All Weather Friends,
Mid Winter
Hello Woody, glad to see
You surviving the winter.
Where’s Woodine?
Haven’t seen her around.
How are those offspring of yours?
Saw one of them, two days back.
Proud to call you neighbors.
Did you see the three deer
On the lawn earlier?
Three years now, we’ve enjoyed
Having your family around.
Say, what’s up with the pecking
On the north side of our house?
And do you hear echoes of gossip,
From pecking on the porcelain
Insulators, on the electric pole?
Bugs don’t hide there, do they?
I’m told you are downies.
How did you come by that name?
You are quite the entertainers.
Been nice talking with you.
Coming by tomorrow?
Same time?
See you then.
Carlton Rollins, New Sharon
No Voices, Just Choices
Do you remember the old telephone?
It had a “voice” (not a dial tone)
But that is not the modern way
(“Number please,” an operator does not say.)
No human voice do you hear,
Just a “buzzing” sound in your ear.
Push numbered buttons, get connected real quick.
So many options from which to pick.
With “caller ID” you can see who
Hopes they can “converse” with you.
An “answering machine” you can always use.
It “screens” the calls you might refuse.
The older phone hung on the wall.
The newer version is compact and small.
The modern phone might have more choices,
But I sure miss those “human voices.”
Arlene Wells, Farmington
SEAGULL
SOARING
effortlessly dictated by
the wind.
Floating
like a slow signature signed.
Circling
up high rubbing a fluffy, lofty
white cloud.
Squawking
a secret harmony cry aloud.
Hovering
majesty casting a moving
dark shadow.
Cutting
through the winds that
gently blow.
Gliding
wingtips kindly kiss the
ocean’s rollers
Swooping
down like deep sea scouting
fishing patrollers.
Diving
with an eagle eye for a wee
morsel of food.
Waiting
quietly ever so carefully
unnoticeable shrewd.
Shrieking
gloriously throughout its
symphony flight.
Flying
proudly owning the bright
sunny daylight.
Greg Zemlansky, Farmington
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