The Color of Christmas Songs

Synethesia

The Colors of Christmas

So many wonderful memories

wrap themselves around my brain

as the colors of Christmas come alive

with every Christmas song.

Rudolph conjures up that little red nose

along with Frosty the Snowman’s black hat

and his eyes made out of coal.

Silent Night shines in that warm yellow glow of the stable

And angelic voice sing in robes of pure white.

White Christmas swirls with white snowflakes

along with Jingle Bells dashing through the snow.

Elvis brought out the Blue (in) Christmas matching our

Twenty-twenty Covid year… remembering those we love.

Who could imagine Santa Clause Coming to Town without seeing red

or the little green elves who make the toys;

Or, You’re a Mean (green) One Mr. Grinch

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear in the blue black sky

full of silver twinkling stars.

And who could forget Silver Bells ringing

above a street covered with snow…

As we Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly crisp and green

The colors of Christmas are felt with every song

Today at d’Verse Grace took us back to the concept of Synethesia, which occurs, for example, when one sense such as music makes one see colors. It can happen with any of the senses. This evening we are looking specifically at music. I have never experienced synethesia in the literal sense, but I decided to look at how Christmas Songs automatically bring colors to mind.

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Squirrel Hunting in the Mountains

Squirrel hunting

Like bringing jerky for supper

Tough to chew on

Today at d’Verse, Sarah gave us a selection of seven different lines from one of her favorite books and asked us to choose one and write a poem about it. These lines come from “Surfacing” by Kathleen Jamie.

I know there is very little meat on a squirrel so I wrote my poem accordingly.

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Abiding Love

In the cold of winter, we said, “I do”

with December snow on the ground

and candles burning brightly.

And now my love,

winter is fast approaching;

And, after fifty-one years

we’re still together.

Our abiding love lives on…

“till death do us part”

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Today is Quadrille Monday at d’Verse. Lisa asked to use the word abide for our prompt and write a poem of 44 words. She gave us various uses of the word, one of which was the old hymn Abide With Me. That took me back to the songs of my childhood. I decided to use write in reference to love. The end of December will be fifty-one years for us. It just seemed fitting to write of our abiding love; resting on, depending on, secure in the vows we made so many years ago.

I took these flower photos at about 3:30 this afternoon, blooming in my back yard on November 30th! Who would believe? Frost comes again tomorrow morning.

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Ode to a Gecko

Green Gecko posturing for her kiss

Crimson fan spread like an Egyptian palm

Swelling and deflating spread signals her

To come and join in a sweet summer’s trist

*

But, how quickly you changed as colors fade

Love lasts only for a season you know

Now, as Fall leaves turn brown, dry, and curling

You too have traded your green luster show

*

Now’s the time for gray burnt umber blending

Winter fast approaches…with each cold wind

Time to forget courtship…summer’s gone now

Find space to hibernate… till winter ends

*

Bone-chilling winds…Heartbeat slows…Blood runs cold

Surviving to live/love another day

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Open link night at d’Verse. Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

For more information on Geckos check here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anolis_carolinensis

Orion the Hunter

Years ago we lived in a house with a driveway that lined up with the constellation of Orion. When we came home after dark, we could look up and see Orion’s belt shining above the end of our drive. Later, we moved to a house that was surrounded with trees. Very few stars could be seen and Orion was nowhere to be found.

Three stars bright stars make up the belt and are easiest to see. They are Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. They are giant stars that are so far away it takes over 12,000 lightyears for the light from these stars to reach the earth! This is hard for me to comprehend. Our universe is so vast we here on earth are just dust in the wind.

Orion’s belt glows

Starlight from beyond our time

Bright string of pearls

Today at d’Verse, Kim asked us to write a haibun about the stars in the night sky!

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Picture from: orion-constellation.jpg (600×600) (wordpress.com)

Information from wikapedia.com

A Gathering of the Dead

What do you see as you come to the emergence of Winter?

Lying together

Some see death others see hope

Death waiting for life

***

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

This came to me this morning as I was reading through the collection of Jisei poems from Frank Tassone’s prompt on d’Verse. We are to write a death poem or a Jisei. Jisei poems were of Japanese origins, and were often written in waka (tanka) or haiku, but death poems are not restricted to those forms. What is essential is the expression of both imminent death and the significance of life in the face of it. In this sense, Jisei is the poetry of both memorial and celebration.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com and click on the Mr. Linkey link to read more interesting Jisei poems.

The “Eyes” have it…

Eyes tell the story

Together we are secure

Even through Covid

I will protect you from harm

Wrapped tightly in my strong arms

*****

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse we are writing about eyes… the window to the soul. When my son was little he loved Raggedy Ann. He was very protective of her. I find it interesting that their eyes are almost the same in this photo! This poem is the story of us all this year! Wear your mask and be safe.

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Impossible Possible

Ocean roared with jagged teeth

Sand dunes devoured by hurricane waves

as the sirens’ song wailed from out of the gale

Hatteras Lighthouse sat in peril

“Lets save the light”

Anything one can envision is possible

On tracks of steel they moved it back

***********

Click on the link for more on this historic move:

This is Quadrille Monday with De Jackson at d’Verse. The prompt today is to write a Quadrille of exactly 44 words using any form of the word possible! I am writing about the historic move of the Hatteras Lighthouse away from the water’s edge on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The photo above was taken years ago when we visited there, before it was moved.

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Red

Red is a Farmall Tractor

sitting tall and proud

Yellow sun glistens off

the hood as the engine

below sends blue flame

up the stack / with a crack

For me, it has to be

a red Farmall M

No green John Deere will do

An orange Allis Chalmers

just makes me spew

Red takes me back

to days gone by

Riding high on that seat

Feeling the sun on my head

and all that power beneath me

Photos; Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse we are trying a new form of poetry. Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sense leads to automatic, involuntary experiences of a second one.   There are over 80 types of synesthesia described by science.   Nearly every combination of sensory experiences or cognitive concepts is possible.

Seeing music as colors is one form of synesthesia. Perceiving letters as personalities is another one,  or seeing numbers in color. Even hearing colors or touching smells. Today I am writing as Red being the color of vintage Farmall tractors that I drove in my teen years on the farm.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com Then click on the Mr. Linkey box and read more poems.

A Taste of November

I can still remember, like it was yesterday

Fall in the woods where I grew up

Cold weather closed in early

Leaves in the woods

Turned shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown

What was once a lush woods

Filled with green hollow stemmed weeds

Now becomes blanketed

With a soft silent coating of leaves

The Silver Maple and Butternut next to the house

Dropped their yellow-tan leaves

The quince turned yellow-brown

As the apple trees added color to the scene

With rich deep red leaves…

On the driveway black walnuts still in the hulls

Driven over with car tires

Squishing and shelling

Picking them up, peeling off the excess

While blends of saffron, amber, and walnut stains

Are left on my hands and under my nails

From driveway to furnace room

Down in the basement

The nuts are carried to be dried

Cracked with hammer and brick

I walk through the woods,

With a borrowed single-shot 12 gauge,

Looking in the pit holes for rabbits,

Flushing out a ring-necked pheasant

From the edge of the corn field

Life was simple then,

Rabbits shot were few and pheasants even fewer

But walking through the woods and fields

Was an experience I enjoyed

Just for the sake of being there

The November woods remained stark and bare

For the rest of the winter,

But it’s passing and recurring beauty

Left indelible impressions…

Sometimes I wish I could be there once again.

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Sanaa asked us to were a poem about November. I decided to rework a poem I wrote several years ago about Fall in the Woods where I grew up.

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