Napping with Bear

"Snow White & Rose Red" art by Kerry Darlington

Let's nap the afternoon away.

I'm sleepy after all our play.

Pretend it’s winter’s longest night.

With bears we'll snuggle out of sight.

There’s no Goldilocks nor Three Bears—

no anger at all.  Love reigns here.

This vision is yours to manifest.

We made bear enemies, I regret.

But you will have greater success.

Your kind trust leads to happiness.


for Sunday Muse # 109

My blog poems are rough drafts.
   Please respect my copyright. 
 If you quote, credit this page.
     © 2020 Susan L. Chast

A Gathering Power

Daily I walk around my house to pick up trash,
stewardship on a corner lot I almost own. 

Walking the plot satisfies me—it freshens the air I breathe.

Neatness serves Main Street. And routine counters chaos.

What more than this small task do God and earth want of me?
They accompany me, as they do you right where you are.

And where are you? Are you, too, feeling you should do more?
A still small voice tells me to turn the lawns into gardens.

I hesitate.  Maple trees block the sun from the southeast
and white pine add to the house shadow in back.  Roses grow.

I know.  I know—seeing in the news, the disease Doctors
Without Borders and the World Health Organization face.

Among pandemics, wars, and climate and economic
disasters, service people scramble to scratch surfaces

of need, so much need.  Are you with them?  To give or receive?
In my thorny red roses, I stand in silent prayer for you.

Right now, this is the fullness I have to give—red roses,
attentiveness and prayer, everything earth gives me, in kind, in words.

Let my portion add to the gathering communities
that balance, and will soon outstrip all terror.

For the earthweal weekly challenge:VAST PARTICULARS

My blog poems are rough drafts.
   Please respect my copyright. 
If you quote, credit this page.

     © 2020 Susan L. Chast

 

The Aztec one, Two, Three, etc.

 

Have Aztecs owned the comforts here? 

Once conquerors, it’s possible—

as possible as various

Mayan tribes, bunched under a name

they did not choose.  We mingle blood

and genes, and allow science to

settle feuds.  Meanwhile repurposed

buildings preserve the names they first

offended by—though most forget

the history. Grand openings

bring new discoveries that go

down as easily as multi-

flavored ice cream cones with sprinkles.

for Sunday Muse #108, an ekphrastic prompt 

 

My blog poems are rough drafts.
   Please respect my copyright. 
 If you quote, credit this page.
     © 2020 Susan L. Chast