Watercolor

 

Secrets

 

Flip side

 

Delicious

 

Plus All the Ones I Could Hear But Not See

 

Chives

 

My Favorite Part of Swimming Laps?

 

Lap Full of Cat

 

Heron Over High Street

 

A Glimpse

 

Anaphora

 

Inspired by Art

 Outside the Dayton Art Institute, stands "Pathway," by John Safer, always reaching skyward with energy and beauty, and looking different in every season and from every angle. It draws the eye up and the mind in.

Here is a closeup I took on one visit last year:

The lower part seems to blur the sharp architecture of the building, while the upper part seems almost transparent.  Here's where that combination took my imagination:

This is an Ekphrastic poem. Poetry inspired by art is called Ekphrastic.

Ode to The Little Building

 

Bread

 

Permission

 

This poem is a Cascade poem.

Taking Down the Tree

 

after “Taking Down the Tree” by Jane Kenyon

“..​​.If it's darkness
we're having, let it be extravagant.”

We took down the tree
packed it in its box
swept up the plastic needles
carefully stored the ornaments
shelved the quiet holiday we’ve
learned to make our own –
mostly pagan and secular
yet there are angels and carols –
though the images and words
burned deep in memory
now hold no truths.
We took down the tree
coiled and stored the lights
added another blanket to the bed
welcomed juncos to the feeder
pulled on hats and scarves
while we wait for longer warmer days
that come a minute at a time
as the earth flings itself
towards tomorrow.

© Mary Lee Hahn, draft 2023

Change

 

Our planet's slow, interconnected natural changes are sharply contrasted by the selfishly rapid changes humans have caused, presumably to benefit our species, but which in reality are destroying our home.

Boxes

 

This is a 4 x 4 poem. Read about the form here.

This is a square poem. Read about the form here.

Umbrella Arts

 

Crows

Crows

Crows own the morning sky,
the naked treetops, too.
Clouds both amplify
and muffle their sharp-edged caws.
Below the grey they fly
on a mission to who knows where
or why.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2022

Suddenly Family

My mentor text for this poem was "Because A Redwood Grove" by Joe Cottonwood.

Pacific Palm

 

Beauty

Cajun Prairie Grass by James Edmunds

 Sow

Seed your world
lavishly,
like Cajun

prairie grass —
sending stars
everywhere.

So beauty
will expand,
sow beauty.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2022

I’ve only written a couple of tricubes. Until this one, I didn’t really like the form. Moral of the story: don’t give up too soon!

Thank you, Margaret, for “This Photo Wants to be a Poem,” from whence the image and inspiration came.

Folktale Week: Costume

 

Folktale Week: Tree

 

Folktale Week: Fool

 

We Did This

 

image by Yasser Mokhtarzadeh via Unsplash

Early Morning in the Anthropocene

 

photo via Adrian Pelletier on Unsplash

Peak Colors

 

Wordy 30 Poems

 

A Wordy 30 is a poem using exactly 30 letters. Each line should have the same number of letters. Each line should use one word. You might have 6 lines with 5 letters in each line (like Wordle), or 5 x 6, 3 x 10, 10 x 3, 15 x 2, 2 x 15, 30 x 1, or (most unlikely) 1 x 30. Mine are a 5×6 and a 6×5.