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Dec 16

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The BVI’s: Sailing With the Wind

Willie T's Bar & Grill, Norman Island, BVI

Willie T’s Bar & Grill, Norman Island, BVI
February 2012

Wishing on a rainbow’s end where colors bend ashore,

Living every childhood dream to sail the seas of lore.

There among the heavens you can count the stars as friends,

Charting course with certainty while hoping time suspends.

Rigid sails of breezes’ fuel are flying over seas,

Soaring like an eagle, flowing movements gently tease.

Sailing with the wind while cresting reckless waves before,

Churning through the white caps leaves you scurrying for more!

Laughing with relief, you boast your fear was just pretend,

Happy when at last you drift ashore at Bitter End.

Oil Nut, Baths, and Saba Rock are splendid Ports of Call;

Willie T’s beats all the rest for those who bare it all.

Smiling with remembrance of each day’s activities,

Gleeful when a game score tops the others with great ease.

Sequoyah II returns to rest at Moorings on Beef Island,

 Now six mates have bonded as they head for rocking dry land.

— Terri Lynn Cummings

(A breaks the rules poem for our dear friends.)

Dec 16

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October in the Ozarks

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When fall stokes the range

of color, a gentle light

inflames. Lofty stands

of defiance blaze against

nature’s dormant march across

Ozark’s stony face as

shimmering gold spills

across the rise and fall

of her weighty chest.

A swish and swirl of olive skirts,

with russet, ruffled petticoats,

sway to the tinkling streams

and her beating heart.

Mildew

scents the blanket of decay

on her quivering shoulders

until sleep arrives.

When at last fall falls,

winter’s icy fingers steal the scene.

— Terri Lynn Cummings

Dec 16

Fifth Year Blues: The holiday season

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November seventh stumbled over a cliff. A cruel photograph flaunted your hand in mine, your smile matching your Daddy’s smile. The house remained as silent as your laughter. Another unsung birthday. Another unlit candle.

Now, time drags its nails down a chalkboard as the shadow of Christmas looms. Snow blankets quivering shoulders. Ice breaks hearts into spikes of grief. A turkey huddles in the freezer and waits for a tasteless family dinner. Old presents, never wrapped, shiver in boxed cells of an attic prison.

Your absence blisters the heals of souls. We resent the numbing dose of time that salves the wound while we count tears. One for every blessing. Until then, I release the swell of your loss by scribbling words.

— Mommy

Dec 15

Cumbres-Toltec Railroad: Daddy’s Boy

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He sits on engineer’s lap,

small hands gripping the wheel.

Crawling, walking, running legs

of steel on double track.

He crows with barreling might,

small hands gripping the wheel.

Three toots, two toots, one toot, whoosh

and city’s out of sight.

He smiles at promenade’s grace,

small hands gripping the wheel.

Marching mountains, fluted fields

match windows with their pace.

He yawns at terminal’s door,

small hands dropping the wheel.

Nodding, twitching, blinking signs

on drowsy tempo’s score.

— Mommy

Dec 15

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Sunrise

sunrise

Peeking

from Ether’s

bed of feathered

comet tails, spun like cotton

candy into cloudy animals drawn

from starry nests in periwinkle seas that

fill Heaven, a yawning peacock fans a floral breeze

that tickles the feet of birds and crowns the globe with oranges,

plums, and berries, gems plucked from Rainbow’s prize, while Horizon

bursts into buttercups rimmed with pearls of milk filled with honeyed dew,

and earthy sweets tease the palate, a mourning feast for Nature’s cradle, as blades

of warmth pierce the heart of Shade, and wilting rays fire Axis’ revolution of days grown

tired from budding life into promising splendor, never returning to an unmarked passage,

until rest restores the way, and Grace sparks the blink of an eye.

— Terri Lynn Cummings