box for all these years,
allowing generations of beginning (or lazy) cooks
to transform dust and rocks
into a creamy bowl of comfort.
Box-made, your color is, though, disturbingly unnatural.
Not quite the orange of the namesake fruit
nor of a winter sky at sunset.
Neither oriole nor monarch.
Not autumn or amber.
Perhaps closest to road gang prison uniform,
a subtle hint to alert the most observant cooks that
the box is actually a trap.
Half a lifetime of cooking wasted, spent colorblind and imprisoned,
I’m free now, and so are you.
I’ve grated a big mound of cheddar and American,
mixed in noodles, poured on cream, baked until crunchy on top.
We’ve escaped, and nothing can stop us from moving on
to smoked gouda, bacon, fresh peas, and a crisp panko topping.
Your palette is now my palate.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017






Sincerely, Mac and Cheese

I know I cannot erase the facts:
they will grow up motherless;
he will be achingly lonely.

Stir into me the courage of a wooden spoon,
bake me with a searing love,
deliver me to be eaten one spoonful at a time,

the same way a vast grief must be consumed.

This is all you can do.
This is all I can do.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017




My mentor text for these two poems was David Hernandez's book, Dear, Sincerely. His poem, "Sincerely, the Sky" was featured recently on The Writer's Almanac. I loved it so much that in a rare move, I clicked through to his book on Amazon. After a peek inside the book, I knew I wanted to own it.


There are 10 Dear or Sincerely poems in the book. I took the conversational tone of my first poem from Hernandez's "Dear Death." My sincerely poem is most like his "Sincerely, Paper Gown."