Vox Populi
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Barbara Crooker: Happiness
She loves West Tenth Street on an
ordinary summer morning. (Michael
Cunningham, The Hours)
.
And I love this ordinary summer afternoon,
sitting under my cherry tree full of overripe fruit,
too much for us to pick, an abbondanza of a tree,
I love this dark grey catbird singing its awkward song,
and the charcoal clouds promising rain they don’t deliver.
I love the poem I’ve been trying to write for months,
but can’t; I love the way it’s going nowhere at all.
I love the dried grass that crackles when you walk on it,
leached of color, its own kind of fire.
Way off in the hedgerow, the musical olio of dozens of birds,
each singing its own song, each beating its own measure.
This is all there is: the red cherries, the green leaves,
sky like a pale silk dress, and the rise and fall
of the sweet breeze. Sometimes, just what you have
manages to be enough.
Copyright 2005 Barbara Crooker. From Radiance (Word Press, 2005)
Barbara Crooker’s many books include Some Glad Morning (Pitt, 2019). She lives in Pennsylvania.
Source: Gardener’s Path
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Yes. For me watching the birds out the window with my pup.
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Thanks!
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Beautiful.
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Thanks!
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A gorgeous reminder of ‘nothing’ days to enjoy whenever we can fill them with the beauty of all that life offers us. We just have to smell, see, touch, feel it.
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Well-said, Rose Mary.
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Thanks!
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What a line, this one: I love the dried grass that crackles when you walk on it,
leached of color, its own kind of fire. — What a peaceful poem of such delightfully described happiness. Those moments are so blessed!
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Oh, yes, I love Barbara’s poems. She sees the magic in the commonplace.
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Thank you!
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To be grateful for what is right here, yes ❤️ What a lovely poem on this summer morning.
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Yes. Gratitude is the foundation of happiness.
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Thank you!
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Thank you for posting a Barbara Crooker poem. She is one of my all time favorites.
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Mine too, Laura!
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Thank you!
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Oh Yeah!
What a perfect moment, poem to start the big week.
Perfect!
Thankyou.
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Thank YOU, Sean!
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