water – Colleen Keller Breuning

Strawberry Moon

Strawberry Moon

It is time to float on the waters of the night
to exhale the troubles of the day
balancing the wish to be lost
with the aching need to be found.

Immerse yourself in the burgeoning skies
revel in the raspberry sherbet sunset
and cast your eyes toward the east
where the strawberry moon beckons.

Rising low on the summer horizon
the moon casts its ambient pink glow
gently morphing and reflecting
in the undulating ripples of the lake.

Lazy clouds drift by in the cool breeze
encircling and embracing its radiance
casting shadows on the craggy surface
painting figments of the imagination.

Tell me your secrets, oh strawberry moon
rising high amidst the blanket of stars
fill me with your omniscient wisdom
and strength, to the depths of my tired bones.

Oh prophet of June, beacon in the sky
gliding home gracefully on your lunar path
tuck me in to sleep with tranquil dreams
until the morrow dawns with hope.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2023
June 3, 2023

Happy Saturday! This week I had two inspirations for my poem. First, looking through Billy Collins lines steered me – after all, he is one of my favorite poets and authors. I have quite a few of his poetry books and have always been inspired by his imagery and observations on life! And once again the moon proved to be a dependable muse.

It all happened by accident last night, when I was dressed in my workout clothes about to head down to the basement for a Bodi workout. I was wondering where Dan was, and I saw him out on the back deck. As I was walking out to talk to him, I saw it. The beautiful rising Strawberry Moon, tucked away behind the trees in the conservancy woods behind our yard. As if by pure reflex, I ran to grab my Nikon camera and iPhone and told Dan excitedly to look behind him at the moon.

To get a better view of the moon, I walked up the path on our ridge and then down to the lake so I could clearly view it on the Eastern horizon. The sun had already set, casting pink and blue swaths of light in the West behind me. Ahead of me it was getting dark, and the path was surrounded by a canopy of trees. As I made my way down to the water’s edge, the moon almost took my breath away. I began snapping away, undeterred by the mosquitos in the night air.

Dan followed me down, and we watched for about 30 minutes as the clouds drifted by, creating amazing images as it passed and encircled the moon. I caught some really cool images on my iPhone in which the clouds seemed to appear as a dog or demon to the right side of the moon! I haven’t gotten around to posting any of these on Instagram or Facebook, but the photos posted here are from my Nikon camera which I uploaded this morning. I was amazed at the detail of some of the images, which I shot WITHOUT a tripod.

This all serves as further inspiration for me to get out my camera more frequently. God works in mysterious ways, and I’m grateful the beauty of nature sidetracked me last night. It forced me to slow down and follow the moon with my camera. Work and life in general have kept me from this lifelong hobby, and now I can’t wait to get back to it. Nature photography is my passion, and lately I have just admired others’ work lately while neglecting my own. There doesn’t seem to be enough time in a day, but now I realize I must make time!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend filled with peace, rest or doing what you love the most!

xoxo Colleen

Mood: Relaxed
Inspiration: “Sail to the Moon” by Radiohead

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 48.14 – History Repeats
Hard Bonus: Quote or use a line by poet Billy Collins (“It is time to float on the waters of the night” & “balancing the wish to be lost with the need to be found”)
Easy Bonus: Mention your favorite author – Billy Collins, of course!

The Gardener

Blogophilia 48.3 Topic: “Spring Fever”

Bonus Points:

(Hard, 2 pts): incorporate 2 electric wood working tools
(Easy, 1 pt) : mention a cracked pot

The Gardener

Every March saw him grow restless,
he felt the rush of spring fever
coursing through his ambitious veins,
evidenced by dog-eared Burpee catalogs
and tattered gardener’s books
stacked beside the painted pantry.
Strong arthritic fingers dug
into coarse, pungent loam,
pushing tiny seeds deep down,
in a blanket of black compost,
sprinkled with water and love.

In his modest backyard garden
lilac bushes perfumed the air,
purple morning-glory caressed
the varnished wooden arbor,
tangerine daylilys waved from beds
beside rows of violet snapdragons,
standing tall, on guard like soldiers.
Robust bell peppers pushed forth
in brilliant hues of green and scarlet,
savory sun ripened tomato vines
crawled high up wooden stakes
like rogue bladerunners
reaching for the cloudless sky.

But in a cruel twist of fate,
the heartless hands of winter
took the tired gardener
during the bleakest blizzard.
Spring dawned with April rain,
but the tiny garden fell
into inevitable disrepair —
cracked pots of terra-cotta
speckled with mud lay
beneath the weathered arbor,
weeds sprouted up, choking
the life out of the seedlings,
leaving once fertile beds
dry and barren.

The latch of the shed has rusted,
but the aluminum door gives way
to tools of his precious trade.
I feel a surge in my restless veins
as I grab the blue tined rake
and work the dirt, sweating,
sifting out stones, dead roots,
and clumps of dried weeds.
My nimble thin fingers
enrich the beds with loam,
dig trenches to scatter seeds,
rubber boots tamping down soil,
embellishing with cool water
as my heart fills with hope
that life and love will bloom again…

I can almost smell the lilacs.

Note to Marvin: My tools are the saw and the bladerunner. The Rockwell BladeRunner RK7320 Cutting Machine is a combination of a jigsaw, scroll saw and band saw, all in one variable speed machine. Versatile machine cuts wood, metal, PVC, ceramic tile and more. Hmmm…. put that on my birthday list, hehe….

SECRET BONUS POINT GUESSES

Taking out the trash, Louis Vuitton bag, rags to riches, bags to riches, fit for a king, designer garbage bag, rich man’s bag, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure (or woman’s treasure), recycling in style, cats got the bag, my front porch, rubbish, no dumping allowed.