Birds in Winter

baby birds grown,
nests exposed, and
summer's lessons tested

first snow flakes
fall slushily
on crispy maple leaves

tree architecture, naked
shows the still life
of birds in winter

The Lady with the Lamp

I'm in Roseville, Minnesota, blessed to spend some time with my hard-working and very talented grandparents (88 and 91 years old) who've been navigating some extra challenges this summer. A couple of weeks ago Gram called me The Lady with the Lamp, and my dad wrote this poem that I thought was too wonderful not to share.

The Lady With the Lamp


When times are tough and we are down, there is a myth of wide renown:

As home fires fade and the kindling’s damp, here comes the Lady With the Lamp.

She brings a warmth and energy, a light that brightens all we see.

As hope returns and spirits rise, we soon begin to realize

The Lady With the Lamp is here to overcome despair and fear,

Reminding us to hope and pray for help to find a better way

To meet the many tests we face, with resolve and steady grace.

The Lady With the Lamp is more than just a maid of local lore.

Her little lamp, though very bright, represents a greater, larger light.

And though we may not understand the source of every helping hand,

We have a feeling in our heart that her compassion is a part

Of a universal earthly love that we were given from above.

Life is full of mysteries that compensate for frailties,

And one to help us up the ramp is the Lady With the Lamp.

***

Thanks, Dad! Makin' me cry! :)
Much Love!
-dancinghawk-

Ten Gnats and the Golden Dragonfly

Sunset under the bridge:
golden dragonfly lights on a rock, and
ponders.

Ten gnats circle up, up, up a sunbeam, and
drift.
Then drop, like a waterfall,
stop,
and form into a ball.
Updraft.
Ten gnats circle up a sunbeam.

Flit!
One gnat leaves the column for a surrounding ring:
one thousand gnats.
Scythe!
One pointy-winged little bird
bullet-trains through the
now-wider gap.

Golden dragonfly
disappears in a curve of shadows,
perfectly mimicking a leaf's edge.

Sunset under the bridge:
Golden shadows are in motion.

Garden News, May 29, 2010 (Spokane, WA)

Garden News, May 29, 2010
-Spokane, WA

Record rain
after late-season freezes, and yet
Egyptian Iris blooms luminescent -
ancient perfume on the breeze.

Purple chive tops,
valerian and columbine pink,
Joe Pye magenta and
crazy daisies everywhere,
each curving maneuver captured in
long stems seeking the ever-moving sun.

The first spring-red strawberry
was gobbled up two days ago, and
summer fruit is set -
round and green -
gooseberries, raspberries,
currant.

Sandy soil welcomes water as
sage tips nearly burst.
Volcanic ash, arrived 30 years ago on the plumes of
Mt. St. Helens, infuses the earth -
a recent memory in geologic time -
already sifted deep into soil

eager to nourish.

Flanders Fields poppies
just might pop on Memorial Day -
dripping blood red in living color - and the
Bleeding Heart has been blooming for weeks,
remembering the fallen
of many seasons.

The depths inform the surface;
this little patch of ground is thriving.
May this breath be remembered
for the beauty it contains.

Blessed Be.
-Dancing Hawk

I was born with worker-bee markings

I carry
I chop
I dig
I plant
I do

I am

Native No More

This canyon echoes rumbling rails

while ancient creek bed holds its tales,

and diving falcons practice fleet

with dancers - now all whirling birds.

As fish swim close to banks of words

sprayed ‘neath the beasts of steel, discrete,

I think of those who went before –

they traveled far to fish a store

of salmon jumping up the street.

The salmon jump, alas, no more,

And those who lived were shown the door –

the Chief, he rests his weary feet

along the Falls now owned by men

who might not care for fish or fen

(they sit inside a room to meet).

The river runs through PCBs –

polluters seem to sleep with ease.

The sun shines on with light and heat

and we keep on our meet and greet,

while birds of prey hunt on for meat:

in place of salmon … nothing’s sweet.

Worlds of Wonder - Starting with You

Isn't it amazing?

That we can detect CO2
- a gas -
right out of the atmospere?

That we make iron, and chromali steel
- alloy metals -
and build race cars with the tungsten?

That we sequence DNA and other
- biological minutia -
and build humans with the findings?

That these tiny bits of creation
- various and elemental -
each form a nucleus of passionate human endeavor?

And that we are here
- briefly -
the nuclei of our own possibilities and plantings?

Isn't it amazing?