REMEMBRANCE DAY--JOHN DONNE

Photo by S. Auberle

"No man is an island,

entire of itself,

every man is a piece of the continent,

a part of the main."

- John Donne

1572 - 1631

SEVEN DAYS

Photo by S. Auberle

seven days after spring begins

snow and gale winds

tulips hide

their emerging leaves

the red-winged blackbird

does not sing

three orchids turn away

from the window

and i breathe

the scent of lotus blossoms

in my tea

- mimi

TULIPS DREAMING

Photo/collage by S. Auberle

Off the blogsphere for a bit~~headed south.

Happy Spring!

~mimi

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

Hand-tinted photo collage by S. Auberle

Maybe this is how

we begin and end~~

speaking the language

of flowers.

~mimi

A LITTLE BIT O' THE GREEN

Photo by S. Auberle

May the blessing of light be on you,

light without and light within.

May the blessed sunshine

shine on you and warm you

and warm your heart

till it glows like a great peat fire,

so that the stranger may come

and warm himself at it

and also a friend.

~Traditional Irish Blessing

LIGHT AND SHADOW

Photo by S. Auberle ~~~ Pot by Tom Krueger

light and shadow

clay and fire

lovers

in the eternity

of an hour

- mimi

THE SAME BOAT

Digital image by S. Auberle

"After an orange cloud--formed as a result

of a dust storm over the Sahara

and caught up by air currents--

reached the Philippines

and settled there with rain,

I understood that we are all

sailing in the same boat."

- Vladimir Kovalyonok (astronaut)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARBIE

Photo from the Internet

So, Barbie turns fifty

the day before I turn

sixty---something.

I never knew her,

never envied her perky breasts

her long legs, her blonde hair.

She came along too late for me,

too late to care about her and Ken,

her fancy little convertibles, her hot bikinis,

all those cool accessories--so fashionable, so fun.

She did call to me, a few years later,

from my daughter's toybox

where she'd been unceremoniously dumped,

but her smile? It never waivered.

Now, at fifty, the breasts are the same,

the hair equally big, the legs equally long.

Where are the stretch marks,

the crowfeet, the springy, graying hair?

How is her cholesterol? Her hormones?

Is Ken on Viagra?

Is her convertible environmentally acceptable,

good gas mileage?

Is she anatomically and politically correct?

There are one billion Barbies

currently in this world.

Indestructible--a nation of plastic hearts

cheerful, unbroken--poised to live forever,

be discovered by future archaeologists,

astonished by this tribe of long-legged goddesses

and one or two Kens.

- mimi

FLOURISH

Photo by S. Auberle

FLOURISH

says the flowerpot

on my windowsill

thrive

bloom

grow

geranium takes the words

to heart

one red blossom

bursting forth

like fireworks

like a small revolution

- mimi