Our Children

How fast they grow leaving us behind

Dependent creatures with insatiable needs

Little bundles of joy crying at every whim

Now grown, mature, and independent

It was our original goal from the start

Sort of like wanting to go to heaven

Just not now

Life moves on and so do they

Taking our hearts leaving an empty chair

Sometimes detours got in the way

We tried our best not to get in their way.

Although we worked so very hard

Some will stay,

Needing our nurture and strength

Yet another day.

Whatever the outcome life moves on

Slowly leaving us behind to observe

With pride and joy the persons

They have become.

And… whether they go or stay

We love them anyway.

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

What Lies Beneath

Invisible lines

Demarcations of the heart

Oblivious to some

Rigidly held by others

Impositions for many

Deadly for others

Marked // labeled // branded for life

Cast systems remain

Rivers of entitlement

Flow just beneath the surface

Paradigm shift starts

Parana of injustice

Caught from time to time

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

I used a repeated Tanka format for this poem.

Rusting Memories

John Deere Disc Plow sits

Rusting  // memories long gone

Iron and steel recalls

Plowing raw earth deep furrows

Bringing up sharp arrowheads

musket balls and bones

of soldiers // soon forgotten

Blood // mixed with red clay

Photos: Taken at Wesley Chapel, NC   –  Dwight L. Roth

Flight of the Bumblebee

This morning I saw that the bumblebees were enjoying my mint tea that has gone to seed. Like many other things, when summer comes it grows flower tops and makes seeds.  I was planning to cut it back in hopes of getting more fresh green stalks, but I put it off and now it is food for the bumblebees!

Bumblebees flitting

Mint flowers’ summer blossoms

Drinking Sweet Mint Tea

Click and enjoy the music…

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Morning Bursts Forth

Morning bursts forth in all its radiant glory.

I peer into the dark sheltered woods

highlighting the trees dancing on flowers.

Stepping stones draw me to the trees;

To the mysterious woods // sheltering the creek

turning to mush in summer’s heat.

Frogs buried in the mud keep cool

sending out their sharp croaks // calling for someone to hear.

Morning breezes soon shift to a sauna of heat and humidity;

But for now// the glorious morning rests on the yellow buttercups.

Orange day lilies bathed in the sunlight reach toward the heavens;

Calling me to come join them…

In the exhilaration of the beckoning day

***

Today’s Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Growing Tomatoes in a Can

This year I tried something different that has worked very well. When I planted my tomatoes, I took coffee cans with the bottom cut out and put one around each tomato plant. As They grew I added garden soil to the can until it was about a third full. By using the cans, it seemed to keep the ground insects away and focused the water straight onto the roots.  I use rain barrels to collect water from my house roof for watering. Every two or three days, I fill the can almost full and let it perk down into the ground. No need to water all around. You can see the results!

Tomatoes thriving

Focused water brings on fruit

Bumper crop this year

 

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Do Black Lives Really Matter?

This week the news has been full of incidents where shootings have taken the lives of adults and children in the Black community.  It was so sad to watch a mother in Chicago crying for her young child, who was shot killed in their car.  Or the young boy who was organizing and effort for Black Lives Matter, only to be shot and killed by crossfire from persons shooting at each other.  Why do we turn a blind eye when black people kill each other, but march in the streets if a black person dies in police custody.  Seems there is a major disconnect here.

10-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Hit By Stray Bullet In Logan Square

Who raises a voice in protest

for the young girl who was hit in the head

by a stray bullet in her front yard // caught crossfire?

Who stands in protest for the mother

whose car was ambushed and shot up

killing her one year old child

Who carries a sign for the young

boy who hoped to make a difference,

but instead was shot by a stray bullet

Who calls for change when gunshots

ring out in a crowd in *Charlotte

killing two and wounding eleven victims last week

Or again today, as more shots were fired

and more lives lost …

Only to receive passing mention on

the evening news.

Do Black Lives Matter

When they are taken by their own?

Who is willing to take a stand

To say enough is enough?

As mothers cry for their children!

I say enough is enough!

************************************

Six children were killed over the 4th of July weekend!

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/06/us/children-killed-holiday-weekend/index.html

*We have had 55 homicides here in Charlotte this year!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rickey-smiley-s-teen-daughter-shot-multiple-times-in-alleged-road-rage-incident/ar-BB16pMoq?ocid=msedgdhp

https://www.eonline.com/us/news/1165333/pop-lock-drop-it-rapper-huey-dead-at-32-after-fatal-shooting

 

 

Life is a Poem

Life is a Poem

Everything in life is a poem waiting to be written.

Most do not hear the poets call or feel the inspiration

But for those who look and listen there is music ;

poems to be written // deep emotions to be felt

that can only be expressed in words.

 

Those who pause // make life stand still

and open their soul …

They understand it loud and clear.

as words resonate // echoing through the mind

 

Poets are like pleasant speed bumps

that slow you down and make you listen;

Sometimes giving you a big jolt

When you least expect it.

 

Poets are fearless prophets // writing of love and hate

Politics and Religion // joy and strength;

Raising consciousness //challenging norms;

Searching for words that express Truth

Bringing Light to the world.

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Inspired by Charlie’s poem “Just Beneath the surface”

https://lifeinportofino.wordpress.com/2017/08/02/just-beneath-the-surface/

Hot, Hot, Hot

Temperatures to day were in the mid 90 F here in North Carolina. You know it is hot when the squirrel is stretched out on my chair in the shade and I am sitting inside with the AC running!

Midsummer heat wave

Squirrel and I try to keep cool

No showers in sight

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

 

 

 

 

Bottom Leaf

In an everchanging world, I find myself struggling with the way in which things are moving! Life goes on whether I want to come along or not. As I watch the struggles of social groups and see the injustice that has long plagued our country’s history, I wonder where we are headed.  History like politics has very dark times. We can embrace it, be offended by it,  or attempt to deny it, but it will always be there.  As the next generation comes on, I hope they learn from history instead of repeating it.  I pray that we can all learn to live with each other, allowing for our differences in values and beliefs without feeling like we need to impose ours upon everyone around us. Uniqueness has always been our strength!

Sometimes I feel like the bottom leaf of a plant

Birthed from seed // providing sustenance for a time;

Now eclipsed by more recent growth rising above…

Providing new solar sources to feed from…

 

Obsolete // no longer making that much difference.

Never meant to shine or blossom // I’ve done my job…

Supporting // nurturing new growth and change;

 

Yet, now that life has grown beyond me,

I am here // drying up at the bottom of the stalk

while growth and reproduction of values and thought

happens above me // in a world very different from mine.

Photo: Dwight L. Roth