Bev Tappan

Month: March 2015

  • RIVERWOODS POEMS: ON THE LAST DAY OF MARCH

    ON THE LAST DAY OF MARCH

    The wind has wielded a brush and comb

    To tease the clouds in all directions

    Extracting fragile transparent film,

    Wafting it over an azure canvas.

    Stubborn diminishing drifts of snow

    Persist in sullen sordid ranks

    Along the gravel encrusted roads,

    Reluctant to cede their prominent place

    However much we wish them gone.

    Meanwhile the red capped finches have come

    To check out the top of my tall blue spruce

    The site of their last year’s nest and brood,

    And the first two turkey vultures arrive

    To circle above the neighborhood:

    I will lift up mine eyes for signs of spring.

  • TAMWORTH POEMS: BY A BROOK IN MARCH

    BY A BROOK IN MARCH

    Our micro-spiked boots crunch

    On the icy trampled-down snow

    As we scramble over the drift

    Thrown up by the highway plow.

    We’re next to the Wonalancet

    Brook which feeds the Swift.

    Today it’s flowing handsomely,

    So close to the coming of spring,

    Around and between its rocks

    And logs, all whitely domed,

    All smoothly frosted, silent

    Except where it chatters on shoals,

    Intent on its seaward journey.

    In the forest beside us loom,

    Caped in regal white furs,

    Majestic glacial erratics.

    There beside the trail

    We see the blurred old traces

    Of hoof or paw or claw

    Leading down to the lapping water.

    We pass an ancient tree trunk

    Riddled with woodpecker drills.

    We’re approached by a feisty red squirrel

    Who blithely bounces onward.

    At the bridge we make our turn

    And retrace our steps to the car.

  • RIVERWOODS POEMS: TRANSITION

    TRANSITION

    Here on the cusp of spring

    The foxy Prince of Darkness

    Will retreat to his lonesome lair

    Leaving the fair Persephone

    To soften the icy winds

    And water the snowbanks down.

    March has come in like a lion

    And is leaving like T Rex.

    Polar glaciers dissolve:

    The cold descends to us.

    We cheer to see the grass

    Emerge from rotting snow.

    The jay and the chickadee lisp

    Their piece to potential mates.

    But Persephone will do well

    To free us from winter’s clutch.

    The light at the end of the tunnel

    MAY be the summer’s sun

    And Persephone MAY return

    To her darksome winter home.

  • RIVERWOODS POEMS: REJUVENATION

    REJUVENATION

    Whenever you are near

    Laughter rises up in me

    Like sap in a maple tree.

    Whenever you are here

    Words tumble out of me

    Like coins in a slot machine

    When somebody hits the jackpot.

    And though I know I ought

    To avoid this beckoning eddy

    And steer into calmer waters,

    Bubbles rise in my champagne

    And age no longer trammels me.

    Old birds have leave to sing

    However short their spring.

  • TAMWORTH POEMS: A PRAYER FOR OUR PLANET

    A PRAYER FOR OUR PLANET

    He came to our UU pulpit,

    A self-confessed atheist

    And erudite eco-biologist,

    Not to redeem our souls

    But to attune our thoughts

    To the awesome universe of microbes

    That shape and manipulate our bodies:

    Our bodies that themselves are habitats,

    Complex eco-systems,

    Some of which will endure,

    Some of which will go extinct.

    Our eco-mentor mentioned

    That we are part of a larger

    Biota, our region of earth,

    And we are all connected

    To every living thing,

    Some of which may endure

    Most of which will go extinct.

    That is largely up to us.

    Master of all universes,

    Almighty Force and Source,

    Guide us in our choices.