Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Summer Poems





This poem won an award at a writer's Conference:

Of a Summer Morning
By Elece Hollis

Out in the field where the meadowlark goes,
Red Paintbrushes stand on the tips of their toes.
Butterflies—yellow ones, white, orange, and black
Weave melodies over the grasses and back.

Out in the woods where the tanager sings,
Luna moth travels on gossamer wings.
Timid mouse peeps from his leafy retreat
Looking for wild winterberries to eat.

Down by the swift river’s warm sandy shore,
Sandpipers skitter about to explore.
Water bugs dart across sparkling blue
Where sunlight reflects the sky’s silvery hue.

Deep in the forest’s cool shadowy rooms,
Mosses cling staunchly to fallen tree tombs.
Gray squirrels hold conference on nutting technique
With Jack-in-his-pulpit preparing to speak.

Out in the pasture where cows gentle graze,
White egrets stalk silently through summer days.
Grasshoppers balance—on hot grasses sway
To the melodies blackbirds and barbed wire play.



The following  was not intended to become a poem but was composed of lines
I had written to go with a batch of photographs I took and was posting.
It was published in Life Notes this week with editor Cheryl Barker .

Cicada Days
by Elece Hollis

The sun is bright and harsh in the 
Oklahoma sky.
The grasses sway in the heat.
The first leaves dry and float to the ground.
The cicadas thrum and throb.
The trees struggle to provide shade.
Everything metal is too hot to touch.
The pecans begin to dry and their hulls brown and split.
Dragonflies spin and swoop and rest on dry grass stems.
Children swelter until their sweet faces flush rosy.
Little girls go barefoot. Lazy dogs rest in the shade.
Children go swimming in the early morning.
We watch the apples ripen.  
Spiders set up webs in broad daylight.
Butterflies flutter across the yard. Cicadas buzz and drone.
Thistle blooms. Last nasturtiums fade.
Farmers line up huge rounds of hay.
The sky is stark blue.
Follow the barbed wire to fall.



 This poem was published this month in the FCW ReadyWriter as 
a "writing to inspire lesson," by poet writer James Tate.


Light
By Elece Hollis

Sunlight filters down
Through the branches
 of towering trees
to the woodland floor.
A few leaves cling tenaciously
 to the branches.
 The wind pulls at them. 
Their shadows dance
 in ever-changing patterns
 on the narrow winding path.
 Moss and low hardy shrubs
 hold fast to their places. 
Last night’s rain is trapped
 in the leafy layers
 making a spongy labyrinth
 for mice and beetles.
 A late butterfly flutters
 among the barren branches. 
A crow calls from the pine,
 “This is my wood,” he screeches.
 “Go away!”  
Despite his scolding,
 I do not find this a dreary place,
 although it is so different
from the early summer’s world.
 It is full of movement,
 sound, light and life.
 There is a healing here,
 a comforting sense of belonging.
 Lord, may my life be like
 these woods,
that those who encounter me
 may find peace, comfort, hope
 and the light
 of encouragement.

John 8:12
“Then spoke Jesus again unto them,
 saying, I am the light of the world:
 he that followeth me
shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light
of life.”







 The following is one of my favorite poems for late summer:



Dog Days

By Elece Hollis

The porch swing hangs heavy.
The potted plants sigh;
But none is so hot nor
So weary as I.

The music of crickets,
The buzz of the fly
Is droning unanswered
Tired and dry.

The sun on the garden
Has dried every leaf
The vines have all withered
Gone summer’s feast.

The Queen Anne has faded.
Is no longer white.
All life waits in stillness
For coolness of night.

We watch for the promise
Of color on trees,
Of pears and of pumpkins
To come with the ease,

Of cooler and wetter
Oh, welcome relief
From the dogs days of summer.
The satin cerise

Of summer’s late sunsets,
That guarantee all
The geese winging southward
God sending us fall.