Timothy Spearman shoots & writes

Blanket of Snow

Blankets of snow cover branches

Trees nestled in a bed of snow

Bushes like pillows on snow mattress

Sleeping Beauty beds down on snowy down feathers

Branches dip in to pond

testing the waters

like a toe testing the bathwater

Is the water warmer than the air?

Empty bridge between shores

Unity that cannot be merged

No one to cross the bridge

Why is it there?

Is it for lost souls

who might wish to cross?

Is this stagnant pond in limbo?

Or is it the fast-flowing River Styx?

Where is the boatman?

Where is the boat?

Where is the corpse of the deceased?

So much water under the bridge

in a life that has seen so much

Persephone in the underworld

Hades keeping her prisoner

Will she be back in time for spring?

Will the groundhog see her shadow?

Hibernating trees under blankets of snow

Sleeping Beauties under blankets of eiderdown

Cabin fever and February blues

Spring fever and April rains

Do you not long for spring?

May tree limbs poke their limbs out

from beneath blankets of snow

May trees stretch and yawn

and drag themselves out of the bed of snow

"Hey you!

up and at em

rise and shine

don't be a sleepy head

come out of hibernation

don't sleep your life away,"

says the groundhog to the Sleeping Beauties.

       A Poeture Speaks a Thousand Words

Carloluigi Colombo paints

Robot in Search of Lost Time

Marcel Proust

James Babbs writes

Leaving the Bookstore

I see the heavy-set man

holding the cardboard sign

will work for food & gas

the bookstore didn’t have

the book I wanted

even though

according to the internet

it was released three days ago

this was the second time

I tried to get the book

the first time I tried getting it

I had the publication date wrong

on my way home I decide to stop

and get a pepperoni pizza

pepperoni is my favorite

but bacon on pizza tastes good too

it’s another Saturday night

and everything looks the same

I think about getting drunk

but I don’t have any booze

I guess

since the bookstore didn’t have

the book I wanted

I’ll go ahead and order it online

like I should’ve done in the first place

 Rosace -- Jan Reymond

David Allen writes

DOOMED TO DOMES

I wonder

how life

will be

when we’re

all living

under the domes;

safe inside,

away from

the ecological

disaster scientists

warned us about

and the politicians

ignored.

 Metropolis KL 2210 -- skian-winterfyre

Pramila Khadun writes

The kiss

A poet worth his mettle

Boiling water in his cute kettle

Told me that kisses will eternally

Remain unsurpassed in beauty.

He kissed me and I was seventeen.

It was my first taste of love’s elixir,

A perfect osmosis without cosmetics,

With charms invariable

And desires unforgettable.

Ethereal and surreal,

It was the zenith of a wish

That left me spellbound

While the thunderstorm obliterated the town.

The kiss had the taste of nectar unblemished,

Making my interior self with light replenished.

Again he kissed me and this time

It had the peachy taste of sweet peach Melba.

Voluntarily or involuntarily absolutely sobered,

It invoked the vision of love making

While lightning flashed across the window panes

Taking us both in its strides.

In reverie and camaraderie

I asked the poet, ‘Is it the beginning of a lifetime love?’

In a hushed whisper , he replied,

‘The lifetime love is in the now.’

I smiled while the rain drizzled

And the scent of geranium and oregano

Rose joyously in the air.

The sun shone through rain

Making a radiant rainbow

And love shone in between our lips

With exuberant ecstasy

While the unbridled passions

Slowly empowered our frail bodies.

The Kiss -- Man Ray