with a pantoum....
A Gray Stillness Founda spell of gray morningwarmer after the cold frontdesires stirred by a silent callingwaiting for springwarmer after the cold fronta day of passage I findwaiting for springa dream longing for the suna day of passage I findthe journey of shadowsa dream longing for the sunmelting into heartfelt desiresthe journey of shadowsalong the road where I live and diemelting into heartfelt desiresas this winter unwindsalong the road where I live and diesilent conversations with untold spiritsas this winter unwindsa calling of timesilent conversations with untold spiritsthe silent songa calling of timein a moment, an eternity of desires
The next poem is not a pantoum. Instead, it evokes winter in a Midwestern park.
A Winter Day
at the Prairie Preserve
Golden
prairie grasses standing still
surround a
frozen pond at the edge of town.
Misty skies
of a winter day cast a spell
cutting
through my thin gloves,
and I feel a
chill run through me.
I feel the
weight of a change of weather
after a brief
thaw in January.
Stillness in
the air speaks of life and death
on an
ageless land where I hold my sign.
Distant
headlights cut through the haze
as omens
when I look down the road.
People in
passing cars wave
as if
long-lost friends,
the women
and children
the golden
retriever sticking his head
out an open
window,
and I feel a
sense of longing
for a life I
once had.
In solitude
I hold secret conversations
with spirits
in the air.
Gaggles of
squawking geese
hold
conversations echoing around me.
Entwined formations
swirl
creating a
cloud in the sky
until they
land on the frozen pond and stay.
A woman with
a red coat in the haze
walks alone
on a path next to the pond
and over a
patch of ice,
arms
slightly outstretched to her side
like wings
of a bird.
Bio
Mike Bayles, a lifelong Midwest resident, writes poetry about human connections with nature and rural settings, and connections with each other. He is the author of three books of poetry: The Harbor I Seek, The Rabbit House and Threshold. Threshold won the 2013 Book of the Year Award from Rockford Writers' Guild. WVIK, Augustana Public Radio, has featured his writing.
Thank you, Mary Jo, for introducing Mike to me, and thank you, Angelee, for letting us know about the poetry challenge where we met.
Let's finish with a little music.
We'll start with the Mulgrew Miller Trio's version of "Skylark," performed at the Kennedy Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IduqNOye7x4
Here they play "What a Difference a Day Makes." It's not necessarily a song about the transition from winter to spring, but it will do!
I'm switching gears a little bit, but I read about harpist Brandee Younger the other day, and I wanted to post some of her music.
Here she and her trio play "Games," a song that Dorothy Ashby included in her remarkable album Soul Harping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ZgcfZC5y0
Younger also composes her own work. Here is her "Respected Destroyer": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuBYVDtVfOU
