Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

Category: Tales

  • Rubber Hits the Road

    Bright orange barrels, pointed cones

    Waddling along fast freeway roads

    Rubber ducks lined up in weaving rows

    Blocking off great chunks of lanes

    Squeezing traffic into narrow streams

    So close one flick fells all the dominoes

    City streets of bumpy rock

    Asphalt scraped to corduroy

    Acrid scent from sticky pavement piping

    Piles of dirt round drainage ditches

    Muddy puddles, roped-off sidewalks

    Lines of paint in white and yellow striping

    Bridges out, work at the tracks

    Miles of country road are closed

    Marbles roll on detours, long and late

    Flagger ahead on one-way lanes

    Wait forever while no one goes

    Welcome to Ohio, the orange barrel state

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  • Autumn Evening

    I remember those September nights a’rocking on the porch

    With the easy evening breezes licking round the candle torch

    Golden splashes, shadowed lashes in the fading dusky light

    Flickered flames like mentioned names that all dissolve into the night

    Wood joints clicking, needles picking yarn up in tight stitches

    Crickets pattering, sparrows chattering down in brushy ditches

    Killdeer keening, red hawks preening out in half bare trees

    Furry flashes – rabbit dashes through dry cornfield seas

    Wood smoke thinned on the wind, tendrils whispering of fall

    Russet scent of cornhusks spent, first of harvest’s haul

    Cooling tea beside my knee of chamomile and mint

    Wafting slow in low sun’s glow, a pearl of china glint

    Sunset brushes red rouge blushes over rippling plains

    Darkness washes liquid splashes, spreading azure stains

    Pinpoint stars from sprinkled jars wink across the sky

    Summer night and pale moonlight, a memory lullaby

    ,

  • Loose Change

    Penny wise and pound foolish

    Pinching out the cents

    While coins clatter down behind in

    Spiraling descents

    From holes in your own pockets

    Couldn’t bear the weight

    They roll and spin in figure eights

    Now that’s a pricey cheapskate

    ,

  • Acoustic Guitar

    A tapestry of silky strands

    Pulled from brass strings in my hands

    Chords fanned out in harmony

    Woven around the melody

    In rippling vibrant satin bands

    The melody thread weaves and winds

    Riding on the changing lines

    Through peaks and valleys strong it floats

    Bridging chords of tingling notes

    The filaments of tune it finds

    The rhythm marches sure and strong

    The background warp that holds the song

    As the lyrics weave and bend

    In and out until the end

    It rolls the tapestry along

    ,

  • Twisted Whiskers

    Unique New York, new squeak to torque

    He knew she threw three free throws

    We shall surely see the sun shine soon

    For wetter weather gets harder as it goes

    Rugged rubber baby buggy bumpers

    Full of yellow leather feather flight

    By the worsted switch of an Irish wristwatch

    We light a nightlight for a night like tonight

    ,

  • Marblehead Light

    I stand in utter darkness, thick and deep

    Below, the rough waves crash on endlessly

    Around me, stinging wind and cold rain weep

    And yet I set my eyes in faith before me

    For the one hope in this uncertainty

    And there it comes, a beam of clear green light

    In steadfast rhythm shines on fearlessly

    A compass beacon sent to land and sea

    The faithful lighthouse guides worn travelers through the night

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