Hawk

On my way out the door today I heard this awful screeching
then saw this fellow fly over to the basketball hoop across the street
Now, I am a bird lover..but this hawk!
He snatched a little sparrow...I could see it clutched in his talons as I got close
He looked at me with those beady eyes and screeched right in my face
Mind your own business!
Oh dear, the poor little bird was already dead
So I reached in my pocket and pulled out my camera
He spread his looks like death wings,
screeched again and banked into the gray sky above
and was gone in a second
The circle of life....sometimes I just hate it.

a Sunday thought

the house is quiet now
and my being is filled with stillness
the sunset kind
the blue sky kind
the I just heard the owl kind
the thank you God for all I have kind
the let me be a good steward of my gifts kind
the humble kind
the loving kind
the watch the moon rise kind
the amen kind

I give thanks

Just over a year ago I began blogging.
I give thanks today for many things
for having faith,for my family
for my beloved country
for health
for a good heart and generous spirit
for friends and neighbors
for a full cupboard
a car that runs and looks good too
a warm home and a beautiful garden that gives me great joy
for three beautiful and dearly loved grandchildren
but, dear friends reading this now
I want to take the time to say I give thanks for you
You have added to my life
in a mysterious way
in a joyful way
I give thanks for all of you
and for your putting yourself out there
for your sharing,giving,caring ways
I give thanks for you today

Microfiction #58

Susan at http://www.stonyriver.ie/

hosts a weekly meme

using the below photo

write something using only 140 characters

I remember the shame seeing

  the team's hat on its proud antlers

 in the school's hallway,

how I wept for the mockery

...not our team's loss.

-140-

while at the bank today

I was in the drive-thru at the bank when I looked up and saw a woman in a wheelchair in the next parking lot struggling in her chair. I wasn't sure if her helper dog....a lovely large golden retriever..I wondered if his leashed had gotten caught because she was leaning forward and trying to do something. I watched as she leaned so far over that I feared she might just come right out of her chair. And then she began to spin around in her chair and the dog did nothing. My first reaction was a long forgotten memory....but I rose above this memory and shut off my car...told the teller I had to help someone...then went over to this poor soul struggling with something. When she saw me coming she smiled and then I saw that she had dropped her hat and it was now stuck under the wheels of the chair. The golden was the biggest one I have ever seen and a strap was around his muzzle.....maybe she did that to protect me?...anyway...I said, I can help and I reached down and freed her hat, and she thanked me.  I asked her if she was okay...sure she said, thanks.
I returned to my car and to the memory.
About 25 years ago I saw another wheelchair bound person struggling...a man. He was trying to cross a major street in the middle of the block...and he was not doing very well in this non motorized chair. I had my little daughter Sarah with me and she was horrified that he might get hit. So I pulled over,got out and went into the street to help this man. Well he began swearing at me and shouting he didn't want or need any help from the likes of me. I was shocked. What could I do? I left him alone and returned to the car. But his attack towards me lasted quite a long time for me and my daughter.
So today when I saw this woman struggling, the memory of that incident came rushing right back to me.
Should I or shouldn't I try to help?  Of course I should....so what if she lashes out at me like that man did?  As it turned out,she was grateful that I helped her.
....Bad memory gone.
Turns out ..she probably helped me more.

magpie tale # 41

Using the below image as a writing prompt

for a poem or a vignette

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/

Waiting up for her

holding onto, letting go

a stone in my shoe

Wednesday poem

One Stop Poetry hosts a weekly
opportunity for poets to post one poem
http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/

another one found and dusted off

          
***

Now where did my book go?

I have three books going at the same time:

 Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories,

In The Woods,by Tana French,

and

Poetry As Spiritual Practice,by Robert Mcdowell 

Well, this morning I was in the mood for the poetry book,however, I was unable to find it.

So as I was trying to get into Flannery I looked up and there it was.....

Lambchop was reading it.

.......Finn was here for a visit the other day

and I wasn't the one who cleaned up.

...that will teach me.

                                                                                                                                              

Jingle's potluck poetry

post a poem on
 moods,feelings or emotions
join in the fun at http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/

I offer this simple poem

Interweave

These are things that bound my life

I'm daughter,sister,mother,wife

A braided cord around my soul

made out of each,each one a whole

A different kind of love each part,

that knots this cord around my heart

This cord,this knot,has set me free,

You see this love returns to me

***

Microfiction #57

Susan at http://www.stonyriver.ie/

hosts a weekly writing meme

Using the below image

write something using only 140 characters

The man in the serape:

tall,handsome,proud,and her father.

But the painting of him was hidden away

as was his side of her heritage.

-135 characters of fiction-

*

Thief

I chased him across the yard
my Indian corn in his mouth
the thief!
I yelled I screamed...That's Iowa Indian corn!
drop it or else
well...he did...but I saw his partner in crime
got away with one.....
and there they were up the tree
yeeking at me.......
And when I came inside to tell my WH
he just pointed at the bag of unsalted peanuts
on the counter
"And who did you buy those for?" he asked
I hate him

transitions

The past few days the illusion of Spring tempted me-the sun so bright,
and the air had the scent of wet earth
and if I closed my eyes my heart almost leaped for joy
that Spring had come to rescue me from season-dread
The feeling I get when things go stark and dark
and colorless and I don't have any flower faces to speak to me
...no glorious scent of this or that in the air
But today...today....I had an epiphany
Master Autumn lit a match overnight
and his tailcoat of leaves were ablaze in the slanted afternoon light 
in  crimson, gold, and orange
...and joy filled me like a new day

It is the time of transition that I dread
And I thought about transitions in life and how hard they are
I think...I know...I am going through one right now
and maybe that is why this autumn transition has been so hard
I dread my own transition...I want Spring again
but autumn is here ... almost gone
But today I fell in love with Master Autumn again
transition complete for now

***

Morning walk

On my walk through the garden this morning
as I stepped along the path I could hear the rustling of leaves
When I stopped, it stopped
When I walked, something walked
Finally, I spotted the little mourning dove
walking through the leaves
I smiled, and it froze...knowing it had been discovered
I had to "chase" him quietly and slowly
to get a shot of him...oh ..I mean a photo of him
Next to the robin the mourning doves are my favorite
...ordinary, and despised by many
I prefer to see them as blessings
They mate for life...I like that in birds and people
They coo in the light of the setting sun...I'm right there with them
They  wobble away from most movement
either of the squirrels or other birds
They are not fighters...but rather they are funny little winged creatures
that delight me in the garden when I just sit and watch
Anything that causes me to be still is a blessing
..a mighty charge they have been given
Be yourself .... you never know who you bless


***

Magpie tale

Willow,http://magpietales.blogspot.com/

hosts this weekly meme

bless her ghost loving heart

Lies strung like black pearls

Deceit a golden pendant

Love a broken clasp

Wednesday poem

This is an old old poem that went nowhere,but I brushed it off

and put it forth...for One shot Wednesday #19

at http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/

Ache

I saw an old man today

and the child inside me leaped

he looked like a ghost of grandfather

I wanted to run up and hug him

hoped he would smell of soap

and his hands would be strong

and rough in mine

and it would be him

and I would cry

So I trembled

one foot in front of the other

But it wasn't him

and the man turned up his collar

disappeared into the darkness of the subway

and I lost my grandfather again

sunset

I will never cease to be humbled and awed by the sky

especially sunsets

for they are moments

I commune with the Great Spirit

without either of us saying a word

***

an evening thought

There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.

 ---Albert Einstein

***

Microfiction Monday

Susan at http://www.stonyriver.ie/

thank you for another week of

Microfiction

and best to you on your new job!

I lagged behind letting her be with her thoughts,

as mine were filled with joy watching her walk through Autumn leaves and childhood

-136-

***

I need to see stars

Tomorrow it's off to Galena
a place I love
Where time slows down
to restful
Where the people are real
and the food is good
Where there is darkness
and millions of stars
and on a fall night the smell of wood burning
dances through the air
and the sound of something walking through and over
crunching leaves in the woods makes you pause to listen

There will be work to do....closing things up and putting them away
Putting out the heat light in case the furnace goes out while we're gone
and of course putting up the snow markers on the driveway
But this is the time of the year for Corn Chowder
not a bad reward for a hard days work

Gift

I wish I could gather forgiveness

like stones on a walk, place it

in jars or a smooth dish next to

fallen feathers and empty seashells

But it is a gift I must discover in myself,

wrapped up in tears, placed beside

regret covered in grief,

lit with love and set free

***

Magpie tale #39

Willow's weekly writing challenge

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/

His temperament is hardwired

driven by duty- he is called to answer

Not free

but bought and sold

And when he is no longer useful

his master

cold bloodily murders him

silencing his only grace

his devotion to the rising sun

wednesday poem

http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/




gathered flower pots
seeping cold and shortened days
joy opens inside

***

November 2

Do your part America

VOTE

end of journey

My daughter was shocked
that I took this photo of this dead bird
That's not just a dead bird I told her
It's a warbler
actually two of them had hit the glass and died
So many of our migrating birds die this way
and there isn't much we can do about it
marking the glass helps a bit
but die they will no matter what
and this caused me to pause
and mourn this tiny warrior
his journey cut short