Four Bears — A Dream

Neglect shrouds the bungalow. Abandonment. Crouched at the hill’s crest, the structure is slowly engulfed by a silent chaos of overgrowth and tangled tree shadow. From dark unpaned windows, beneath low-hanging eaves, the house peers vacantly down the hill. The air of neglect extends beyond the bungalow in a radial arc. Sere, unmown grass slopes down and away from its front door. Pale seed heads nod and bend, dip and shush with wind. Wildflowers, their petals blanched of color, float over the grassy sea like moths. And, standing chest-deep amidst this lawn-turned-meadow, are four scrawny bears. Arranged at equidistant points in a rough square, their coats are lank and straw-brown, and they are heartbreakingly thin. Their dark eyes consider me where I stand, far below, and then, as if they are a single unit, they begin to bend slightly at their wrists and ankles, flex at hips and shoulders in a pulsating fashion. They remain, otherwise, rooted in their paws, standing in the derelict lawn, staring. Eyes as wide and dark as the bungalow above them, grass and fur commingling, they stand and stare and pulse.

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“Four Bears” — C.Birde, 7/16

Morning Heat — Images

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“Reservoir Haze” — C.Birde, 7/16

Haze thickened air

stretches over morning’s tender hours,

accompanied by the ratchet and whir

of cicada chorus —

promises of heat to come.

— C.Birde, 7/16

 

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“Reservoir Bridge” — C.Birde, 7/16

Casual Gardening — A Poem

The benefits of casual gardening,

detailed in small passages –

 

Mystery squash,

casting tendrils toward the Burning bush,

abloom with ulterior motive.

 

The weed pail

filling,

before the work is done.

 

Rogue tomatoes,

erupting from loamy beds

and window baskets,

pushing aside rhubarb leaves.

 

Fireflies and ladybugs,

and slim-limbed mantises,

and beatific bees.

 

Queen Anne’s lace,

tatting the yard and

adorned in cabbage moths.

 

Patches of shade,

rotating about the house,

cool refuge from the sun’s eye.

 

Leeks’ heads

nodding heavy crowns;

bindweed

twining and trumpeting

 

Lady’s thumbs,

tickling catmint;

Black eyed Susans

studying Swiss chard.

 

The small yard

taking shape under

Nature’s guiding hand.

 

Near-motionless rabbits

nibbling sweet clover;

quick chipmunks

excavating neat holes

beneath tonic lavender;

and everywhere,

everywhere,

the stir and song

of birds.

 

— C.Birde, 7/17

 

 

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“Squash Among the Tomatoes” — C.Birde, 7/16

Dreamlessness, Week #2 — A Truth

Though I try to assure retention, my dreamless state continues. It is as if I kneel at the water’s edge of dreams, shins and the tops of my feet pressed against damp and pebbled banks. Leaning forward, I peer into that fluid body to see what darting minnows, what tadpoles and frogs and crayfish might live and move within. Each flash of movement that draws my attention is quickly interrupted, disturbed — a shift in light alters reflections; waters’ surface ripples with wind; something stirs below to send up obscuring plumes of silt. And if I am fortunate enough to slip my hand into that reservoir — slowly — and close fingers about some small, mercurial thing — gently — it eludes my grasp. Withdrawing my hand, I find it has escaped as certainly as the water streaming from my spread fingers.

 

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“Dreamless Waters” — C.Birde, 7/16

 

Wildflower Bouquet — An Image

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“Wildflower Bouquet” — C.Birde, 7/16

Yes. Let’s pause a bit,

and while you bow to inhale

the roses’ breath,

I’ll gather Fennel and Fleabane

and frothing Queen Anne’s Lace

to weave together  —

a Summer Crown

to set upon your brow.

— C.Birde, 7/17

 

Wren’s Realm — A Poem

Little Wren

builds a nest

outside the window’s frame

within a house

suspended,

pendant,

beneath the sheltering

azalea.

Industrious,

he stuffs it full,

a perfection

of twigs and sticks

collected and thrust

through a hole

cut just large enough

to permit his entry.

Bold creature,

far larger in spirit

than his diminutive frame

suggests,

he sings the yard’s

perimeter,

claims it as his own

with staccato notes

hurled upon the air

in rapid punctuation.

Little king —

I am an earthbound peasant,

well pleased to occupy

the earth beneath

your aerial

realm.

 

— C.Birde, 7/17

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“House Wren’s House” — C.Birde, 7/17

 

Dreamlessness — A Truth

 

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“Clouds of Dream” — C.Birde, 7/17

My dreams have taken on the aspect of clouds. I move within their certain uncertainty, the corner of my eye smudged with image, and emerge trailing vapors. Atoms of recall cling, but the whole vanishes, swallowed upon waking. And I am left to wonder and scrounge and rue the dream’s reabsorption.

Shift — A Dream

As far as the eye can see — water. As if the land itself has shifted its elemental nature, exchanged solid certainty for the mercurial, the mysterious. And he and I, adrift amidst it all.

Perched atop a dining room table, we float unmoored within a vast sea that stretches to all horizons. Wavelets slap the table, send small plumes and rivulets over its smooth surface. The formica top grows slick. I kneel within an ever-shrinking dry patch to one side of the table’s central seam. In contrast, he sits at the other edge, dangling his feet, with blue-edged water creeping over his knees.

Shins and knees squeaking on formica, I begin sliding down the dining table’s incline. Toward boundless water. Toward him, where he laughs and talks and splashes feet and hands, oblivious. But my incremental advance soon stops. Before my eyes, I see him shift, exchange his cumbersome human form for something sleeker, smoother, more well-suited to our surroundings. His clothes and shoes slip into the water, drift away on its currents as he glides off the table in his new form — a sea lion. Watching him dive and swim and roll, I laugh. This form suits him.  He suddenly makes complete sense to me.

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“Shift” — C.Birde, 7/16