I was startled to see this cicada emerge from its “skin” on our outdoor chair at the beginning of the proliferation of cicadas that spread through the United States in 2021.
Reborn
Tag: nature photography
Great Legs!
Sundog
Lizards In?
ARE THERE LIZARDS IN YOUR FAMILY TREE?
Do you scuttle lithely sand and stone, peek out from rocks through half-shut lids while others' hands are clasped in dance beneath the bone-white crescent slit? Are your eyes autonomous, right darts to lips and left to toes; as softer flesh sips steamed orgeat do you watch the spoon, the ankles cross? Do you begin each day with push-ups then shield yourself from sun in shade; when threatened do your muscles flex, your speech reduce to a chortling hiss? Do others comment, How cold your hands, how dry your skin? Do you dream of grasshoppers sweet in your mouth, or screaming wake from the jaws of a snake?
Thank you to the editor of Something Like Homesickness: A Zapizdat Poetry Anthology for first publishing this poem.
Future
The future enters us in order to transform us long before it happens.
Dawn’s Palm
Masks
MASKS OF CARDINAL FEATHERS
Drape
Me in
Crimson rOse petals,
garnets,
coraL,
RuBies
and feed me
dragon's Blood,
cherries,
straWberries,
plums,
salmon,
meRlot
then make me
glow,
flush,
blush,
BlooM
till I'm
Rubeous,
carneLian,
verMilioN
as ScarLet hummingbirds
SOAR from our
Mad
voRacious
heartS.
Thank you to the editor of Absinthe Revival for first publishing this poem.
Resiliance
Longest Night
Happy Winter Solstice!
Many will sing and hold vigil tonight so that the Sun can sleep deep & long and then rise in the morning renewed, ready to begin a brand new day & year. In many traditions, tomorrow marks New Year’s Day in honor of Solar Time.
May this be a year of increasing peace, compassion for others and oneself, potable water & food for all and the building of a kinder inclusive world, not for profit but for love.
To your Joy and Life!
Oak Moon
Other names for the December full moon include: Honey Moon**, Snow Moon, Full Cold Moon, Mistletoe Moon, Frost Moon, Winter Moon, Peach Moon, Christmas Moon, Dark Night Moon, Strawberry Moon**, Long Night Moon, Younger Hard Time Moon, Twelfth Moon, Margashirsha Moon, Fruit Moon, Bitter Moon, Rose Moon**, Moon Before Yule*, Solstice Moon***
*As long as the last moon is before Yule, as it is in 2021.
**Southern Hemisphere.
***When it’s within days of Solstice.
Elizabeth Oakley Weaver 