The kiss

 The kiss

There are things we frame

Things we remember 

Things we held onto

Some long gone 

Never to again know

Others with the hope

Of coming again 

Preserved behind glass

Held fast

Bottle tree

 Bottle Tree

Daddy was a master at gardening

Why he even grew bottle trees

Just the correct amount of

Fertilizing 

A living, radiant wonder people

Would come from far to see

Can I but have a sprig of Nehi

Or a cutting of wild turkey?

And they would plant and vainly try

To grow their own bottle tree.

A Suwannee Sandland

 A Suwannee Sandland

Full moon rise at the LD Bend 

We need to be more aware of where we are headed and from whence we came. An appreciation of the canoe and acquisition of the necessary skills to utilize it as a way to journey back to what’s left of the natural world is a great way to begin this voyage of discovery.

Bill Mason

A boys joy

 Blue Heron study #2

Expectation

John Clare Stokes

It’s the little boy yet dwelling

Wanting so badly to tell anyone

come and see what he has done

Proud in the creating of a painting

though crude and elementary 

a masterpiece to the little boy

and to hear that word of praise

the smile of satisfaction 

sends the little boy down to 

the store for more oils and canvas.

Somebody’s knocking

Somebody's knockin'

By john clare

Ole Joe don't come looking for me

I'm not ready to lie peacefully

Waunita's artistry applied to me

Preacher don't come calling me

I'm not ready to walk that aisle

I got time to burn and many a mile

Jesus why you knocking on my door?

I'll lay quiet and pretend I'm not home

Maybe ole Joe, Waunita, Preacher and Jesus will leave me alone!

Waunita! 

Waunita!

Lovely Waunita

Why do you, ole Joe, Preacher

and Jesus want me?

The Holey covering

 The holy covering 

The coldest nights of winter

We would huddle about the hearth

The roaring fire sparking out

Embers upon our patch work quilts

Rarely would one burn through

The many layered blanket

To drift off to a frozen dreaming

Who would stoke the fire awake?

It must have been one angry spark

That traveled up the chimney 

To settle in the chink of heart pine

For in no time we stood afar huddled

Our only covering the holed quilts 

All consuming save the brick culprit

Standing as a Joan of Arc immune

From the flames our lives taking.

Marie rouge

 Marie Rouge

In haste Ethel Marie applies her rouge

Not too thick just the right shade

For word came quickly 

A son of Earnest has made the grade

And to his graduation

We have been bade

Where all shall assemble to stand

And welcome him.

Lily

 Some sunny days bouquet boy stays home

No trips to see his friends in fields afar

Instead just he and calla lily alone

Fit for the finest porcelain rhodora jar.

High Cry

 High Cry

Johnclarestokes 

Famine comes, we call

manna in the mountain!

Sparrow impaled by claw

Osprey dives from high!

Earthworms in the soil

Levitation lurks far below

Man sweats in toil

Tornadoes lift and blow!

Tales long left untold

Wells their waters dried

The Wolf in the fold

One laughs, another cries!

High the fire wastes

Creation lifts to sing

New Jerusalem’s savory tastes

Cool waters from a King!

Upward, the streams flow strong,

New heaven and earth rushing on!

The upward stream!

Ushers the coming King!

In others some

 Is Others Some

John Clare Stokes

Some are given to dance

Some to romance

Some n’er take a chance

Some miss that glance

Others are given to artistry

Others to mystery

Others delve in history

Others lives quite blustery 

Is the moon but a metaphor

Is the pauper the richest 

Is the deepest ocean at the shore

Is the time all or is there more

The poetic strain

 In praise the poetic strain 

It will always be this way

As it's ordained to remain so

It's the eternal ordered flow

You cannot convince or sway

To erupt the arrangement set

The maker knows well His plan

Gives little heed to the cries of demons

Whom so know the One who sits

There is a silent ongoing tone

He has set in called hearts openly

To return the answer from eternity

Fill the one with a sweet longing

Given apart from incessant plea

Sadly many are not all concerned

For to dust they are bent to return

Not at all beyond the grave to see

Still we dwell among the tone dead

Our bend to open deaf ears 

Apply salve to eyes full of fears 

If per grace to life they are led

But alas we cannot do the deed

We hum and sway to distant songs

The eternal chord drawing us on

Gibberish foolishness so clearly read.

Generally

 As a general rule the blue coated male of the species is more flamboyant than the female. Generally, but not always.