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- Garden Post-harvest, Tree Change
- Walking Barefoot, Feast or Scraps?
- Of Frogs and Poems, Screen Flies
- Harvest Haircuts, I'd be happy if...
- I Have an Invisible Splinter
- Age is a State of....., Soul Drought
- Inspiration, What? This isn't the 50-yard Dash?
- See a Stone, Hollow
- Soybeans in September, Soybeans 2
- Ripe Corn,Dining from the Dumpster
- Mirror Images, Sunshine and Shadows
- Tree Analogy, Squirrel-like
The summer is ended, the harvest is past.
The garden's the place where
we now burn the trash.
See the charred heap of cornstalks
where there once were stately rows;
See the bloated yellow cucumbers
(can you say "decompose"?)
The drooping, frail tomato vine
has no strength to lift its head
But the peppers still are yielding
jewels of purple, gold, and red.
The bugs are feasting on the limas;
(They've been given up for lost)
It's all over but the shouting;
We're just waiting for a frost!
Lori fiechter
9-25-98
They left their legacy of life
in seeds and pods.
Now only this remains:
To die in glory,
color unmasked--
To die in brilliant shrouds of
copper, scarlet, and burnished gold.
And then...
unmasked again.
Brown crusty robes fall
from their bony shoulders
to encircle their broad ankles.
The skeletons stand,
shivering beneath the
cold November skies
waiting for a downy
jacket of snow
to cover their spindly arms.
lori fiechter
9-26-98
My feet can breathe!
My toes are free!
I'm walking barefoot
in the house.
...I'm wearing hip-length
wading boots--
I heard a scritching,
scratching mouse!
Lori fiechter
10-5-98
Feast
or Scraps?
Picking at the turkey carcass:
searching for greasy scraps
of meat that remain on the nearly clean bones.
A full meal is nearby--freely offered.
But I earned the carcass;
I refuse the free gift.
I don't even realize how hungry I am;
for my cupboard is full of appetite depressants.
Lori Fiechter, 12-2-98
Dissecting is the easy part:
cut and poke and prod;
examine and separate.
But can you put it
back together again?
Do you know what
gives it life?
Allow for the intangibles:
parts alone don't make the whole...
lori fiechter, 9-22-98
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I set them free--
They would not go;
Their prison cell was warm.
Though trapped between
the pane and screen,
They did not seem alarmed.
The window's open now
Yet they are deaf
to freedom's call;
They have the chance
to fly away
and yet prefer to crawl...
lori fiechter, 9-25-98
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harvest Haircuts
All of the fields are getting haircuts;
Giant razors cut their hair.
There is stubble
where their beards grew
And their heads are
bald and bare.
We've been surrounded
all the summer
by cornstalks eight feet tall
(isolated from our neighbors;
we cannot be seen at all!)
But I anticipate with eagerness
a fresh, clean-shaven view
For I checked the calendar
and the barber's almost due!
Lori fiechter
9-25-98
~~~~~~~~
I'd be happy if...
I'd be happy "if";
I'll be happy "when":
my bank account is stouter
and my body is more lean
birthdays do not come so often
and my kids' room is pristine.
I'd be happy "if"
I'll be happy "when"--
Just wait, I haven't finished--
I'll be content at last when
all my expectations
have diminished!
Lori fiechter
9-25-98
I Have an Invisible
Splinter
I have an invisible splinter
That causes a tangible pain.
Although I can't see it exactly,
The discomfort is only too plain.
I am armed with my sterilized needle,
and tweezers (with "pin point precision"),
a 100 watt lamp, and a 4 power lens,
I am ready to perform the excision.
(ouch!)
...It is still an invisible splinter
Though I doused it with pure iodine.
I can't see where to poke,
or to pull, or to dig.
I won't try any more;
I'll just wait until it's sore.
Guess I'll just have to forfeit this time.
I wrapped my invisible splinter
in a bandage of bright neon blue.
I don't want to look
at the mess that I made
of my finger
(and neither would you!)
lori fiechter, 11-13-98
Age is a State of.....
The last swig of PepsiŽ
in an old 2-liter bottle;
The last too-ripe tomato
on the vine;
The last crumbs of
potato chips
in the bottom of the bag;
(Are you telling me
I too am past my prime?)
lori fiechter, 9-22-98
Soul
Drought
I wait for You
as for the rain;
My faith and hope
are parched and dry,
My joy baked hard like clay.
Lord, bathe me in
Your living water
to soften and refresh me;
Take the unwelcome drought away.
(and make this wasteland bloom
again, I pray!)
lori fiechter, 9-22-98
Inspiration
It was profound-
I'm sure of it!
It flitted briefly
past my thoughts
(I felt the moth wing's breeze)
and then it was gone.
I sit and wait for
its return--no use!
I try to re-enact my thoughts
which led up to that moment.
All futility.
It's gone!
And so I get back to work,
ignoring that nagging,
invisible thought fragment
of inspiration.
It will return--
I'm sure of it!
And I will have
my net ready....
lori fiechter, 9-19-98
What? This isn't the 50-yard Dash?
The finish line was a mirage;
I've not arrived--not yet.
The race was much, much longer
than I thought to expect.
I sprinted and I'm spent;
I peaked far, far too soon.
I'd signed up for a marathon
and never even knew...
lori fiechter, 9-21-98
See a Stone
("Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone...." Isaiah 28: 16)
See a large, unusual stone
in the middle of the path:
Most stumble over it
or walk around it
(never giving it a second glance)
But the artist sketches it;
The poet writes an ode to it;
The philosopher asks,
"Why is it there?"
The geologist studies its
composition;
The engineer finds a way to move it--
now it sits in his yard
and the children play on it:
See a stone....
lori fiechter
9-22-98
Hollow
Pick up this dried gourd
and shake it, hard.
Hear the seeds rattle?
Does that sound like
your soul?
--Feed it God!
John 6:51-58
Soybeans in September
I watched them turn from
leafy green to yellow;
now the slender stalks
are bare--wearing nothing but
tiny pairs of elfin breeches:
fuzzy, brittle, reddish brown;
held on by invisible clothespins...
just hanging out to dry
until the laundress comes
to put them in her basket
and carry them away...
lori fiechter, 9-16-98
Soybeans 2
long and lanky nut brown dancers
"do-si-do"ing, stepping high
bowing quaintly to their partners;
swaying, swinging, swirling by.
then--someone turned the music off
and froze them all in time.
Until the wind picks up again;
then one last dance before--
Combine.
lori fiechter, 9-16-98
Ripe Corn
The drought made them old
before their time
once green and supple,
strong and tall
now brittle brown
(it's not even fall)
wizened and withered
ears dropping low
the wind shakes them and whispers:
"it's time now to go"
They bow their proud heads,
Their tall backs are severed;
But their seed is preserved
and continues...forever.
lori fiechter
9-9-98
smelly brown banana peels,
half a soggy bun,
cold and greasy french fry stumps,
three pancakes, overdone.
ketchup-drizzled lukewarm shakes--
come join me--won't you dine?
don't act appalled-
I know you eat worse garbage
with your mind.
l.f. 9-16-98
ordinary, nondescript:
this face won't launch
one single ship
and yet it has,
apparently,
a marked familiarity.
(for I'm mistaken
constantly
for others who must
resemble me!)
I'd like to meet those
twins I've got
and size them up
(ah... maybe not.)
lori fiechter
9-16-98
Sunshine and
Shadows
Sometimes warm sunshine
Sometimes cool shadows
He gives us
whatever we need
when we need it
(though oft in our humanness,
we simply can't see it)
lori fiechter
9-5-98
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tree Analogy
Just a shell from off
a hickory tree;
that's all that will be
left of me.
When you look in my coffin,
a shell's what you'll see
(ah, but the nut is gone!)
lori fiechter
9-5-98
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Squirrel-like
Are you hoarding
precious seeds,
building store barns
ever larger
sterile, dry,
(no chance of sprouting)
alive, but never
giving new life?
Squirrels are hoarders
(so are chipmunks)
We are sowers.
Lori fiechter
9-5-98