Issue No. 18

AVOCET The Weekly

Issue No. 18 | April 17 - 2013

“Nature, the manifestation of divinity.” - Joseph Campbell

Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 18

-2-

Sacred Spring

A yellow-and-green season: Yellow of forsythia, daffodil, bee; White shell and egg yolk yellow of rebirth, renewal, embellished bread; Orange, crimson, purple rolling and running in a sea of hospitable pea green grass, Green of crocus, tulip stem, parsley, palm frond – Earth is roused from Rip Van Winkle dolor; Jerusalem, on day of pilgrimage and date harvest, Welcomed humble donkey of merciful rabbi whose gentle halo glowed At time of Passover Seder-supper preparations.

A yellow-and-green season: Rejoice for slavery’s tyranny passing the crown of triumph To freedom’s honorable pate.

A yellow-and-green season: Glory in second chance salvation Bequeathed by a young rav’s cleansing, humanizing gift – Azazel scapegoat sacrifice of self.

A yellow-and-green season: May it never again be besmirched by bloodletting Caused by fractious sparks, insecure flares, bullying bolts!

A yellow-and-green season: Sacred spring.

Barbara Hantman [email protected]

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.” - E.B. White


-3-

spring

at lastspring –the weather iswarmenough for meto go outsidein my wheel chairi open the back kitchendoor and go out of myrampa slight bumpand I wheel downmy driveway the sun warms melike a biscuitit feels so goodi feel so alive againmy physical disabilityvanishesand my ninety five yearsturn into twenty fivecars go by on the roadand some wave to mei happily wave in returnmy tulips and daffodilsfill my heart with joyhow pretty they arethey also love springi sit in the sunshinewear my small capto shield the raysand all mybad thoughts are gonei am still aliveit’s springand I am still here.

ed gallingIf you would like to write Ed, please email your message to me and I will get it to him.

Thank you. [email protected]

“There is no better high than discovery.”- E. O. Wilson


-4-

April Steps Out

April steps out of its breathless shadowy earth on common ground near the blue hills and I am realizing there is no bread in the freezer my winter treasure has been squandered by my passing memory concerned only with only music and words, lost in cadenzas and flashing phrases by the rain and fog of my own imagination, still the child’s wish for first light on your threshold is on your welcome mat, I long to hear the soprano sax next door or have my new sonata ready for recital, there are showers on the cold porch,

in my bathrobe trembling like the trees in a past landscape of a Corot, I’m finding my notes in a foreign tongue on the piano, and here all familiar stuff of nature, the dead bird’s wings on watery grass, school children on ice on the indigo pond near by the woodland in the palest dawn, new poems by my sunglasses and red ink diary with a voice of memory I’m always searching for.

B. Z. [email protected]

“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” - Willa Cather


-5-

April 4th

Today, the day Doctor King Jr.was killedin Memphis in 1968,I walked into these woods againon a warm, wonderful Spring day,have been ever sinceI was a young boy.My father took me here for the first time for “a trek”through the forest, taught me all the trees, plants, and about all of God’s creatures.Found my first tortoise here in the thick bush;had that tortoise for yearsliving happily in our backyard.I remember the dayJFK was killed,then Martin,and, then, Bobbywalking into the silenceof these woodsand having the weightof those memories washedaway while under the trees.How many times as a boy did I wander these woods?Got stung 31 timesstepping into the mud,while playing hide and seekwith older friends,into a hornets’ nestbeing the youngest, only seven,ran last, got stung the most.The silence stunningin its simplicity,in the shadows of the trees,I listen for a waited sound.

Charles [email protected]

“I am large, I contain multitudes.” – Walt Whitman


-6-

Reflections

Symmetrical image, above and below

Stillness in water, ripples do flow

How one considers life forces as one

Conjured by seedlings, bathed by the sun

Drought hath no weapon ‘gainst life on the pond

Tempting cool water, wicks up to the frond

Perhaps though in droplets, mist falls like dew

Falling like teardrops obscuring your view

Nurtured in silence, the rain washed away

Lone tree stands sentry, while small insects play

Julie A. [email protected]

Newmarket, NH

“There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes.

Remember that nature is your great restorer.” – Calvin Coolidge


-7-

Four and a Half Laps

Four and a half laps around the pond Lie down on the ground Legs and arms stretched out Sun glowing orange against my closed eyelids Wind feels cool blowing across my face Still breathing heavy from the run Grass brown under me, a few blades flashing green Using the sun stored last year To grow again My source of energy too To run round the pond A commonality at our most elemental being Tenth day of March Redwing blackbirds trilling in the willowsOpen my eyes See twisted black hackberry branches Against a dark blue sky Flock of blackbirds flies on by Stand up The tree hovers over me with a vault of arched branches Held in place by five strong trunks Wind blows through my hair Then ripples brown pond water Life is here, it’s everywhere all round me

And within, I grin, and run again.

Glenn Thomas [email protected]

“All those who love Nature she loves in return, and will richly reward, not perhaps with the good things, as they are commonly called, but with the best things of this world-not with money and titles, horses and carriages, but with bright and happy thoughts, contentment and peace of mind.” - John Lubbock


-8-

Early Spring

The sound of ice crackingThe smell of melting snow

Branches thickening like clenched fistsflushing palest red and green

A juvenile cardinal testshis mottled wings

Human lips begin to upturn slightlyhopeful

Cindy [email protected]

“I must go to Nature disarmed of perspective and stretch myself like a large transparent canvas upon her in the hope that, my submission being perfect, the imprint of a beautiful and useful truth would be taken.” – John Updike

Neonatal Green

from the black earthsmall seedlings peep timidly as

Grevillia’s red spidersspin a wondrous net.

Cool, then hot,winter’s end,

summer’s birth,the trees sprout neonatal green.

Michael [email protected]

“What troubles me is a sense that so many things lovely and precious in our world seem to be dy-ing out. Perhaps poetry will be the canary in the mine-shaft warning us of what’s to come.” - Galway Kinnell


-9-

SUPPORT NATURE’S POETS!

We hope we provoked you to thought; that you leave having experienced a com-plete emotional response to the poetry.

I want to thank our poets for sharing their work with us this week. And, “Thank you for reading, dear reader!” Again, if you haven’t yet, send in one nature Spring-themed poem (please, only one) please do! Please remember it is one poem, per poet, per season for The Weekly Avocet’s submissions. Be well, see you next Wednesday

Charles PortolanoEditor of the Avocet, a Journal of Nature Poetry

STAY INFORMED

To know it, that you are a poet, you must write, read other poets, subscribe, buy poetry collections,

and bring poetry into the lives of those who don’t know of its beauty.

SUBSCRIBE

Please think about sending a subscription check just $24 for four issues, 64 pages of pure poetry

(shipping in the USA) made out to:

Avocet, a Journal of Nature Poetry Charles Portolano, Editor

P.O. Box 19186, Fountain Hills, AZ 85269

Sample copy - $6

With your subscription, The Weekly Avocet, every Wednesday, is sent by e-mail to all the friends of the Avocet to read and enjoy nature poetry

for the-middle-of-the-week.

VISIT US ONLINEwww.avocetreview.com

unsubscribe If you want off of this list, please send an e-mail to [email protected] and write “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

of our ownONE

of our own

From

ONEPlease check out these top 10 most beautiful

tree tunnels sent in by Sharon Dennis, ([email protected]) who took the wonderful

cover for our Spring printed issue of The Avocet. Thank you Sharon for sharing this site with us.

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-incredibly-beauti-ful-tree-tunnels.php

There are quite a few poems to be written after viewing and reading about these tree tunnels. So let’s do another challenge, write a poem that has a tree tunnel in it, then, send it to me with Tree Tun-nel Challenge in the subject line to [email protected]. I will publish them in upcoming Weekly Avocets. Please remember, previously pub-lished poems are wanted.

Guidelines for SUBMISSIONThe Weekly Avocet every Wednesday,an e-mail of Nature Poetry• Please send only one poem, per poet,

per season. Let’s do spring-themed po-etry now.

• Please no more than 38 lines per poem. • Please use single spaced lines. • Please use the Times New Roman -

12pt. font.• Please send your submission to an-

[email protected]• Please remember, previously published

poems are wanted.• Please always put your name and e-mail

address under your poem. Thank you.

Documents

Issue No. 18