Morning Fog
Chill early morning.
Fog hovers over the lake…
soft, enveloping,
a cocoon of solitude
gives birth to glorious day!
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Morning Fog
Category / Nature
Beauty Berries
Photos by Joshua J. Cotten from Unsplash
Beauty Berries, Photo by Cheryl Batavia
Beauty Berries
Cardinal perches, so alive,
atop a beauty berry bush,
fluffing feathers, bright-eyed,
she surveys the bounty.
Clustered along the branches,
green pearls ripening
to plump, shiny berries…
magenta meals for birds.
Fuzzy leaves fading
at summers end,
reveal beauty berries
in all their autumn splendor.
Echoing in the woods beyond,
cardinals are calling…
rippling silver songs
of unadulterated joy!
Copyright 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Purple Ruellia
Purple Ruellia
Ruellia flowers open
with the sunrise,
bringing joy…
and vivid butterflies!
Ruellia mingles with stick-tights,
so you think it’s a weed?
You must be joking, friend…
a weed? No, indeed!
Mexican petunia
is its other name.
Even if it were a weed,
I’d love it just the same!
The garden book warns
it’s invasive; don’t be surprised
if you hear me describe ruellia…
as “naturalized!”
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Hurricane Laura
Hurricane, Photo by NASA from Unsplash
Hurricane Laura
A killer hurricane named Laura
wrecked homes, fauna, and flora.
Roaring across the Gulf Coast,
raining and blowing, doing her utmost
to be remembered as a horror!
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana, US, on 8/27/20, reportedly the strongest hurricane ever recorded there. After causing widespread destruction, and six reported deaths, it was downgraded to a tropical storm and is currently headed north along the Atlantic coast.
Tropical Storm Marco
Tropical Storm Marco
Bright Florida dawn.
Sun streaming in the windows…
Marco expected.
After morning tea,
comes tropical storm Marco,
gray sky and breezy.
Reading my emails.
Suddenly I realize…
it’s sunny again!
Preparing my lunch.
Wind! Sheets of silvery rain…
Marco blowing through!
Late afternoon sun…
Louisiana awaits
Marco’s arrival.
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Morning Walk
Florida Woods, Photo by Cheryl Batavia
Morning Walk
On a humid August morning,
heading out the door,
I am greeted by the sweet fragrance
of cabbage palms in bloom.
Long strands of Spanish moss,
gracefully draping oak trees
and swaying in the breeze,
glimmer silver in the sunshine.
Vulture, Photo by Mark Boos from Unsplash
High above the trees,
vultures glide magnificently
beneath a fading slice of moon,
pale against an azure sky.
Cicadas sing ubiquitously.
I pause to rest in the shade
of a sprawling oak tree;
the cicada chorus is deafening here!
I pass a sandy clearing
where gopher tortoises
like to sun themselves…
They seem to be in their burrows today.
Photo of black-eyed-susan by Cheryl Batavia
Some wildflowers are still blooming,
scattered along the edge of the woods…
my favorite black-eyed-susans
and some bright gold coreopsis.
Beauty berries, tiny green spheres
clustered along the branches,
are ripening to a vivid magenta,
a favorite food of birds.
Gulf Fritillary Buterfly, Photo by Jonathan Borba from Unsplash
Gulf Fritillary butterflies,
orange against the green,
flutter along the quiet street
as I head for home.
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Season of Flowers
Season of Flowers
Bare trees and warm rains,
before trees cast leafy shade…
the mountainsides bloom.
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Cicada, Cicada!/Life on the Blue Planet is Live
Now Available on Amazon and Other Online Retailers!
“Cicada, Cicada!” is the last poem in Life on the Blue Planet. I hope it will remind readers to live in the moment. TODAY we have the opportunity to sing our song!
Cicada, Cicada!
For seventeen years,
You’ve been asleep.
Now, what kind of
schedule is that to keep?
Cicada, cicada,
you’ve slept too long!
Come out of your shell
and sing your song!
You’re sure to enjoy
the warm summer night.
Come out, Cicada…
Enjoy your first flight!
Many types of cicadas live in eastern North America. They are harmless herbivores. Eggs, laid in the bark of a tree, hatch into nymphs that burrow into the ground. They stay buried from one to 17 years, depending on the species. The entire group emerge from their shells at the same time, find mates, lay their eggs, and die. Only the males have a mating “song” made by vibrating a membrane on their abdomen. Their “chorus” adds music to the summer nights.
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Promotion:
For one week, the Ebook will be priced at $1.99 to make it easy for my fellow bloggers to purchase the book.
After that, the Ebook will be priced at $4.99. The paperback version is priced at $19.99
All reviews appreciated!
Life on the Blue Planet is an 8.5″x 11″ book with 70 pages of poems and 40 high-resolution color photos. Available on Amazon, Ingram, Barnes and Noble, and other online stores.
Rain
Rain
Ribbons of light streaming down
implant moist kisses
on earth’s trembling mouth.
The green land, the green land
standing tall and crouching under…
the land that reaches for the sun
is stretching fingers to the rain.
Greens and golds
evidence the fertility of the mold…
Rain is a vibrant impregnation.
Published about 1966 in Nos Plumes,
Buffalo Gap High School Literary Magazine, by Cheryl Nicholson
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Barefoot
Barefoot
Bright spring afternoon
wading barefoot in the creek,
scooping up tadpoles.
Warm summer evening
running barefoot through the grass,
fireflies in a jar.
Blue-sky autumn day,
playing barefoot in leaf piles,
watching geese fly south.
Cold winter morning,
barefoot in new-fallen snow…
screaming and laughing!
Copyright© 2020 by Cheryl Batavia
Gulf Coast Poet 