Spring Blue

In the heart of the nation
no ocean
so I carve time to indulge
in the widest blue I know:

bluebells blooming
in the woods,
only for a short time
since branches above

show tiny yellow-green
petals-of-leaves
which in this overdue
warmth will enlarge quickly

masking sunlight feeding
this sea of blue,
stealing my ocean,
leaving me once again

on dry land. 

      May, 2018, Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL

Spring Blue is May prize winner at Wilda Morris Poetry Challenge; photograph by Marilyn Peretti.

 

October 25 in Morton Arboretum East Woods

 

October’s Colors

Yellow and green
and orange buttons
and more green
in paddles of fungi

red of sumac
and red of maple
and red in my heart
burning with autumn

look at the colors
flying like flags
blazing a sky
before ice grays it

 

Green “paddle” fungi

Little white umbrella!

Tiny (3/8″) orange buttons with sister moss

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flowers made of air
petals dense in color

colors beyond palettes
sky bluer than ever

blue I can breathe
spring surging

beyond expectations
fulfilling hopes seeded

in coldest times

Morton Arboretum April 23

could this be spring
the blue too blue

tiny greens
alight with yellow

barely peeping from
high ink limbs

all fresh and full
of hope

Morton Arboretum April 23