AVOCET The Weekly
“Nature, the manifestation of divinity.” - Joseph Campbell
Issue No. 13 | March 13 - 2013
Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 13
Early Morning, Winter Blinding snow swirls under the yellow glow of a lonely streetlamp as northeasterly wind gusts bank uneven drifts across quiet landscape, transform garden rocks into woodland creatures motionless like a poised frog at a pond’s edge in late June. Hours later I begin the ritual-heavy lifting and throwing until I stand the shovel in the crusty mounds, gaze at crisscross prints of a cottontail intersected by those of a tabby, wonder by how many minutes they missed one another. Jim Brosnan opmewriter@gmail.com
“A flower blossoms for its own joy.” - Oscar Wilde
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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 13
The Mix The snow on boughs like Hokusai Outlines the cedar’s restless waves A life that never stops to sleep Within the folds of winter’s deep A force that ice cannot enslave The painter’s brush is never dry James F. Gaines jimgaines3@earthlink.net “The earth laughs in flowers.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Snow Terraces Snow folds through my yard blown by a furling wind, freezing all inside it. Sidewise, crystals slide like sand, scour the land, cut new hills and valleys. Through windows, my eyes search blindly these flying sheets of wind, seek streetlights which nightly beacon peace in a violent world. In thrall for a time to phantoms I chase, I seek your voice, its cadence heard once, remembered now—sound for warrior whose breasts give milk. For a moment I hear your words as you could mean them, and love with you a woman from Soweto, and tear up marigolds with your brown hands. Searching anew, I see you in snows terracing, curved by a force they cannot withstand, etched jagged as shale, crumbled by touch, brittle, delicate, predicated by wind’s refrain raging down from your outpost of love. for Audre Lorde Colleen Powderly powderly@rochester.rr.com -3-
Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 13
Winter in Hawaii Winter in Hawaii? Oh, yes it can get cold here. Not that one needs a parka, but a sweater, jacket, or layer of clothes, for sure. And the ocean? Brr. But, the surfers don›t seem to mind. They catch the waves in wet suits, or just swimming trunks and bare feet clinging to surf boards. The birds don›t even notice. They chirp and flutter and fly away singing joy to the world knowing warm sunshine is just moments away. Winter in Hawaii? Who cares?
Stuart Watkins watkins4az@gmail.com
“Poetry can keep life itself alive. You can endure almost anything as long as you can sing about it.” - James Wright
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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 13
Wintertime High
The prickly crystals crunch As my warm-hearted hand breaches Earth’s exterior My system flickers on Like the candle lights of an endless hallway An endless beeping Marks the mountains upside down More snow pellets assault my doubts Perhaps they are God’s liberating force A sculpture so defined and so hard Was once a tasteless, soft powder dissolving Recharged, I plough through The all layers of the land I discharge the finely crafted specimen Only to be smacked in return A cold ache numbs my reddish cheek The electrifying powder. First published in Poetry Scotland Allen Qing Yuan yuans@shaw.ca “The best mood-enhancing therapy might be found in one’s own yard. The study found that the presence of flowers triggers happiness and feelings of satisfaction.” – Ginnie Roeglin, Publisher of the Costco connections magazine, March 2013 issue -5-
Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 13
Elegy of Snow once upon a time christmas used to be all in white although the winter was colder and more or less longer
snow has long disappeared from here since it melted into seawater of tears and sweat both so thickly salty
instead of piling chubby snowmen and playing snow fights with our children now we recall summer clouds, reed flowers bursting cotton or rolling dandelions
they are no less fluffy or white than the snow but in here we have white christmas no more Changming Yuan changmingyuan@gmail.com
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that receives it.” -Edith Wharton
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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 13
Wild Swans in March SUPPORT On the banks of the Great River, wild swans sleep peacefully against each other, slumber and dream as one body, shift their weight, alert to coded danger, a pebble moved, a stone misplaced, they stir— unsheathe their necks from silken down, stretch as dancers do in arabesque, hesitate a moment before they leave solid ground, slip with heavy grace into flowing water, never glancing, as we do at the river’s backward wake, the last remnants of the day left behind,
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a muted exclamation point into a universe, newly exploding. Karen Schulte krnsch1@gmail.com
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“Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” -Anthony Powell -7-
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The Weekly Avocet places every Wednesday, an e-mail of Nature Poetry he March 2013 issue of
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the Costco Connection magazine, has many good, short articles on flower power, “birding” being the fastest growing hobby in America, and excellent nature quotes. If you get a chance, pick it up. It’s easy reading and will help you get ready for the coming Spring. We hope we provoked you to thought. We hope you leave having experienced a complete emotional response to the poetry. I want to thank our poets for sharing their work with us this week.
Be well, see you next Wednesday Charles Portolano Editor of the Avocet, a Journal of Nature Poetry cportolano@hotmail.com
• Please use single spaced lines. • Please use the Times New Roman - 12pt. font. • Please send your submission to angeldec24@hotmail.com • Please remember, previously published poems are fine to send. • Please always put your name and email address under your work, thank you.
I love getting poems sent to my computer. What a great way to start any day. A wonderful website is Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, every day one poem and lots of Art history. Please check it out: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/ I start everyday reading it, great fun! Thank you for reading. Charles Portolano Editor of the Avocet
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