Category Archives: Uncategorized

Dog Language

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Dog Language

It’s true I can decipher after all these years
every little wiggle, each twitching of their ears.
See that head’s uplifting? The garbageman is near.
That ruff of neck spells danger. Tail between legs means fear.

One whine warns of a squirrel invading territory
intended for two dogs alone. Then barks are mandatory!
Sirens were meant for harmony—their plaintive howls a must.
Head bowed down submissively signals respect and trust.

They also know my language. When I move to the door
three rooms away to feed the cats, I hear their hungry roar.
Up against the back door, starving paws commence to scrape.
If I had plans to skip their meal, now there is no escape.

It is their task to let me know when feeding time is close,
and when I move at snail’s pace, they become quite verbose.
The younger dog, much better trained, awaits me in his cage,
surprised at how the older dog dares to jump and rage.

Ordered outside, he edges closer, full of twists and flounces.
The minute that the bowls are lowered, he charges in and pounces.
Then each is most fastidious in licking clean his plate,
fearing that starvation is a likely fate.

They keep a vigilant watch on me, peering through the bars
between the terrace and kitchen, as I open jars.
They hear the fridge door opening, they see each morsel fall.
If they ever get inside, they will devour them all.

And when perchance they sneak inside, against their master’s wishes,
take on the chore of licking clean all the old cat’s dishes.
How else might they show gratitude, with no words to express it?
They simply have to wag their tails and hope that I might guess it!

Prompt words today are fastidious, task, uplifting, decipher and snail.

KALANCHOE BUDS: FOTD Dec 3, 2019

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I had this photo on my screen to post it and inadvertently took a photo of it. I know it is weird, but I just love this image!

Here is a different image of the buds.

For Cee’s FOTD

Christmas Spirit

30 Replies

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Christmas Spirit

Covering the Christmas tree, decking every door,
Excessive seasonality suffuses my decor.
Embellishments without cannot reflect what’s in.
Too often Xmas cheer’s bound up in what has been. 
If a helping hand could decorate my heart,
then the celebration perhaps could have a start. 

 

For the dVerse Poets Quadrille prompt: Spirit.

Kalanchoe: FOTD Dec 2, 2019

4 Replies

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For Cee’s Flower of the Dayprompt.

FOTD – December 2, 2019 – Dahlia

Photo Challenge 74: Abstract

9 Replies

For the Photo Challenge 74: Abstract

Bougainvillea: FOTD, Dec. 1, 2019

1 Reply

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For Cee’s Flower of the Day Prompt.

Kalanchoe: Flower of the Day, Nov 30, 2019

2 Replies

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For Cee’s FOTD

The Language of Birds

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Version 2

The Language of Birds

The bird swoops
from the neighbor’s roof,
low over the pool
like a crop-dusting plane over prairie wheat.
I duck,
and when I again look up,
it has already sailed over my bedroom dome,
up to the hills that march above our fraccionamiento,
still green from the rainy season,
holding yellow flowers in bunches
like a hopeful suitor.

It is movement only
and a flash of brown,
not white like the albino owl
that swooped in a similar downward curve
over the pool and up again
that night our old friend died
alone in a hotel room in London.

This is the language of birds.
My two-woodpecker alarm clock,
every morning stirring me
from my solitary bed
to engage with the day.
The whir of hummingbirds
outside the window
in front of my desk cave,
sipping flowers,
drawing my attention away
from the worrisome puzzle of the next word.

White egrets,
standing at attention on one leg,
balancing on the dense hyacinths
that blanket the lake,
one eye intent on shadows
beneath water no human eye sees.
That sudden flash,
a filled beak
and that puzzle of digestion­­­­––
how to get a horizontal fish down a vertical gullet.

All the music of my life
sometimes distills down to the chorus
of thrush and cardinal,
wren and grackle,
the caesura
of the egret.
By some synchronicity,
conducted into a natural choir
that is beautiful in its spontaneity.
What orchestra has that fine precision
and that moving harmony?
Every art a mere imitation
of what the world provides us every day
that we present ourselves to experience it.

Yellow Hibiscus: FOTD, Nov 30, 2019

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For Cee’s Flower of the Day prompt.

Suspicion

7 Replies

IMG_1309Suspicion

It’s daybreak when the rude alarm
is shut off by your questing arm.
As you roll over, the blanket’s pull
is your daily ritual.

As you leave the room, I do not stir.
I hear the blender’s angry whirr.
I hear you shower, brush and groom,
but stay wrapped in our bed’s warm womb.

I feel your presence. I hear you cough.
A rapid hug and you are off.
And in these hours away from me,
I suspect infidelity.

All day long I wait and wait
in an agitated state
for the creaking of the gate
that says you’ll soon alleviate

my loneliness this whole day through
that I’ve spent pining over you.
I leave the house, then come inside
to find the presents that you hide

to keep me entertained while you
do whatever you must do
to keep a roof over our head—
to provide shelter, food and bed.

Finally, a slamming door,
your footsteps on the hallway floor.
You bend down for our first caress.
and I’m suspicious, I confess.

I smell your collar, arms and cuff
until I’ve gathered facts enough.
I find no odor, no stray hair.
No other dog has tarried there!

The prompt words today are hug, rapid, suspect, alleviate and daybreak.