SOLSTICE

The winter solstice

Sneaked in last night.

This morning

I look down the hill and across

The road at a verdant pasture

That rolls up to a stark woods

On a hill too steep for houses.

An old stag keeps his home there,

Lays down somewhere

In the wet leaves

And waits unchallenged

In the off season

For his wives.

A low-pressure system is

Rolling into Tennessee from

The gulf, so gray droplets

drip from bare branches

In a quiet so thick

The new winter stays north

Biding its time,

maybe a couple of weeks,

Before it slides into place

And stitches a quilt of snow

To the ground

in white darkness.

Reviews

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

hats off to you. this was enthralling. i liked how it begins with a bit of irony. The winter solstice /Sneaked in last night. it gave me a bit of a luagh, how clever these lines were. then the poem proceeds to paint us a picture. this was done very well. i could really see your surroundings, and we get a bit of a drama involving the 'old stag.' there is one in every town, i guess. it ends with a bit of pathos. the way the first snowfall is described evokes some strong feelings. there is so much layer and texture to this work. it really took me on a journey.

[Vol]

Ern,
Thank you for taking the timed to say so much. I have left my lovely home in Tennessee and now life in the much harsher Texas panhandle. It was a grave mistake ton leave.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

i have never been to america, but the way you describe it makes me want to visit. when one thinks of the USA, we normally think of the cities. but america is so vast and much of it is covered in sunning nature, as your writing has educated me. i hope one day you get t return to Tennessee. i too feel like returning to Western Australia again.

[ETERNITY]

Isn't that funny, Ern, when I read you, I feel like you are in The States. Like, maybe we could get a coffee sometimes.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

haha, i wish we could do that. i live in a small city in japan but online i get to meet people from around the world. im grateful for that, i guess.

[ETERNITY]

Japan! Exotic! xox Eternity

[ETERNITY]

Well, I looked at EXOTIC and I meant BEAUTY! Japan is so beautiful!

[Vol]

Erm,
America is not cities at all. What is posted for people to seecomes from where the cameras and publishers ar which is the cities. If you could watch American TV, you'd think that everyone lives in New York City, or one or two others. As ma people, we are nothing like the way we are portrayed. And you should know, from the pictures of Japan, the beauty there is sublime, in fact, I can think of frw places that are not imbued with deep, abiding, beauty. The Sahara, or the Alps, Antarctica, Austrailia... Beauty makes its home in our eyes and hearts when we lookk for it. I remember a movie "American Beauty," in which there was a lovely scene with a plastic bag caught in the corner of a building where the wind picked it up and let it dance in the air like a ballerina. We walk in beauty all the time, if we woujld just slow down and see it.
Vol

[ETERNITY]

Vol! Dang! You just blew me away with that bit about the plastic bag! Yes! Beauty is all in the way it's portrayed! Awesome inference there!

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

im flatterred you think so about japan.
me, i am actually getting sick of this country. i want to leave. however, if you ask me on a good day i will tell you about all the attractive sights in the countryside, the snowy mountains, the placid sea, the autumn leaves, our many rivers.
it's not the landsacape, rather, my life that i want to escape. and once i am ready to pack my bags, with your words in mind, i will be so excited to find the beauty the world has to offer.

[ETERNITY]

Think of all the good "wherever" you are. We can't escape the bad no matter where we go. Japan looks beautiful. Think on the good.

[Vol]

Well, I'm not surprised, It is what makes you a poet...

[Lorry]

Well it may have sneaked in where you were last night Vol, but here it was on the 24 hour news for what seemed like at least 72 hours, thanks to that nutter magnet called stonehenge!
After watching the hoohah they made of it, I began to think of the cavemen and how that must have grunted their equivalent of an "ooh!" each day as the sun rose each morning and how people used to worship the sun, because it miraculously appeared and warmed us, so it was only right we started to sacrifice to the gods when things didn't quite go our way, reminiscent of Easter Island and look how that all panned out for them!
Fast forward to now and we're still prancing around worshipping a ball of fire for doing what it's meant to... and very badly at that. It should be called Earthfall, not sunrise... but why allow facts to get in the way of some nutters flouncing about in their nightgown and making a proper arse of themselves, all in the name of new age snake oil salesman.
(Hope it didn't come across that I am a non believer, but the only good thing that comes out of it is the feeling on seeing these deficients is that at least it makes me look a bit more normal! 😃

[Vol]

Lorry,
Druids Flounce? Damn! Witches too? Those damn Pagans have all the fun! It was sixty degrees again here today. :-)

[Lorry]

Absolute luxury!
We can only hope for sixty degrees. I was only saying that to Katie as we shivered out our cave yesterday, to lick the icicle in the hope it would melt quicker. Its a sad day when you have to light a fire in order to melt some ice to have a coffee, before heading off for another 23 hour shift of locking the roads clean, before coming home to a dinner of gravel surprise and a half hour kip before doing it all again.
But try telling the snowflakes that and they will be highly dubious ya know! 😃

[Vol]

Lorry, So far as I can see, the only humans tougher than a Scotsman are Scotswomen...You, sir are a lucky man! Merry Christmas! (I'll be glad when it's over and, remember, today is longer than yesterday.
Vol

[Lorry]

Ah, bless her heart. We're just about to visit the crumblies with supplies and gifts, where I'll stay in the van under the guise of keeping them safer from bugs but really it's to save my ears from either healing shut or dropping off! 😃
Just remember to get to bed early and avoid Santa's naughty list!

[Vol]

S**t, man the naughtiest things I do are in bed... Santa, that son-of-a-b***h is the biggest voyeur of all!

[Lorry]

😃 😊 😀 😄 😁