Jack

Jack

He had a reputation
for being a prankster
and a tease,

but if you could
stop time,
somehow freeze

the moment,
you would realize
that he's

not forcing them
to do this. All they want
is to please.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Earthworm's Rain Song

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Kurt Bauschardt

Earthworm's Rain Song

My tunnel wasn't flooded
as you used to think was true.

Your sidewalk's now my highway --
step aside, I'm wriggling through!

I'm on my way to somewhere else
with roots and leaves to chew.

I'm helpful, don't you realize --
rich soil is earthworm poo!

©Mary Lee Hahn

Bygones

Bygones

My eyes

will always twinkle,

even when 

they become surrounded

by wrinkles.

I will read thousands of pages,

see sunsets and rainbows,

witness a long lifetime of history.

My smile

will always turn down at the corners

just like

my grandmother's did.

I will smile at my husband's dear face,

my children's accomplishments,

my friends' news,

my cats' playfulness.

My hands

will always be busy,

sewing, 

cooking, 

gardening.

I will hold these photos

one more time,

amazed at my big life,

remembering.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project

Photo by Diane Mayr

Circulation

After a lifetime spent galloping in circles,
I'm finally going to put some actual distance beneath these hooves.

I've got this chance to move forward,
and I'll enjoy the ride before the next place I park.

The blur of landscape as we roar down the road
is an art I admire, but have never been able to achieve.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Garlic

Photo by Mary Lee Hahn!

Garlic

You don't know my flower,
a bundle of blooms rising above the July garden.

You know my bulbs,
braided in papery chains.

You know my cloves,
crushed under the flat silver knife blade.

You know my juice,
sticky on your fingers.

You know my scent,
rich, insistent, mouth-watering.

You know me sliced and minced,
roasted and diced.

You can't live without me,
and you know it.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project

Photo by Buffy Silverman

every life

(hopefully softened by moss)

becomes rubble

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Found Object Poem Project

Photo by Jessica Bigi

the world

stacked on my shoulders

yet I shine 

©Mary Lee Hahn

Found Object Poem Project

Photo by Laura Shovan

The Key to Today

Listen for the first wren
who sings in the dark
at the end
of an endless
February.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Home

Home

Sure, it's small,
but to us, it's cozy.

Yes, there's a lot of traffic here,
but, well, you get used to it.

It's kind of a mess,
but I'll tidy up just as soon as I get the chance.

What you can't see
is the perfection of light in the mornings.

You can't know
the lingering warmth in the early evenings.

And I'm sure you can't imagine
our view of the stars when the rest of the world is dark.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- In Excess

photo by Jan Annino Godown

In Excess

The elementary school lost and found:
a regurgitation of hats,
mismatched gloves,
jackets thrown off and left behind
after a warmish winter recess.

Is this where it all starts?
Is this what leads to
eternal cereal aisles in the grocery store,
suburban sprawl,
and industrial laundry bins full of unread manuscripts?

Is this the price we pay
for wanting more out of life
rather than living in satisfaction with
enough?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Partners

photo by Buffy Silverman

Partners

You can't see me.

I'm not here.

I freeze.

I blend.

I pose.

Glance away, then.

Lose attention.

I'm gone.

Gone where?

Tree knows. 

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Advice

Photo by Mike Ratcliffe

Advice

There's pride --
(nothing wrong with pride)
a warm sense of self-worth
sitting quietly inside you
like a steaming cup of cocoa on a winter morning.

But then there's hubris --
a venti double mocha latte with whip and extra sprinkles
standing there beside your computer in the cafe
while you pose with your earbuds
open notebook
fancy pen
empty page.

The trick is knowing the difference.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Live Big/Fail Big

Photo by Jan Godown Annino

Live Big/Fail Big

Are you willing to risk it?
Will you go for broke?
Take a chance,
Take a dare,
Try that limb?

The payoffs are huge!
Beyond ginormous!
Take the chance,
Take the dare,
Chase the win!

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- One Pink Shoe

Photo by Donna Smith

One Pink Shoe (after Three Blind Mice)

One pink shoe
One pink shoe
Left by the bins
Left by the bins
It had so much fun in the waves and the sand
Then danced to the tunes of the three-piece band
Was carried, then dropped from the girl's left hand
One pink shoe
One pink shoe


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Street Art in St. Louis

Photo by Carol Varselona

STREET ART IN ST. LOUIS

Some curve, some soar,

some serve as a gate,

I glitter, I shine,

I triangulate.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Dregs

Photo by Heidi Mordhorst

Heidi's image gave me the word dregs. I started several poems lamenting how much STUFF I'll leave behind when I'm gone, vs the elegance of shards of worked flint left behind by ancient people. Imagining finding remnants of early people led me to an image search for one of the intermittent streams that can be seen from I-70 on the drive through Eastern Colorado from Kansas towards Denver. I explored Bijou Creek along with the 2003 Field School in the Paleontology Certification Program at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (day 6), and found my poem.

Dregs

It's late summer.
All that's left of Bijou Creek
is a sinuous path of green
between low eroded hills.

In the cutbank of a gully we find
fossilized fragments of turtle shell,
and a Paleocene tree trunk
buried in its upright, growing position.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Loaded

photo by Diane Mayr

LOADED

moisture-dark clouds

snagged in winter-bare branches --

freezing drizzle

bedding, towels, jeans,

shirts, socks, underwear, sweaters --

laundry marathon

all that was not said

hangs suspended by a thread --

proceed with caution

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Jumprope Rhyme

photo by Linda Baie

Jumprope Rhyme

sticker

pricker

porcupine 

burr

spiney

tiney

pokery

fur

seed-head

skeleton

sculpture

fish

never want to

meet you

or find you 

in my dish

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- The Icing On the Cake

photo by Buffy Silverman

You're the Icing on the Cake

You're the best
you're the bomb
you're the highest supreme

unrivaled
unbeaten
you're king (or you're queen)

you're the finest
the greatest
the premier and the prime

you're the jewel in the crown...
we'll keep you,
you're fine.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Found Object Poem Project

photo by Linda Baie

She struggled
to keep her face blank,
unreadable.

The news
made her shoulders tense,
took her breath,

blinded her.
An unimaginable future
stretched ahead.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Found Object Poem Project

photo by Margaret Simon

when your plate is full --

seed ideas lined up in rows --

give thanks for fulsome seasons

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Found Object Poem Project -- Tracks

photo by me

Tracks

Under each of his
uncut fingernails is a
half-moon of black.

No fewer than twelve
jangling keychains
hang from his backpack.

He returns from the library
joy on his face
hugging his new stack.

After twenty-two weeks
his brave facade
is cracked.

Hugs:
unsolicited
payback.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Found Object Poem Project -- Dreamer

photo by Diane Mayr

there was nothing
left
for me
to
do
but rest my head
on a pillow
of fallen
oak leaves,
close my eyes,
and dream
of
spring


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Up in Smoke

Photo by Jone MacCulloch

"A pipe gives a wise man time to think 
and a fool something to stick in his mouth." 
- C.S. Lewis.


Packing the tobacco correctly is as
Important as the
Proper breaking in of the pipe.
Each pipe
Smokes differently, and a good smoker can
Make one last up to 45 minutes.
One must tap the dottle from the bowl,
Know how to ream the pipe, and
Embrace the subtleties of the experience --
Rather like shooting or fly fishing or drinking
Scotch.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Dolls

photo by Laura Shovan

Abandoned

As a child,
my dolls were my closest friends.

When I left for college,
I tried to pack them in a trunk,
but had to release them before they suffocated.

They've lived my entire adult life
(up until now)
on the closet shelf
in  my childhood bedroom.

Soon,
they will be auctioned away
to strangers.
I will hear them calling to me
for the rest of my life.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Five Odd Ducks

photo by Joy Acey

Five Odd Ducks
(to the tune of "Three Blind Mice")

Five odd ducks
Five odd ducks

See mottled bills
See mottled bills

They can't decide if they're black or they're white
They waddle and waggle in morning's bright light

They're five odd ducks
Five odd ducks


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

This poem was composed in the comments of Joy Acey's Poetry Friday post. Just for fun, I'll archive it here, too.

Found Object Poem Project -- Double Tomato

photo by Matt Forrest Esenwine

Double Tomato

We budded together and together we bloomed;

it just seemed natural that together we grew.

Together we look...unusual,

but together we're unified -- one outranks two!

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Fan

photo by Charles Waters

Lament of the Portable Fan

I'll never spin a hurricane,

I'll never turn a weather vane.

I'll never push a sailboat's sail

or ruffle feathers on a tail,

power windmills, shape the land,

carry ash or desert sand.

The most that I will ever be

is one small oscillating breeze.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Mystery Object(s)

photo by Laura Shovan

Mysteries

The mysteries of the world are myriad.

Sometimes they look like little balls of butter.

Sometimes they clump together in the shape of South America.

The mysteries of the world puzzle us.

They make us take our glasses off and look so close

we dust our noses with them.

The mysteries of the world hold hidden ripeness.

Each might contain a new life,

or the possibility to change the weather patterns of the entire world.

The mysteries of the world cast shadows.

Hovering above, they block the sun

and send a chill through us as they pass over.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Found Object Poem Project -- Produce

My photo

Ode to Summer Produce

I realize now, in the grey shrivel of winter,

I took you for granted.

Your abundance overwhelmed me.

Your spectacular crunch became ordinary.

How I long for your vibrant colors!
How I miss your ripeness!

Seed packets dance in my dreams.

(Shovel, hoe, trowel and water jugs hold their peace.)

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016