Tag: Poetry

THAT BIG BEE FUNNY MOTION

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

long enough we could see the flashes of ruby throat
a flash of flight in front of me
only one thing that could be, such fast motion

later, sitting in the crossbars of the feeder
before dropping to the sugar water

continue to see flits around the house
that big bee funny motion

a hummingbird at our feeder, size of a dragonfly

hummingbirds arrive late April or May
leave in August or early September
fly 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico
bulk up in Georgia and Florida adding
an ounce of fat to their four-ounce bodies …

to wit, some most amazing creatures

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
For more, click here.

 

HEARTBEAT

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

she’s the one with the comb and scissors

the fruit of my womb

for her thirteenth birthday
she wanted a rented limousine
six hours, unlimited mileage, to sashay

through the Mystery Cafe “where murder
is always on the menu” but even then
adjusting our calendars was the killer

maybe I’d appreciate the suggested list
to just pull the trigger
against Mother Nature and Aging

what I was fit to tap out this evening

please stay tuned or advise with directions

crazy for lovers

Adam and Eve at puberty, separated by a large apple

a red candle-lit cloud kiosk on Copley Square in Boston

let you peruse the 

apple perched on a suspended steamer trunk

a map of European geology free of political borders

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set of Partitas, click here.

TOPOLOGICAL DISPARITY

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

1

any stretch of shoreline
is not two sides of the same coin
viewed from water or land

even assuming you know the twisting roads
or clusters of housing and wharves
or white steeples and beacons
the familiar melts unevenly

even the maritime charts and roadmaps
conflict
one measured in knots
and the other, miles

for many good reasons
the pieces rarely fit

even if you could walk on water
and still the rough waves

2

land is a kind of insurance
if you don’t crash

any grounding and the atmosphere
both move, often in contrary
currents, you navigate a facade

blue is never the ocean’s true nature
even on a summer day
unnoticed red or yellow modulate

when rain comes up
the beacon vanishes
in fear or arrogance

3

no matter how similar
they initially appear

waterfowl bridge this disparity
moving, air

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set of seacoast poems, click here.

ESTABLISHING A RHYTHM

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

greens

plant and weed     beside the kitchen     and
the forerunner of a fern bed     behind lilacs

on the swampy side     ignore omens     asking

the real question

if you’ll ever cry      Where are we going?
“it’s a big mistake”     Going     where?

my earth sinks / would always sink     if

it weren’t for stones     floating to the surface

each winter

land bridge jeopardy

cruel ground

stone soup     rather than potato     I intended
to tame     with compost, yes      and worming

so it was     holes in dirt     with next year’s
garden already planned out     she’s ready
to hear    I’ve never been fond of mowing
a lawn     but take to composting anyway

digging in

royally singing     in praise of red wigglers

like a man

so truly      the Cadillac

on my daily
commute

extending the scale      new construction
along all his options     have me wondering
how the routes would be     by the time
I retire

what will be planted     where forest was

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
For more, click here.

PRELUDE & FUGUE 39/

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

a dingy moored on still water
dancing to Bix tonight
in front of the boulder and island

*   *   *

in front of the boulder and island
moored on still water
spires, houses, and the brick millyard
red between granite

a dingy in front of the boulder and island
moored on still water spires,
houses, and the brick millyard

red between granite
a dingy
in front of the boulder and island
moored on still water

spires, houses, and the brick millyard
red between granite
a dingy

dancing to Bix tonight in a blue lake
against mountains reflected foliage
along a green river moose drab
on a sandbar amid dancing to Bix
tonight foliage along a green river
in a blue lake against mountains moose
amid reflected sallow dancing tonight
foliage along a green river, Bix on a sandbar
looking down from the hill in blue
lake against mountains dancing
to Bix tonight moose dun foliage along
a green river sandbar in blue mountains
against moose reflections looking down the hill

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.

SABBATICAL, AS TRANSITION

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

with a year of composition and retreat
free of alcohol
without the pleasure
of coworkers

the strength saying no
to myself

*   *   *

as a transition out of selling, this repose
wonderful, wonderful and thanks, hoping

*   *   *

during my year of isolation
I abstained

mostly

according to mission

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set, click here.

THE ISLES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

1

the cluster of eight small rugged islands
(or more, depending on the tide
and how one’s counting)
ten miles out from New Hampshire
and Maine

Appledore, Star, White, Smuttynose
among them – the landing at Gosport
ornithological laboratory, conference hotel
lighthouse and keeper’s housing

2

distinctly hot, hazy ashore
a threat of afternoon fogging
obstructing the islands

board the M/V Thomas Laighton, named
for Celia’s brother, HARBOR CRUISE & TOUR
and it’s twenty degrees cooler offshore
windy, nine-foot tide normal

far from anything, a kite flies, wagging a long tail
gulls flock a fishing boat
“whistlebones, cricket sticks”
a young woman sings

approaching the unfamiliar light of an afternoon squall

“everyone on the deck, down under – now!”

quickly enwrapped

in a darker fog, a gray luminescence
viewed from the inside
of a pearl
all passing in minutes

3

you could volunteer for the trip
to thin hop vines overrunning her garden

bring home rootlets
for a memorial planting

to stabilize and flavor
your own bottles

fermented in late fall and deep winter

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set of seacoast poems, click here.

BRIDGE FROM MAY TO JUNE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

clapping dragon – prayer banner
blessing the northern wind:
Indra, Vayu, and Varuna
conspiring
with brooding swirls
to drum our roofs and nurse
our earth.
gather us
in logs
beneath
thundering rain
– with Handel and Bach
we speak of broad leaves
and our friends:
opposites
within jagged walls
brushed white –
this reassembled skin,
its rice paper sphere
and we take tea. minor elegance
rough wood improves –
the drenching opens
unnamed doors
in Monday’s clover
and Tuesday’s spruce –
drowns the shrew-mouse
on Wednesday’s trail –
awakens sleeping polychromes.
makes pokeberry tall
beyond our yard.
shakes tulips from twigs
and fattens swamps.
urges telegrams of morning birds
to break our sleep –
rumbles within our karst –

as current
entering swallow holes
will rise where mills
once twirled
soft wheat.

Poem copyright 2015 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full Green Repose collection, click here.

 

 

BRAINCHILD

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

a feathered and furred woman
bare shouldered, face painted white
black mouth and black exaggerated eyebrows
a black veil over her face

where is the balm?
the salve for stinging nettles?

potted plants on a white mantle

a bowl of sprouts atop a handwritten note
spread over a blue napkin

richly patterned fabric
behind a waxy flower

a pile of Valentines

reeds and songbirds
home is a refuge or should be

a bar of soap wrapped in pale-tea ribbon
a hole cut in a painting left open with crossed ribbons

two men in an open briefcase, as dolls torn apart
so many screws and nails and tense threads
for connections

a barn owl in front of a red barn

a red house with shiny metal roof in the woods

red hen, red comb, red alarm

Bright day in the valley

Lincoln’s Indiana legacy
in a place that couldn’t support a used bookstore

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see the full set of Partitas, click here.

PRELUDE & FUGUE 40/

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

three dogwood

two owls

a stone barn

*   *   *

stone fence
halfway up the valley of silos, tractor trailers
in mirrored sunrise

the symmetry, yee hah! of fence half stone
up the valley silos, tractor trailers, in the mirror
of sunrise coming home, yee hah!
setting forth along stone fence halfway up
the valley silos, tractor trailers,

in glittering yee hah! sunrise
so fleeting, unbalanced
between the gloved hands

a rosebud, three dogwood, two owls
a stone barn with blossoms that God
in front of a lone maple looks down

in a rosy stone barn fronting a lone dogwood
three maple blossoms look on two owls
that God, in a rousing talk in front of the lonely

fireworks of dogwood, owls, rosebud
blossoms, by God, around a stone barn

in front of a lone dogwood, what blossoms
into a conversation of two owls with God
looks up, looks down, looks around fireworks

~*~

Poem copyright 2016 by Jnana Hodson
To see all 50 Preludes & Fugues, click here.