A slice of light lingering

A sharp slice of paper

Or a too wide Cheshire Cat grin —

Tonight’s half moon shines bright

Cutting through the dark, while its fading face,

Lingers behind the night.

© rjn, November 30, 2011

It’s probably a cricket anyway… actually the cats were right

Tonight, I’ve left the hunters to their own devices;

I’ve headed early to bed with hot milk, hoping for sleep.

Behind me, the cats huddle in pairs,

Furry bodies pressed against the floors,

Eyes fixed beneath the plant stand.

From tails to shoulders… they prey for mice,

While I — emphatically — pray for none.

– rjn © September 6, 2011

PS: it isn’t often that 2 of the cats decide to hunt together. I don’t know if I should be intrigued or concerned.

PPS: Dateline one half hour into September 7th. I have removed the mouse using an upended jelly jar and pushing it along the floor — the little invader had to run run run his little legs while i slid the jar over him and marched him out the back door. All 3 cats’ prayer lives are evidently more effective than mine. However, I got to play deus ex machina while alternating between praising the cats and saying “icky icky icky.”

Springtime arrived

Springtime arrived

With riots of red, pink, blue blooms,

All jostling in the daylight.

While at night, the white roses

Gleamed and the scent of phlox

Insinuated into the sky.

(C) rjn, May 27, 2011

the color of the earth fades to the sky

These are the days the earth begins to fade,

The leaves fall from the trees, dropping like

Scarlet lacquer on the saw grass…  like amber

Gems on black pavement. Their beauty turns

Brown, to dust — and the bare branches and

Hilltop towns are ink sketches against

A sky painted by a Master.

© rjn, 2010

Rail cars

Noontime, at the overpass,

The sweep of cars stretched
Along the track. Underneath,
The blue engine, then blue cars rumbled
Through, westward, each car empty,
shivering with black dust.
I stood, and watched as empty cars stretched
From east to west horizons,
Heading for cheap
Electricity, cheap fuel, cheap resources,
Ignoring the cost of plumes
of black dust.

I left before the last car, the final connection.

© rjn April 14, 2010

(My brain has had “Amazing Grace” via bagpipers on autoplay all day. My thoughts and prayers [for what they're worth] are with those grieving in West Virginia.)

The first of the year

Snowgeese, 2010

At the ocean, on the beach, while seeking shells,

We heard their call. Later at sunset,

On white wings with black tips

They swept across the sky.

White plumage glowed red with sun

As they made disorderly vees

In the sky, then streamed off

Into the distance above the houses,

The beach, the sands, the scrubpine,

Graceful necks outstretched.

Their bodies flickered as

Black wing tips blurred their outlines,

Dancing like a sideways snowsquall. — rn, January 2010

P.s.: Yes, it was bitterly cold at the ocean. But so lovely.

Drowsy, downy, solitary bee

Picture of bee taken at the height of summer -- when bees ARE busy

I must have swept against its rest, among sunflowers by the way,

For a solitary, sleepy, snoozing un-busy bee clung to my leg,

Sprawled over my knee. Pollen clung to her legs, antennae,

And fuzzy body spritzed by dew.

It must have been a good party in the sunflowers,

Leaving her drowsing in the cold morning –

Her clear wings, pearlescent, periwinkle,

Drawn up against the chilly air.

As she stirred, I gently picked a leaf

And held it under one foot until she stepped away from

The strangeness of cotton fabric — one leg, two leg, three leg –

So I could leave her drowsing

In a stand of half-furled chrysanthemums.

– (C) rjn 9/3/2009