Whimsy

 

squirrel wisdom

She pussyfooted down the branch, 

her twitch of tail a cadence of caution.

Inch by inch, she stretched herself out, 

rotund tummy unrolling, still stout,

but now long and wide - a flurry of fur

plushing the pine, lulling the tree into slumbrous

motion, rocking up and down, blurring

the green with gray on this sunlit day

To sleep in sun, to smooth the raspy edges

and loosen limbs unleafed and furled tight

like fiddlehead ferns and sleeping trees.

To heed spring’s call, and loll between leaf and sky should, and always shall be, enough for me.

Queenly

 

Flossie

 

Mouse Dream

It crept slowly, whiskers a-flutter,

on tiny pink feet, delicately fingered.

It’s snub nose, blushed pink in the evening light,

wrinkled furiously

tasting air blooming with violets and lilacs

while its little teardrop ears chased

meadow songs.

It looped its tail around a daisy stem

and paused to stare at me,

Shiny black eyes 

palpitating with nervous stealthy life.

I wanted to brush the yellow pollen from its wee brow,

stroke behind its satin ears, and dress it in purple tulle.

My Mother Rosie Rossman

In my dreams, 

she’s half brownie, half birdie

always in a flurry, 

Scurrying wide and near

to perch and peer 

with bright eyes alight

flickering,

Forever in quest of smiles

To line her nest

She bustles about

On little feet

Sharing bits of sweet

this and that of chat

and a beaming smile

or kindly pat.

And some nights

when she bobs nearby

I see with my dreaming eye

a wee hint -a little inkling-

Of glossy beating wings

Palpitating with life And for a moment, my heart sings.

Red Sweater

A blaze of red against a sky scoured white 

by wind, the sweater straggles, caught tight

by scraggly limbs. Its empty arms reach down

as though desperate to clutch the crusted ground.

It’s frayed and nubby, plush cashmere now spent

and left to waft a hint of lingering floral scent

mixed with leaf mold and dirt and dying things gone soft.

I tug.The branch holds tight while wind whips it aloft

and sends its arms flailing, reaching for flight.

Then, briefly, within, a memory of skin catches light.

A hint of arms once warmed, a gathered waist. once draped, a ghost of life it once embraced.