Florence Poets Society Fall Festival - Oct 4th, 2009

The Annual Fall Poetry Festival of the Florence Poets Society went swimmingly well this year. And I say that because it rained in the middle of it (though that didn't spoil the mood). Tommy Twilight serenaded us through the rain with his guitar and the poetry continued once the crisp blueness of the autumn sky returned. As is usually the case at these events, I get inspired to write. The following five poems are the result of that rendezvous with my muse. (I have also included a couple of poems I found that I hadn't recorded elsewhere.)

Florence Poets Society Fall Poetry Poems
Written on 10/4/09

I

the ground still smells of Spring
freshly tossed earth begging
for life amidst rotting leaves
the air is still – recovering
in a healing calm
from the violent storm last night
Poets politely sit in discomfort
listening to poems some
hope will make them think
and others wish to forget
either way they think it better
to be here than still at home alone

ltv


II – Ladybug Lost

She couldn’t have known
from so far away
how soft the giant
flower would be
no petals - just vibrant
succulent orange calling

the others didn’t see
limited to looking with their smell
so this exquisite treat is hers alone
she alit on the wrinkled surface
tried to taste but found
something not unlike nothing
a taste of cotton, but not really
no nectar – just a multitude of fibers
sticking to her feet – so this is why
the others stayed away
from the human’s neon fleece jacket

ltv

III

after the rain
when the Poets
reassembled
nobody noticed the daily
commute of the chipmunks
and chickadees
perpendicular to the mossy pine
the tiny bird walks to the
needle-covered forest floor
to snap up those who came
for the afternoon drink
I think they must enjoy
their work routine
especially the chipmunks
scurrying amidst the rocks
finding grubs occasionally
noticing the odd group of
humans waxing poetic
about Nature and their
neighborhoods

ltv


IV

Poets are easily amused
by nervous banter
from first time readers
is it the familiar appreciation
that you are finally being heard
or are Poets really that clever?

ltv


V – Banishing the Insecurities of Poets
(for Jim DuBois’ “Poem for Robert Frost”)

in one line he took
the doubts – the negativity
the critical judging
we hear from both ourselves
and other Poets not like us
“I slapped some words
upon a page/ and called it a poem
you wouldn’t like it/ but you’re dead/
and I’m not.”

ltv


Some found poems:

Care Center Poetry

hard faces
defiant
unsure of opening
themselves up
through poetry
or watercolors
what started as
a school project
pushed boundaries
showed potential
more frightening
than changing diapers
before home room

ltv
7/9/09


[untitled]

we accept
death as a job
similar to the ones
we suffer through
a necessity
to make ends meet

we fight death –
a nemesis to conquer
as it stalks victims
we try to stay
one step ahead

but it is neither
apathetic nor malicious
nor the wind that comes
ravaging in a storm

it is the Sun that rises
every day – not because
of some internal motion

but because of our
journey around it

Death itself is static

ltv
9/19/09