As National Poetry Month winds down

it's time to let haiku rest.
Put down the spoon.
Let there be clear-eyed silence.

Two perspectives on daffodils

and why Spring is so beguiling.  I've always thought daffodils and asparagus have been lovers.  And each with her love of water and words which whisper.  

Perspective is concentric

when it comes to seasons; seasons greening.  Note the perspective above -- an inspired plating of salad.  Like the weight of the perfect word just as the line breaks and begins anew.  Ultimate "ha."

The place of the dream

Why do her dreams return to this place? Why doesn't she remember how she gets to this place?  By water?  By air?  On foot?  Why does she awake thirsty?  Why does she remember that fragment from Sappho?  Why does she long for persimmons?

What she saw in last night's dream

and upon waking, why these interlocking & perplexing questions?
When did she stop wearing her red boots?
At what time of day does the horizon appear watery?  Precisely.
Why do forests shape shift?
How does a poem know which word will come next?
Which tomato gets to keep the worm?
Why does conversation often come full circle, and precisely why do interlocking & perplexing questions resemble a cat?

A flower's bud is pure memory

A few days before, I spot these familiar buds -- tight pods of color -- and I think peonies.  The rational mind shouts "impossible, if not improbable."  Childhood is marked by a hedge of peonies and ants.  Vivid memory -- 60 years, plus.  Ha, again and this time --factual.  Indeed, multiple peony plants.  I'm in heaven as I recall my first favorite food & author.  If you guessed, cheeseburger and Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, we're in sync.

What attracts the happy looker-ons

This beauty is created for survival not for us happy looker-ons.  Of course beauty is one of the major food sources. So get out and shop for free in nature's mega-supermarket. Take on the mind of a bee, of a hummingbird, or a blank sheet of paper. Never leave home without a pen.  

Birdamazing

Bird of paradise are amazing  -- plant & aviary. The rooted kind have been known to fly at dizzying speed & heights.  At least in the eye's fancy.  And don't you think "birdamazing" is a fetching, necessary word.  I think we should also use "saladamazing" as a way to prepare for tomato, corn & pea season.  And with 3 days left to National Poetry Month, let's celebrate with "wordsamazing." Of the petite variety, of course, which break into silence.  Or it is "brake."

Have you ever seen rabbits this still?

There they are -- twins -- in the lower right corner (above). Still as metal. And what are they gazing upon? White bearded irises with a light as if cast by moon. Otherworldly, dream-scape. A quiet hunger.  Because bearded irises are rhizomes and edible rhizomes are miraculous -- ginger, turmeric, lotus.  All three of those words are petite poems waiting to be eaten.

When what you dream of is right in front of you

Lilacs -- the showy ones with heady perfume -- are the flowers of my childhood.  Magic so far up
almost (almost) out of reach.  And yet a few inches south of the stars.  Like flowers, food conjures up tasty memories.  If nothing else, memory is palpable, fragrant.  Embodied.  Like words high up or low-down on a page.  Can't you just pluck them, smell them?  Syllable by palpable syllable.

The dream wishes entry

into the maples.
We've been here
before.  A plate
-- simple as can be --
wishes to welcome
a meal.  Paper --
full of emptiness --
woos words.
And the dream
dreams of
flowing
through
that portal
of maples.

Light persists

One moment on firm ground; the next underwater but light persists.  Light fires up and illuminates what it touches.  Apply this to cooking: if light were lemons, it would brighten the water.  Now apply this to a poem which is flirting with a watercolor.  How tricky to capture water in a watercolor, a poem or a poem about a watercolor.  Tricky capturing flirting in general or in the particulars.