When one's been buffeted by fickle waves And left so weak it's difficult to stand, Those tentative first steps will be what saves You from the blandishments of solid land. For while it may seem safest to avert Future ordeals by lingering on shore, Contentment may be found by the inert, But joy is found … Continue reading September 10: Sea Legs

It is an unaccountable relief To realize your feelings of ennui, Which you had first attributed to grief, Comes from a cause more elementary. Death anniversaries must needs recur, But while they may engender melancholy, With passing time they cause less of a stir, So blaming them for fretfulness is folly. To pinpoint the determinant … Continue reading September 2: Periodicity

Though Ogden Nash called you a homely beast And intimated you're preposterous I do not find you either in the least, You perfect, ponderous, single-horned rhinocerous. So fond of praise and petting you endure With your prehensile upper lip, high fives By which sweet turnip slices you procure, Though they are not essential to survive. … Continue reading August 30: Two-Ton Golden Retriever

The beauty of a star is best admired Through distillation of the atmosphere, So purest light may grateful eyes inspire When it in darkened firmament appears. Though from a distance it may seem perfection A star might crush you with its gravity, Starve you in shadow with its pale reflection, Or burn you with its … Continue reading August 29: Something Like a Star

Magnolia, crowned with pearly blossoms stands, With silvered boughs aloft in shapely poses, Enameled leaves like shining emerald hands, Luminous flowers' scent delights all noses- A striking scion of an ancient race, Whose forebears predate bees for pollination, Arboreal epitome of grace, And source of taxonomic irritation. But when leaves brown and fall upon the … Continue reading August 6: Fancy Plants

A summer in the midst of coastal scrub Is not a normal time or place for rain, As evidenced by copiousness of shrubs: That's all our meager rainfall can sustain. And so an August beach bonfire would seem To be a suitable, in-season thing, So much so that no-one would ever dream That climate might … Continue reading August 2: Inclemency

A poet sees the flower as a sign Of transience, and beauty that will fade. But to a plant, a blossom's fair design Ensures its pollinators will be staid. And pollinators, heedless of the part They play in reproduction, blindly seek To take their tithe of sweetness and depart; No poetry the process would bespeak, … Continue reading July 2: A Tale of Honey