Elegy for Marie

His, mine and ours she described, face set sour

She the shy country girl bursting to flower

Product of failed marriage or death too soon

Snapshot memories from clear afternoon

Mooning the shutter, two sisters, three brothers

Mischievous grinning surrounds

sweet mother

Framed by a door long lost to squared edge 

Remembrance those absent hits like a sledge

I never met you, young sister of mine

Your existence a mere one day of time

They said brain and spine not yet fully sewn

Eyes wide open  for mother’s matrix lone

You softly came and left-empty space felt

Thoughts of fragile life, e’en coldest hearts melt.

Winter Lament

The snow melted quickly followed by a soft rain.

The hardscrabble road is muddied, it does not drain.

Vehicles parked at road's head, a brisk walk ensues.

The snow is blinding white, playful glistening hues

Where are my cross-country skis? I was not ready.

Watching the pros, they make the sport look so heady.

I fall and get up again, only wounded pride.

I, the novice, barely learning to stop and glide.

Next time it snows, determined to not be sidelined.

To join the venturing crowd, for this I have pined.

Lost Recipe

Family traipse to West Virginia hills

Song of lulling creek leads to places stilled

Yon simple world of all set right

Grandmother’s kitchen of harvest home due

Collards with ham hock, pintos on to stew

Sour milk cornbread's waft of delight!

Wains banished to reap apple tree’s bounty

Greening promise of lush Logan County

Ancient tilled verdant valleys bright

Better Days

The man stared in the mirror 

White skin blotchy in the harsh light

Pasty cheeks,  pink uninviting 

Aging with unkempt manners

Unpolished, plain mask where face should be

Old facade hides youthful dreaming soul

Sickened by his current plight

He forges ahead to paths unknown

Hoping for better days, years to fill

Music and poetic arts

He seeks the sublime in natures' ways

The man alone, his world, he watches. 

Winter's Duties

Chased from the garden, wind biting

The season's change unexpected 

Dormant perennials resting

Winter sunshine is soft to the eye

Promises of spring to succor

Beckoning by cloudless blue sky 

Soil to prepare, no easy sod 

Holes to dig wielding mattock and shovel 

Thin soil tops layers of thirsty clay clod

The smaller garden lays fallow 

Fruit trees fan out to provide shade 

A quiet space, sparse and hallow

Blackberry hedge, verdant running  

Uncrowded roots relish rich soil

Enlarged space succulent spreading

Soil easily tilled hides hardpan

Mattock breaks brittle compacted

Clay, to mold with ashes and sand

A windbreak of branches and limbs 

Gales unrelenting, bring havoc 

Shredded plants appear sparse and grim

Summer growth is coaxed and nurtured

Birds feast on pesky grasshoppers

By vociferous swarm perturbed 

I will build dwellings for their nests  

Will provide water for their drink 

They keep at bay the garden pests 

Up at dawn, simple existence

Songbirds to awaken the day 

The eastern sky in pastel tints