ADIOS

Photo by S. Auberle

Off to the desert for a few days,

Adios, compadres...

~mimi

AT SUNSET

Photo by S. Auberle

at sunset

two night herons

waiting for fish...

absolute stillness

except

for the sound

of a yellow ball

rolling

into the lake

~mimi

CHERRY BLOSSOMS

Photo by S. Auberle

Were these poems written by me in the year 2009?
Or by Izumi Shikibu in the year 1050 in Japan?
Who can tell?
Across time and space we are one...

Come quickly

as soon as these blossoms open

they fall.

This world exists

as a sheen of dew on flowers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

However wildly

this year's cherry blossoms bloom,

I'll see them

with the plum's scent

filling my heart.

~ Izumi Shikibu

The Ink Dark Moon

Translated by

Jane Hirschfield with Mariko Aratani

A LOOK INSIDE

Photo by S. Auberle

"Your vision will become clear

only when you look into your heart.

Who looks outside, dreams.

Who looks inside, awakens."

~ Carl Jung

A WOMAN'S PRAYER

Photo by S. Auberle

o let me remember

how light seduces my tulips

each morning, and

how they open their bodies

wide and without shame

let me not forget

that red-winged blackbird

singing up dawn

or the look of last night's rain

glittering this hour

on new grass

a green so intense

i'm almost blinded

and may i never, never forget

the taste of oranges

with cinnamon tea

or how, each morning

i fall madly in love...

and listen, please

when the time comes

know that i will not

wish for wings

or streets paved with gold

but only this...

to remain here

bedazzled

~mimi

POETRY ON POETRY

Photo by S. Auberle

fading petals

old lace

blues

in shades of red...

~ mimi

WORDSWORTH

Photo by S. Auberle

I wandered lonely as a cloud

that floats on high o'er vales and hills

when all at once I saw a crowd,

a host of golden daffodils

beside the lake, beneath the trees,

fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

~ William Wordsworth

MOM

Photographer Unknown

LEGACY

What my mother left me

was not dancing shoes

or diamond rings

or bad luck with men.

It was the way she stood

so straight

barely reaching my shoulder

but tall

on days when life

bends most people low

and that quickstep of hers

forward always

to music only she could imagine.

(from my book: Saturday Nights at the Crystal Ball)

Happy Mother's Day, Mom, wherever you are...I miss you.

And thanks, Laurie and David, for giving me the joys of being

mom--and grandma to all those short people. I love you...

FOG

Photo by S. Auberle

early morning fog

sound of owl in wet trees

bread and tea

this moment

that will not return

ever

heat rises from the tea

from me

how to hold

this warmth

forever?

~mimi

Song of Songs

Photo by S. Auberle

"My beloved spake, and said unto me,

rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.

For lo, the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone;

the flowers appear on the earth,

the time of the singing of birds is come,

and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

the fig tree putteth forth her green figs,

and the vine with the tender grape

gives a good smell.

Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.

~ Song of Songs

Verses 10-13

FIRST DANDELION

Photo by S. Auberle

first dandelion appeared today

one only

in the entire acre yard

I want to know

what makes this flower so bold

this need to be first

the alpha dandelion

is it a teenage male

whirling in weed testosterone?

an athletic blossom

hopped up on steroids?

a quiet Zen sort of plant

no worries, mon, no rain,

no snow, only now

this moment...

or

a poet sort of flower

lost in its own little darkness

dreamily watching

earthworms inch by

considering the meaning

of upward thrusting tulips

unaware

of the hour, the day, the season...

~ mimi