{"id":32090,"date":"2018-10-16T17:19:46","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T01:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sparselysageandtimely.com\/blog\/?p=32090"},"modified":"2023-12-18T20:06:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T04:06:43","slug":"our-year-in-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/?p=32090","title":{"rendered":"Our year in four"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
Caveat lectorem: <\/b>When readers submit comments, they are asked if they want to receive an email alert with a link to new postings on this blog. A number of people have said they do. Thank you. The link is created the moment a posting goes online. Readers who find their way here through that link can see an updated version by simply clicking on the headline above the posting.<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lynn Axelrod Mitchell holds a glass of tea at the No Name in Sausalito.<\/em><\/p>\n

The latest Marin Poetry Center Anthology<\/em><\/strong> (Volume XXI, 2018) includes a poem by my wife, Lynn Axelrod Mitchell. Titled Our Year In Four<\/em>, it draws upon the nature around our home. I like the poem enough to share it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too:<\/p>\n

I
\nBird-call makes us break
\nour solitude and sleep
\nto slip within this risen day.
\nThe water bowl’s resurgent lake
\nclear enough for sparrow-sip
\nthis warming day.
\nBird-track stars in snow crystals
\ndeliver us this glistening day.
\nPrints recede as skimming seeds
\nhail this breath of day.<\/p>\n

II
\nEmerge from where we go,
\nhopeless captives
\nwho fail at hobbling dreams
\nthat make us quake at what we keep
\nfrom what we may release
\nlike birdsong calling in the day.
\nGaping redwings, shoulders back,
\nslingshot notes around the meadow,
\nour neighborly divide their forum.
\nSwainsons’ swirling flutes
\nswizzle cross the treetops.
\nWe cast our husks of tribute,\u00a0
\nsunflower, millet, suet,
\nto charm the scrubland gods:
\nWhile time is light as breath is air,
\nsend them here, these newborn days.<\/p>\n

III
\nIndigo sky.
\nNo shoes, no shirt.
\nNo rules need apply.
\nBerries lie in beds we made,
\ntestifying to our pride,
\nour lustful spring ambition.
\nLuscious unclaimed virgins
\nno one ate or tried
\njumped,
\nor were they pushed,
\nfrom overcrowded vines,
\njuices caking in the dust.
\nLaboring emmets carry off the spoils
\nclamber up the stalks;
\nroving antennae fondle aphid rears:
\nhoneydew! like cheap, sweet beer.
\nCrusading leagues of ladybugs
\narrive to save the plants
\nfrom habituated ants
\nwho fight to keep their hooch.
\nSkirmish on the ragged green,
\nlunges, bites, maneuvers.
\nBiology is destiny, we say,
\nirrelevant to the sun devouring the day.<\/p>\n

IV
\nBring the tools inside, lay them sharp,
\nalways clean, at rest in the dark.
\nThe turned earth settles cool above,
\nwarming continents below.
\nGive us time to think goodbye
\nsit on cushioned chairs
\npuzzle birds their silent pluming flights
\nwonder how they are.
\nWhich tilt was final; setting sun decisive?
\nWe try to reason when they knew: ‘now’ not if.
\nStoring wood for the annual surrender
\nwe stake the ground on tremors
\nunbuckling chasms, bargaining again
\nwe’ll hear the faintest notes return
\nsometimes through a murmur, raucous, rising.
\nEarth heaves, shudders in its own oscillation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\nLeave a Comment<\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caveat lectorem: When readers submit comments, they are asked if they want to receive an email alert with a link to new postings on this blog. A number of people have said they do. Thank you. The link is created the moment a posting goes online. Readers who find their way here through that link […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","category-west-marin-nature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32090"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40556,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32090\/revisions\/40556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}