Issue No. 15 by JM Publishing

AVOCET The Weekly

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

Issue No. 15 | March 27 - 2013

Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 15

“A Peaceful Night” Night falls once again like a blanket on the world coming and leaving Dylan A. Guida gamer1.dylan@aol.com Dylan is a student at Freedom Middle School. His teacher is Tracy Deitz. If you would like to tell Dylan how much you like his poem, e-mail me at cportolano@hotmail.com and I will forward it to him. Let’s support our young poets! “The soul needs more space than the body.” - Axel Munthe

Late Winter Walk She and the terrier slip in the road, barred from sidewalk and grass by a late heavy snow. Today are, here and there, mounds of snow, where yesterday they saw green shoots, and more snow pushed to the side of a street no truck bothers to salt. Because it is, after all, March the robin on a snow bank agrees with their outrage, cocking his head as he lures the woman and dog with insouciance and flair away from a nest he and his mate have not built yet. Karen Middleton middletonspen@gmail.com We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature--trees, flowers, grass--grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls. - Mother Teresa

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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 15

The Cabin in Winter The voices of summer are silent No laughter from the meadow, no hummingbirds buzzing the deck, no children riding bicycles. Birches cast lean shadows. Snow packed into the angle of the roof, bird feeder a hump of white. Windows black and still. A looping line of ants, motionless as a frozen rosary, leads to a lollipop abandoned under the couch. On the table beside the immaculately made bed, a forgotten watch will observe the hours until summer. Piles of dirty snow on the road to the fire station. Willows sag over the ditch. Clouds crowd the pine tops. Cattails bend at the edge of the pond. In the center, ice thins to a glaze. Across the valley, winter’s slant of light catches the trees on the far slope, each one touched by grace. Ruth Bavetta ruthbavetta@gmail.com “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.” - Victor Hugo

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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 15

Snow Effect A wolf ’s howl echoes solemnly ominous message lost to deep caverns. Snowflakes collapse into valleys, light gently on eyelashes. Each melting flake a teardrop, her oval cheek freezes. Winter’s frigidity cannot dominate woman cloaked in fur, a vulnerable tenderness swept by each snowflake›s sparkle in the twilight. Coldness pains her supple skin, so elegantly framed in mink. Moon rising , another wolf howls. Woman’s pale lips part, her howl pierces the frozen night. Gone! Remnant canine prints short-lived drifts decimate their snow effect. Linda Bratcher Wlodyka ginga@adelphia.net “I would feel dead if I didn’t have the ability periodically to put my world in order with a poem. I think to be inarticulate is a great suffering, and is especially so to anyone who has a certain knack for poetry.” - Richard Wilbur

Bliss Kisses lit by lunar light refracted and reflected off and through the falling flakes of snow paul bach jr pebachjr@yahoo.com “April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks, ‘Go.’” - Christopher Morley -4-

Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 15

ere are three poets who took the Quotes Challenge posted in last week’s Weekly Avocet. Think about taking the challenge yourself! Submit your poem to angeldec24@hotmail.com and see yourself in print.

Possibility “Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.” - Standing Bear

I stand at the intersection of three dimensions. Pink sunrise flares between cypress fingers, becomes a new day. Beneath my shoes, the bluff runs in two directions, offers possibilities. To the north, a pristine spill of polished sand reveals dazzling beach. Breakers roll ashore, drag torn kelp ribbons within the rhythmic pulse of spindrift-stripped purple wrinkles. Lithe dolphins leap and dive as an egret forages snails. At the mouth of the southern lagoon, two happy dogs play. Yellow oxalis marks my desired path. Pale fog, receding moon, tardy stars fade.

Jennifer Lagier jenniferlagier-poet@yahoo.com

“No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.” – Proverb

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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 15

Essence of Spring In front of my computer, I am insulated from the cold of a spring morning. I don’t feel the crispness of artic air, or hear the calls of doves and sparrows waiting for food. Furnaced warmth surrounds me and I am held prisoner to it. Reluctantly, I rise and open the door to gather seed for the birds. My heart becomes tender open to the world of birds and buds. I breathe in the essence of spring in the desert.

Maralee Gerke mgerke@crestviewcable.com

“April is a promise that May is bound to keep.” - Hal Borland

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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 15

Carpe Diem Yawning, stretching out my arms, allowing for a deep breath, I wake with a start to face the dawning of this new day, today, this glorious morning. Got to make this day, everyday amount to something, take nothing for granted, got to get up early, get out for some fresh air, clear away all those cobwebs. I witness a daisy forcing its way up through a crack in the sidewalk, I smile seeing this soft, yellow-petaled flower seek out the sun. Sitting atop a golden boulder, I see the trees, the birds, the few clouds striated across the alluring, azure blue sky, I feel them for the first time. Basking in the brilliant sun, listening to the “aum” of the universe humming on the breeze that dances through the trees, their leaves shimmering. I hear God speak to me, I tune in for the first time, sitting among the beauty that he has graced me with to enjoy, to free me from stress. I thought the big “C” had gotten the best of me, but I learned last night that I’ve been given a reprieve to learn how to be happy to have another day. Charles Portolano cportolano@hotmail.com

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Weekly Avocet - Issue No. 15 “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” - Anne Bradstreet

SUPPORT

Next Wednesday, we start with our Springthemed poems. Let’s welcome in Spring!

NATURE’S

Want to bring a smile to your face, click on this site…

POETS!

http://t.living.msn.com/family-parenting/pets/11-adorable-smilinganimals#image=12

VISIT US ONLINE Please visit our website www.avocetreview.com

STAY INFORMED

Please read all the compelling quotes in this issue and write a poem of your own after reading them a few times. Please send your poems in with the subject: Poetry Quote Challenge and I will publish them in the Weekly Avocet over the next few coming weeks.

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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.

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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

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ONE of our ONE own From

Guidelines for SUBMISSION

The Weekly Avocet of our own every Wednesday, an e-mail of Nature Poetry Mary Jo has sent

If you get a chance, please read this interesting blog. http://www.clarityworksonline. com/blog

• Please send only one poem, per poet, per season. Let’s do spring-themed poetry 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 angeldec24@hotmail.com • Please remember, previously published poems are fine to send. • Please always put your name and e-mail address under your work, thank you.

e hope we provoked you to thought; that 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. And, “Thank you for reading, dear reader!” Again, if you haven’t, yet, sent in one nature Springthemed poem (please, only one) please do! Please remember it is one poem, per poet, per season for The Weekly Avocet’s submissions.

from the editor

us a blog Writing out of Bounds, a blog for women writers to read.

Be well, see you next Wednesday Charles Portolano Editor of the Avocet, a Journal of Nature Poetry Please visit our website www.avocetreview.com-

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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!