#CosPhoChal – Page 29 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Look to the Skies

Look up. Look down.
Reflecting water shows
The sky as all around.
Morning sunshine grows.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “look to the skies”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It’s midnight. Soon it will be Monday morning. I can’t think of a good reason (that I haven’t already reported) why I’ve been smiling this past week. Being able to calmly watch the sun rise over the pond below is a blessing that reinforces the default smile. Although the August wildflowers are past their peak in the Forest Preserve, the forest and trails are still there and sometimes I am as well.

Look up. Look Down. The sky is all around.

An Interesting Perspective

Even pigeons have a view
When looking out on me and you.

Linked to the Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “an interesting perspective”. I chose what might be called the “pigeon perspective” assuming the pigeon is walking on the ground.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. Another week went by. From some perspectives that may seem inconsequential, but the thought that we were all given the privilege to live it made me smile.

Choose Your Masks

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “choose your masks”. I interpreted this as what shows on the surface. That could be trees masking the morning sun or flowers masking the fertile ground.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. The corona virus hasn’t got me yet and so I’m still smiling. Besides that, one of my poems, “Stronger”, appeared in The Lyric and a copy arrived a few days ago. This week I’ll be reading the other poems in the issue and hopefully come up with something else to submit.

Masking the Forest Floor with Yellow and Green

A Splash of Color

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “a splash of color”. Here are a couple of photos of flowers splashing color on the green and darkness below.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. What made me smile this past week was that a short poem I wrote long ago was reprinted in Potcake Chapbook 7.

A Splash of Color Mostly Green and Pink and Deeper Red

Collage

The ocean water's not all blue.
The prairie's not all green.
What's in between is what I've seen
And what I trust is true.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “collages”.

Also liked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. The phlox and tiger lilies were at their peak in Vince’s yard so we celebrated the day by watching the butterflies, bees and whatever came by to enjoy his yard which brought smiles.

Surrealism

Cloudy contrast floating past
Even what’s so wild won’t last.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “surrealism”. The white funnel-shaped cloud was from a jet that passed by some time ago. The dark cloud held the coming rain. Together their contrast seemed to me surreal.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. Finding out that the mystery bug was a hawk moth or a hummingbird moth put a smile on my face. Also I was amazed at the quantity of wildflowers in the forest preserve yesterday when walking one of the trails.

Abstract

Fancy bugs who flutter there
Are not out flying blind.
While abstract colors fill the field
There’s nectar that live flowers yield
So those who seek may find.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “abstract”. The top photo reminds me of the random splattering of color like on some works of abstract art and whatever that is in the bottom photo it fits my abstract idea of “bug”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. A friend of mine, Vince, has a backyard with flowers. We noticed there an unidentified flying object whose wings fluttered rapidly like a hummingbird but who looked like a bug sipping nectar along with the bumblebees. We tried to find it in a field guide to insects but the most we could conclude was that we were glad we didn’t run into some of the other stuff that was illustrated in that guide. Finally, giving up, we decided to call this unknown bug “Vince’s Bug”, or Bugus Vincentus to use my best pig Latin, and we welcomed it home.

The Rough With the Smooth

Rough around the edges,
Smoother where it shows -
Plants know well how rough we get.
Make room. Watch out. They'll grow.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “the rough with the smooth”.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. The weeks go by and I have the same things to smile about – pleasant social relationships (although modified by social distancing) and we are able to take walks. I have been to the forest preserve multiple times.

Our Feathered Friends

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “our feathered friends”. The birds above are evident, and noisy. You might miss the ones below. They are nearly in the center, wading, who knows why, across the lagoon.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It has been a beautiful week in Northbrook, Illinois. I was able to walk about Somme Woods and Skokie Lagoons Forest Preserves, enough to put a smile on my face.

A Wet Weekend

Today, I’m glad and feeling fine.
My thoughts are cloud-free clear.
Tomorrow rain may soak my roots
Nourishing those fresh young shoots
While I am standing here.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “a wet weekend”. My weekend was more like the photo below than the one above, but they both have water in them.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I have been taking this past week morning walks starting around 5:15 AM to watch the sun rise in Techny Park (Northbrook, Illinois). Watching it rise through the trees and then being reflected on the pond has made me smile.