Black Walnuts

Black walnuts always take me home
Back to the place of my childhood
And to the black walnut tree growing
On the side of the hill above the driveway
Each fall a bushel full lay in crushed array
Uncracked by car tires driving over

Today at d’Verse, De Jackson asked us to write a quadrille of 44 words for our prompt, and use some form of the word Crack. The word crack brought back memories of collecting, shelling, and later, cracking black walnuts to pick out the meat for cookies and eating. The nuts have a tough husk around the outside and need to fall on the ground and deteriorate some before they can be removed. We poured them on the driveway and used the car tires to shell them out. Then, we put them in the basement next to the coal furnace to dry. The shell of the actual nut is very hard and had to be broken with a hammer.

The photo above shows my siblings, with our neighbor, before I was born. You can see the walnut tree on the hill just to the right of the old water pump. The actual drive was created after I was born.

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Last Blooms of Summer

Outside my kitchen window a sunflower keeps blooming
Not worried in the least about predicted frost.
Zinnias continue to bloom as well, overcoming mildew;
A great lesson for all… Bloom through to the end;
Frost is inevitable in our lives, but beauty can remain.

Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Kim at d’Verse asked us to write a Quadrille of 44 words using the prompt keep.
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Typewritten Pages

Words set in stones // not on a digital screen
Lasting impressions carved on paper for the ages
Black ink embossed on each page
Linking past intentions with present emotions
Digital words can disappear in an instant
Book’s printed pages can last for centuries

Stamp Art: Dwight L. Roth

Self-Published Poetry Book

Our prompt for today’s Quadrille (44 Words) at d’Verse, is the word set, When I think of books, they are the next best thing to being “set in stone.”  I remember using a typewriter like this for many years, when I was still teaching school. I had to type really hard to make the keys cut through into the purple master.  Now everything is done in digital format, which can be lost at the click of a button. Call me old school, but I still like having hard copies to back me up! 

I have included my new self-published book of poems collected from the many poems written for my blog and for d’Verse.

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Nicks and Scratches

The First Scratch is the deepest
Renting not only paint but my heart
New paint joy pierced with pain
Nicks and scratches on the fenders
Recently repaired // repainted
Ten years old but shiny as new
Scratch just a nick
Seems like the Grand Canyon

Today at d’Verse, De Jackson asked us to write a Quadrille of 44 words using the word nick. It brought back memories of  getting my ten-year-old truck painted a couple of years ago. It was not long till a careless driver in a parking lot put the first nick, and then scratch, on the new paint. The first scratch is always the worst.  It has had a few more since then! My apologies to Sheryl Crow for the recreating the first line from her song.

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Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Mare Tranquillitatis

Sea of Tranquility //moon destination
Ranger crashed //Surveyor landed
Making way for an eagle’s landing
During my years of innocence back in1969.
Neil Armstrong left his mark
in that tranquil surface dust;
Realtor is now selling
acreages on the moon!
Celebs are buying!!
Duh!!

Painting: Dwight L. Roth

Lillian at d’Verse asked us to write a Quadrille of exactly 44 words using the word Tranquility. I had to think of the area of the moon that NASA chose for its Lunar landing.  According to Wikapedia, they crashed Ranger in the surface while sending photos back for them to study. Later Surveyor made a soft landing, sending back over 19,000 photos. When the first Astronauts landed on the moon, it was in the sea of tranquility. It got its name from the Latin: Mare Tranquillitatis

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The Loudest Voice

The loudest voice
does not depend on volume;
Rather on words being said
Rational words that speak to issues;
Intelligent words that question and challenge.
The loudest voice plants seeds of thought
Dropped in the mind, words take root…
Long after they are spoken

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Quadrille Monday at d’Verse has De Jackson asking us to consider the voice in all its forms. Then we are pick one and write a poem of exactly 44 words using the word voice!

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Steps (a Quadrille)

Guitar-fretted steps extended up beyond spacing
Climbing from the bottom sends my heart racing
These musical frets // are made for young ones chasing
Each other up and down // squealing // and with laughter piercing…
Like a violin being played sadly for the very first time

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

The word fret has several meanings. One means to fuss or complain. Another is to carve out in parallel lines, such as in architecture. Then there are the frets on a musical instrument like a guitar, which are brass strips placed at intervals and used for giving the strings varied pitches. Today at d’Verse Kim suggested we write a Quadrille, of only 44 words, using some form of fret! I have attempted to use it as an adjective describing a long set of steps at our local park. I saved this photo for the last two years trying to think of a way to use it in a poem. This was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Rich Impressions

Down the street at 1033
red hibiscus flowers grow;
Climbing up the mailbox post…
Putting out blooms for a day
before wilting away.
Rich red hues in morning sunshine…
show the world that one day of beauty
is enough to remember for a lifetime!

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Kim asked us to think about the many ways we us the word rich in our everyday life. We were to choose one of the definitions and write a Quadrille of 44 words.

What’s Up?

If, when we die,
we go up to heaven…
Do folks in the Southern Hemisphere
go down?
And when we travel
out in space…
Do we go up or down?
Up seems only valid
when there is
an Earth that grounds us…
Looking up!

Earth Rise Painting: Dwight L. Roth

Quadrille Monday…   Today, at d”Verse, De Jackson asked us to consider the word up. I decided to attempt to add a bit of humor to my Quadrille of only 44 words.

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Rise

Red Maple seed floats merrily on wings;
hoping to find a place from which to rise.
Landing between the crack of a rock;
with little soil, and almost no chance of survival;
it puts down a root;
forever changing the future of that rock!

**********

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Quadrille Monday, and Merril, at d’Verse, asked us to use some form of the word rise. I decided to put a little different Spring twist to it and came up with this Quadrille of exactly 44 words.

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