November Days

These are November Days,

Gray skies, unsettled weather, unsettled memories.

November skies are filled with longing,

longing for another place,

for the lost past,

for families and for love.

I feel that longing like a skein of wild geese honking out their cries

as they wing across the skies.

I feel that restlessness

Inside

and wonder where my wings are

and why I cannot fly.

The memories of passing years float up like clouds from the deep,

and I remember laughter, and a warm kitchen and standing with my Nana

While she stirred white pepper into smooth brown gravy in her farm kitchen

at Thanksgiving Time.

November days are wild days of longing and families and love.

~kathie adams brown (November 27, 2013)

I Cannot Tell a Lie

Sandy Point Sunset, Plum Island, MA

I could tell you that an elephant walked

right through my Arizona yard today

stomping my cactus into a mess,

leaving my garden all a wreck!

I could tell you that I took a ride on a feathery cloud

over the mountains through an azure sky,

when I was bored at lunch time.

I could tell you I turn into a silver mare at night

with wings on my feet and a silken mane,

and that I follow a moonbeam path into the starry sky

Galloping all the way!

I could tell you I was lost at sea

tossed and tumbled in cold blue waves,

and just as I was about to drown

a humpback whale brought me home,

and sang to me along the way!

I could tell you I once met Madame Curie

And she let me help her in her laboratory,

And that I was really the one who discovered

The magic and mystery of radium.

I could tell you I crossed the wide prairie

with grasses long and flaxen in autumn

with long skirts flowing in a prairie wind,

and buffalo thundering by!

I could tell all of these things and more,

But…

as He of the Cherry Tree said,

I cannot tell a lie, so I’ll tell a story instead!

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 2, 2013)

NaPoWriMo 2013 Day 2

The Song of the Say's Phoebe

I awoke to the song of a Say’s Phoebe

Calling me out to the dawn,

It pumped its tail while on the tall vent pipe,

It lifted its beak to the gray monsoon sky,

And as the sun broke through the wooly clouds

Suspended over the Rincon mountains

A single sunbeam reached out to caress

The soft gray breast of the bird who sang

with such a plaintive voice:

A plaintive voice,

--a  two-note sigh,

 I heard its longing

Fill the sky.

~Kathie Adams Brown (September 12, 2012)

A Cloud is an Elusive Thing

Thunderheads over Sycamore Canyon 10-20-09

A cloud is an elusive thing,
An ephemeral wisp, a temporary ghost,
As it floats across the sky
Changing form as fast as wind can sculpt it.
With unseen hands the master
Carves the soft and tattered edges
While here below on solid ground
I watch the artist work
And as I watch I wonder
About the great blue sky,
And galaxies beyond,
And my small life here,
On this shifting ground.
So which is more ephemeral?
The clouds which tears apart
Only to form once again
or me?
For here I stand this moment
Solid as can be
Never to return,
And even now the answer to this question
Eludes me.

~kathie adams brown (October 20, 2009)

One Single Impression Prompt: Elusive

Throw Me Into The Fire

Thunderheads build behind the Santa Rita Mountains

Click to enlarge for a better view

Throw me into the fire
of a boiling monsoon sky,
where thunderheads build
behind dry mountain peaks
to pour down rain
on my parched soul,
throw me into the fire
of that boiling, roiling sky,
where I can feel my heartbeat,
where I can feel my soul stir,
where I can learn to fly--
let it burn away the excess
of a sedentary life
and fill me to overflowing
with passion and desire,
so throw me into the fire
of this consuming sky.

~kathiesbirds (September 4, 2008)

One Single Impression: Spectacle




To view more Skywatch Friday photos click on the button above.
Visit Sycamore Canyon to see my other Skywatch Friday post, Hummingbird Reflections.

Photographer's Note: Photo by Kathiesbirds with the Nikon D80 2008/08/15 19:11:27.9; Lens: VR 70-300mm; F/4.5-5.6 G Focal Length: 170mm; 1/125 sec - F/5

Skywatch Friday/The Temporary Dog

(Photo by taken by Kathie May 6, 2008 @ 5:32 p.m. with Nikon D80)

The puff dog raised his cottony head
In skies of azure blue
And barked his vaporous bark to the world
Asking “who?” Asking “who?”
Who stops to look as the clouds float by?
Who see me in the sky?
I’m a temporary dog,
I won’t last long,
Before I bark “Good-bye.”
Will you hear me bark
Will see me float
Away in skies of blue?
Then the wind came along
And he was gone with a song,
The puff dog, ghost dog, Boo!

~Kathiesbirds (May 30, 2008)


To see other Skywatch photos please visit our gracious host Old Wom Tigley at Wigger's World.