Another Poetry Theme of the Month poem

Hi everyone,
Setting up for trombone
I may not be much of a cook but I can spot the evidence of food when I see it.

Leftovers
David L. Harrison

Toothpickless,
working madly,
tongue cork-
screwing badly,
slobbering lips,
sucking noise,
mothers sternly
warning boys,
head flung back,
jaws ajar,
glazed eyes
gaze afar,
people stop
mid-chew, staring,
wheezing, gurgling,
nostrils flaring,
meaty hand
inside his mouth,
every appe-
tite goes south,
we know it’s coming
without fail –
admiring it on
his fingernail.

David

Close your eyes

Hi everyone,

If you haven’t done this lately, close your eyes and listen to the world around you. I have a dear friend who is blind. He recognizes my voice even if we haven’t talked for a while. Not only that he recognizes the voices of everyone else he knows. He’s incredible. Sometimes I look at a face and wonder who it is even though I know perfectly well that I know that person. Yet my sightless friend greets people immediately wherever he meets them. I’m always in awe.

Today we got three inches of rain in about an hour. This evening I sat on my patio. It was pleasant there in spite of feeling moisture from my chair soaking through my pants. Oh well. I closed my eyes to hear better. This is what I heard.

Water rushing over the spillway from the neighboring lake into ours.
A robin singing loudly. Really loudly.
A crow somewhere off in the distance. Why hadn’t I heard it before?
Something else — a tree frog? — singing in a soprano voice. I would never have heard it with my eyes open.

I might have heard more but I rushed in here to tell you about it. Listening, really listening, is not only the world of the blind. It’s also the world of the poet, the musician, the composer, the singer. I am not in the least surprised that my sightless friend is a wonderful musician and singer. Or that so many of our most talented and creative people through the ages have relied on other senses, including what they hear, to communicate their feelings to the world.

I’m grateful that I can open my eyes and see again, but the act of closing them and listening . . . well that’s a powerful connection between my brain and the world around me.

David on rock 1
David

Book signing tomorrow

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow (Saturday) I’ll be at the Springfield Barnes & Noble at 11:00 to do a storytime and sign my new picture book, A PERFECT HOME FOR A FAMILY.
A Perfect Home for a Family
If you are in the neighborhood, I hope you’ll drop in to say hello. It will be even better if you bring someone to hear me read the story. It’s about a raccoon couple searching for just the right home in which to raise their expected twins. I’d say the age range for this one is preschool through grade 3 or so.

Hope to see some of you there.

David

What a butterfly sees

Hi everyone,

Two pictures of the same rose: 1st, what a human sees.
Pink rose
2nd, how it must look to a butterfly. I don’t know if a butterfly sees in color but there’s no denying the lush tapestry of this creation.

Pink rose, close up

Where have all the foodies gone?

Hi everyone,

This month’s Poetry Theme is food. Remember? And you can post your food related poem in the comment section of the June 8 post. Just scroll down from here to June 8, click in that little white balloon, scroll to the bottom of the comments already posted, type your poem into the box, hit submit, and that’s it.

So here we are on June 12 and so far not a single person has shared a food poem. Don’t you people eat?

David