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You Never Know
Nature
The Lantern
(A Dream)
There were fields Wide open On both sides of the road They did not belong To me but the neighbors The fields fallow And new grass had grown The furrows had made waves In the ground I was in the field And I lay down On the warm earth There were people On the road Walking and talking So I hid in one of the furrows The sun was directly overhead Voices came from the house Just east of the fields Men were talking And their voices carried Across the air Lying on my back I watched the blue sky And scudding clouds I wanted to be invisible Then I turned on my side And saw a lantern lying In the grass What does it mean This lantern Amidst the furrows Hidden in the grass A lamp that lights the way A source of light in a fallow field A Sabbath year Finding light Neither sowing nor reaping by Diane E. Dockum ©April 7, 2023
Thunder and Icing
Thunder and Icing Persephone’s birth pangs Her water has broken Jagged lightning of pain Darkness in daytime Rumbling thunder April sky pouring A wintery rain Every branch coated In crystal and dripping Freezing and melting At the same time Weather is fickle Sunny then dreary The birth of a season Welcome Springtime! ©April 5, 2023 By Diane E. Dockum
Solitude
A leaf shudders Without sound As the breeze passes by And no one sees The movement The sun slides across To the other side of day The cicada sings To hear itself The chair on the dock Rocks gently When ripples lift The wooden wharf Eventually two moons One high One floating As the river changes Places with the rain Do tear drops Return as clouds And rain again over Fields of roses? By Diane E. Dockum August 29, 2022
Open Windows
April has now half gone
Now we have a day of sun
Open windows help us breathe
The freshness of the cool spring breeze
Cats that indoors live each day
Press up against the screen
Nostrils working at the air
So sweet and pure and clean
It’s such relief to see the clouds
All scattering away
And vital warmth glowing down
On such a fine spring day
© Diane Dockum, April 9, 2017
Trees Never Forget
White Birch trees bow low
In the corner of the yard
Winter leaves its scar
© Diane E. Dockum, 2015
April 25, 2015
Picking Up Sticks
Picking Up Sticks
Go and bend
And go and bend and stand
Bend and look
Go and look and bend
And stand and bend and
Stand and look around
Oh no there’s more
There are more fucking sticks
Huff and puff
And go and reach and bend
Walk and pile and look
And go and bend and stand
And rake and clip
Go and bend and stand
And wheeze and cough
And pile near the road
And come back in the house
And grunt and groan
And sit back in the lounge
And open up a book
(Inspired by my husband, Dennis)
©Diane E. Dockum
April 11, 2015
Bohemian Waxwings
Bohemian Waxwings
On an April morning
Arrange themselves like musical notes
Upon bare upper branches
Against a backdrop
Of open sky
Sweetly trilling secrets
On the brisk air
As one
They descend
To the patchy snow
To pick the seeds
Scattered there
Pointed topknots
Ruffling in the breeze.
©Diane E. Dockum, 2015
What to Wear?
What to Wear?
What to wear — What to wear?
The rain started just as the
Sun should have come out,
But snowflakes, large as silver dollars,
Replaced the drops
Soon after.
And they said it will be
In the fifties today, so
My boots will serve
This morning,
But, I will carry my
Crocs™ with the holes in them
For later and
The scarf is okay,
But, I’ll wear the coat
Without the buttons
Over my sweater
And I’ll bring my
Sunglasses just in case.
Before April is finished
I am sure I will have worn
My parka and sandals
In the same day.
© Diane E. Dockum, 2015
Dog In The Morning
Dog In The Morning
Back to the highway,
The yellow dog
Faces the flower-bed.
Stoic –
Silent –
Unflinching,
He watches mums
And Gladiolas;
The Tiger Lilies dance.
Dog-butt in the dew-laden grass,
He too is planted.
Regal chin held level.
What is he thinking?
The cars pass by
Unchased.
by Diane E. Dockum
Marble Hill Press 