dogtrax

A poem is ink you sketch upon yourself

Not tattoo, but something gone deep

Odds and ends of the observable world

Chosen memories you yearn to keep

for VerseLove

Noah, from Flush by Carl Hiaasen

I am from these Keys, these dotted islands jutting out off the toes of Florida, born kicking in the car on Highway One

I am from Paine I am from Donna I am from Bobby I am from Abbey

I am from the desire to make this world a better place

I am from mangroves, and ocean currents, from dinghies and Loggerheads

I am from following your heart to do the right thing

I am from, as my mom says, what goes around, comes around, from Karma and from Poetic Justice

for Verselove

Vela SQ2 30°N – 90°S

Your sisters of Heavenly Waters await your return for an eternity but solar winds fill your form, and you remain mystery

Your children are seven, a brood of starlings telling stories of the Argo, the cargo of which has long since been lost into myth

Your sphere of influence envelopes the empty silence; the Pencil, the Gum, the Southern Ring sings inside you

Yet still, you dance and flutter, Vela, a translucent sail in the night, reminding us of flight, a sky compass of remembering

More about Vela: https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/vela-constellation/

for VerseLove

I dreamed I went wandering again through the small park's sunken Japanese garden

mending broken flowers

but once a petal falls, it's gone, and Spring still seemed so far away, as was she

for VerseLove

Can you even imagine: the shelter it gives the shade it is the dirt it reaches the birds it protects the bugs it keeps the time this old tree has spent, wondering, maybe worrying, maybe wanting nothing more than only to be?

for WriteOut

Your music, humming:

the light breeze rustling softly through Autumn's scattered leaves

the gargle of springtime melt falling from distant mountains at the river's bend

the acorns dropping on rocks – the titter-tat of arrhythmic drumming like stones on a mat

I'm humming now, too, Mother Earth, as I sit here, appreciating this song of you

for VerseLove

Rattled, the knives in her kitchen cabinet drawers disappeared when she needed them, most;

We little cared about jam or the last smudges of peanut butter at the bottom of the jar, only that

the flat blade edges lifted stuck stones and rotted sticks – the dull edge as scalpel and our fingers, steady — revealing a tapestry of bugs and roots and wonder

for VerseLove

In sunshine dreaming windows beckon towards morning with flowers, yawning

for Algot

In sunshine dreaming windows beckon towards morning with flowers, yawning

for Algot

Oh, Ant, you vex me, the way you crawl your way through our wires and circuits to climb our wall

Ant, I admire you, your tenacity, the way you work tirelessly for the colony

Oh, Ant, you annoy me, for if it was only you, and not all of you, it might even be okay

but day after day, there you are, Ant, a little smudge with legs, moving endlessly

for #VerseLove