Summer Gamble

Blueberries galore
May the birds leave us enough
for at least one pie

~dkm 285/365

Pandemic Peony

"A bowl of beauty,"
Said a nice man with a mask
"What?" I said, through mine

"That flower,"  he said
"Oh yes, isn't it," I said
Thought it was small talk

Till I read the tag
Saw the name of the hybrid
Bought and brought it home

Yesterday it bloomed
The man and the tag were right
A bowl of beauty

~dkm 284/365

Chapter Two

House wrens are winning
Today he's dragging in sticks
She's flitting around

Will she accept it?
He courts her with several nests
but bets on this one

He knows what she likes
Shady, cool, edge of woods, shrubs,
brush piles, feeders, baths

~dkm 283/365

Chapter One

Three songbird species
Investigating new house
Hanging in corner

Few sticks yet inside
Bluebird, housewren, in and out
Cardinal on roof

Rooting for the blue
Most likely victor, the wren
Not a house for cards

~dkm 282/365

Largesse of Trees

Peggy's oak grants us
tranquility, well-being,
wholeness, clean air, ease

For the simple act
of breathing into her reach
and noticing her

~dkm 281/365

Light to Dark

Waiting outside from
dusk to deep night is a gift
from the universe

~dkm 280/365

Night Music

Calling from the woods
Cope's gray tree frog mating song
Gregorian chant

~dkm 279/365

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

We hoped we'd see one
when friends said they're passing through
Today we were graced

~dkm 278/365

Small but Mighty

Long rambling twitter
First house wren heard this season
COVID mood lifter

~dkm 277/365

Bluebirds Day 14

By 8:15a
Our four nestlings had all flown
We watched the last two

New forlorn silence
lingers about the empty
nest after the fledge

~dkm 276/365

Screens

Light passing through veil
of gossamer wing casts a
look-alike shadow

Whether reading or
writing or common housefly
landed on white page

~dkm 275/365

Bluebirds Day 12

The father wooed her
Helped her build their nest and sang
Fed her on the nest

Till harm befell him
A hawk or a cat. We found
tufts of his feathers

Alone she feeds them
All day every day she works
Tireless single mom

Today her feathers
turned dark gray when drenched with rain
And still she fed them

~dkm 274/365

Spring Assurance

Warm healing fingers
Make shadows after planting
Long reach unspoken

dkm 273/365

Arachnida Salticidae

Small jumping spider
Like many things, not scary
unless magnified

Friend in the garden
Massive pest control for size
No harm to humans

~dkm 272/365

7 p.m

The quiet evening
Caronavirus or not
Brings calmness of heart

~dkm 271/365

Repeating Cycle

Last month the swing was
Covered with cherry blossoms
This month, oak pollen

Come September it
will be pine cone cores and teeth
In October, leaves

What debris I sweep
away to make a clean seat
signals the season

~dkm 270/365

Bluebird Nest Day 7

Quiet and napping

between feedings, noisy when

mom arrives with worm

~dkm 269/365

Wayback Elegance

Tall tulip poplar
Blooms and sheds without fanfare
Without audience

-dkm 268/365

Northern Maidenhair Fern

Out fanned green fingers
Adiantum Pedatum
Astounding black stems

~dkm 267/365

Bluebirds Growing Fast, Day 4

I can hear them now
Tender cries, funny creatures
Bare heads, not yet cute

~dkm 266/365

Feathers

Odd combination
Sadness, curiosity
Happy not to know

~dkm 265/365

One Lenten Rose

Five pods per flower
Ten seeds per pod. Oh my
Fifty plants per bloom

In just one year's time
Adantage Heleborus
What was I thinking?

~dkm 264/365

Oh Frabjous Day 1

No better ode to
tell the gladness of the day
new hatchlings arrive

Four wide bluebird mouths
Both parents suddenly in
and out with feeding

Lewis Carroll got
it right. At times the words we
know are not enough

-dkm 263/365

Tubers Traveling

First bearded iris
bloom of the season, dug from
Grandma K's garden

in Hesston, Kansas
by her neighbor who moved them
to Indiana

Where she gave some to
my dad, who gave some to me
who planted them in

Decatur, Georgia
I've sent some to my siblings
in three other states

~dkm 262/365

Genus Giant

Empress Wu hosta
Each spring more astonishing
in height, width, leaf size

New shoots emerging
To what measure will they grow
in this, their fourth year?

Full maturity
for this species takes 8 years
in good habitat

~dkm 261/365

Right On Time

Bluebird nest again
Corner house with copper roof
She's sitting on eggs

~dkm 260/365

Adorable in April

Gotta love a bird
With a name like yellow-rumped
Bless it's warbler heart

Streaky black and white
Flitting around in the shrubs
Splashes of yellow.

~dkm 259/365

American Goldfinch

First noticed 4/3
Mottled gray green of feathers
Slow molt to yellow

Begins the mating
season for tiny goldfinch
Later than most birds

Must wait for thistle
to make seed fluff for lining
their nests with softness

~dkm 258/365

Quartet

Holly, Japanese
red maple, loblolly pine
And lime green maple

~dkm 257/365

L to R spring leaf color

In a Few Days' Time

From bare ground to this
Perfect variegated leaves
Sweet hanging petals

~dkm 256/365

Solomon Seal