Wednesday Poems

Image:  Winter, acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24” (sold).
 

Well that second snowfall from last week stuck around for a while, and even now some shady trails and driveways are a bit icy.  The other day, when I ventured out to bring in some wood, I heard a high-pitched gushing sound and worried that the neighbour’s pipes might have frozen and sprung a leak. But as I investigated, it turned out their pipes were fine (whew!); what I heard was an extended orchestral suite, compliments of the many juncos that hang out here.  Which reminded me of a snowy spell back when we lived in Vancouver, when variious birds flocked to feast on the seeds we’d scattered for them.  So today’s Wednesday Poem is Carnival Yard, from Cedar Cottage Suite (Leaf Press).  

Carnival Yard


Thrushes back! Juncos!
Yard’s a-hoppin’ – towhees, too…
Winter carnival!


          Whee! to winter!  Yard-
          hopping, too!  Carnival’s back:
          Thrushes.  A junco.


Hoppin’ juncos, yard’s
a towhee carnival!  Two
thrushes.  Winter’s back.


          Winter yard:  Juncos,
          thrushes, towhees hopping back
          to a carnival.


Back yard towhees hush;
juncos stop hopping. Winter
carnival at rest.


This sequence is another one inspired by the form Brian Bartlett created, which combines haiku and anagram. For the anagram, I varied some words, but limited myself to using the same letters in each haiku (except for when I replaced the ‘g’ in hopping with an apostrophe).