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Mini Poems--most of these are just for fun!
- Refreshing, Colorcopia!, No, not the Mona Lisa....
- Walking just to Walk, Mosquito Chow
- Fall Wildflowers, State Park Path
- The Pen is Mightier, Assumptions
- Poet Fears, The Writer's Craft
- Inflation or just Middle Age?, White Barn Dove
- Not Global Warming--just "Defrosting Time"
- Cicada Song, Perspective
- If Poems were Stocks...., A Pox on Maxims
- Crest or Colgate, Snake Double-Take
- Murphy's Law, Acceptance Speech
- Water Vapor Mountains, A Weed by any Other Name...
- Soul in a Sieve, Blood-Thirsty Mosquito Guest
Refreshing
A glass of ice cold lemonade
on a hot summer's day;
A hot shower after a day of
sweat and grime and toil;
A smile given to one of the
Invisible ones;
A word of encouragement
to a weary pilgrim;
The shadow of a great tree
in a sunny meadow.....
lori fiechter
9-5-98
Colorcopia!
I'm thankful that
the world isn't gray;
Even green itself
comes in a myriad of shades;
and there's the red of the
cardinal,
the blue of the jay...
(think how much God's box
of Crayolas® must weigh!)
lori fiechter
9-5-98
No, not the Mona Lisa....
The painting
marred by age
and by countless coats of varnish:
somewhat sallow,
somewhat faded.
Yet enough remains...
We can imagine how
it must have looked
fresh from the Master's palette
when the canvas
was brand new
And we wait and groan--
for there will be a
restoration:
a refreshed, renewed Creation.
(Acts 3:21, Romans 8:18-25)
lori fiechter
9-5-98
A journey without destination;
Just chalking up the miles
and checking our time
with our Nikes® and Walkmans®
and sport water bottles
determinedly walking to
nowhere--
then reversing direction
to walk back again.
I wonder, would our
ancestors think us quite odd--
giant hamsters seeing how fast
our treadmills will spin?
Lori fiechter, 9-5-98
Mosquito Chow
Keep on moving
or they'll bite you;
How they love a stagnant pool!
He who hesitates
in these woods
soon becomes mosquito fuel!
Lori fiechter, 9-5-98
Fall Wildflowers
Thousands blooming
in the springtime:
a tapestry of color.
But in autumn,
an oasis:
here a yellow,
there a purple--
bravely standing quite alone.
My heart observes and
is encouraged--
that I too might bloom
in autumn
'til I'm covered by the snow.
Lori fiechter, 9-5-98
State Park Path
crunching gravel like crackers
beneath my rubber soles
then--the muffled padding along
on a carpet of pine needles
(as on moccasined cat paws)
a crisp ruffling of fallen leaves
the unexpected sharp crack
of a dried twig and then--
back to crunchy gravel again.
L.f. , 9-5-98
The Pen is Mightier
The power of the written word:
to heal or to hurt
to comfort or to cut.
Long after the ink has dried
and the page has yellowed
the words live on,
giving permanence to
thoughts
and ideas
and emotions.
Words captured and mounted
like butterflies or wasps
in an insect collection
who cannot fly away
or ever change.
The beauty lives on
and so does the sting....
lori fiechter, 9-5-98
Assumptions
Assumptions are bugs
with great gaping mouths
and half a leg that can leap
to incredible lengths.
They build towering castles
of the flimsiest whispers;
They construct a
whole landscape
from one blade of grass.
They are pests wreaking havoc;
they live long and die hard.
(stamp them out--give someone
the benefit of the doubt today!)
lori fiechter, 9-5-98
Poet Fears
Never another original thought;
Every fresh insight turned pale.
A perpetual porridge of
lukewarm leftovers:
mediocre, and tasteless, and stale.
Lori fiechter, 9-4-98
The Writer's Craft
turning phrases like:
mattresses,
corners, and pages
or even like
meat on the grill;
like heads or like tails
but please--
not like stomachs!
(I hope my poems
don't make you ill!)
lori fiechter, 9-5-98
Inflation or just Middle
Age?
$50 in my billfold
walking through an
endless mall;
Like the Frog Prince
in the palace:
feeling out of place and small.
But I remember 50¢--
Was it so long ago?--
Jangling brightly in my pocket;
I was Croesus, then, you know...
lori fiechter,9-5-98
White Barn Dove
A solitary snowy dove
perched on the
white barn's roof;
Her companions--
slate gray pigeons--
flown away.
She performs a
clumsy pirouette
then sits and stares
and watches:
A silent sentry
standing guard;
Why did she choose to stay?
Lori fiechter,9-5-98
Not Global Warming--just "Defrosting Time"
The freezer is bursting
with peaches and limas
and quart jars of
pink applesauce;
With pear jam and sweet corn,
A quarter of beef
(and at least a
half bushel of frost!)
So--out go the vegetables,
pork chops, and fruit
And in go the hot water pans.
The icebergs break off
and cascade from the shelf;
Then--
we put all that food back again!
lori fiechter,9-2-98
Cicada's singing
Summer's song:
Incessant, noisy
reveille.
They sing a song called,
"Summer's Gone!"
from every
silver maple tree
(for which I have
no repartee.)
They are six-legged
Post-It notes
who simply must
remind me.
(when summer's gone,
they also leave--
that comforts me
tremendously!)
lori fiechter,8-31-98
You see a tomb;
I see a cocoon:
Not a bed full of bones
marked with large granite stones
But an empty glove waiting
for a hand, glorified.
Not another caterpillar--
But a new butterfly!
l.f. 8-31-98
(this happened to me after
Wednesday night mid-week services:)
Parking
Lot Lost
For once, I'd noted
where I'd parked;
But the lot looked
different after dark.
I couldn't find
our purple car
Though I'd looked near
and I'd looked far.
Then, as I'd wandered,
keys in hand,
(my mind a blank,
without a plan)
It dawned on me--
I drove the VAN!
Lori fiechter,8-28-98
"Marvelous poems" have gone
porkbelly-up;
The peak had been reached and is waning.
The forecast is bearish at this point in time
And the worst is--
No one is complaining!
l.f. 8-28-98
"A watched pot never boils"
And so I turned my back.
The kettle boiled over
Turning pot and stove coal black.
(I no longer read as gospel truth
Poor Richard's Almanac!)
l.f. 8-28-98
Crest or Colgate
I'm thankful for toothpaste today;
It wakes up my mouth in a
breath-tingling way:
From birdcage-bottom breath
to a minty bouquet--
Yes, I'm thankful for toothpaste today!
(If only it'd keep the
orthodontist at bay....)
l.f. 8-29-98
This narrow fellow in our grass
(head raised, all poised to strike)
caused mortal fear until I spied
he was all bark, no bite
(an elm or willow type...)
lori fiechter
8-25-98
Murphy's Law
It never rains except it pours;
He never sleeps except he snores;
And when the phone rings
at suppertime--
Ah, yes: solicitors!
lori fiechter
8-25-98
Acceptance Speech
He thanked his friends,
his dog, his mom:
A litany replete.
And now I know
Why there is no such thing
As "long and sweet"!
lori fiechter
8-25-98
Water Vapor
Mountains
They look like
snow-capped mountain peaks
But then they disappear
for weeks.
These purple mountain majesties
are evanescent entities.
The only peaks I'll ever spy
In this blue Indiana sky
are clouds--|
(but I can dream, can't I?)
lori fiechter
8-25-98
Queen Anne's Lace sounds so romantic;
"Daucus carota" quite pedantic.
"Wild Carrot" by translation,
(Not finicky about location.)
Whatever name you may bestow it
I call it "weed" and say,
"Just mow it!"
l.f. ,8-26-98
Soul in a Sieve
Too many holes in my
Battle-scarred soul:
My soul is a sieve
With hope draining like whey!
But, Oh, that the cheese
which remains in the sieve
Will be Cheddar and
Not Camembert!
(or was it "Roquefort" I intended to say?)
lori fiechter,8-20-98
Blood-Thirsty
Mosquito Guest
A blood-thirsty mosquito guest's
Come to our house to stay;
to bite our legs and faces up
Without a "s'il vous plais"!
And when the lights are all turned out
you'll hear her "buzz" away.
And that mosquito's gonna get you
If you
forget
to spray!
Lori fiechter,8-20-98
