Peace of Mind

“What brings you peace of mind and cleanses your spirit?” This was our question for the d’Verse Poets Pub poetics this evening. For me it is not just one particular thing. I love sitting under the trees and watching nature hum all around me. Music soothes my soul, both listening and playing music on my guitar with others. I love going to the Nursing Home each week where I read stories and play music and sing with them. I always come away renewed! But, I have found that posting on my blog each day brings me the most peace of mind. If I have been busy all day, all that mind clutter goes away when I sit in my chair and begin writing a poem and finding a photo or two that I can add to it. Sometimes it is the other way around. If I have no particular inspiration, I look through my photo files and am always able to find inspiration. Connecting with all of you is most rewarding. It is not so much the likes on my posts, but the comments and personal interactions that make what I do here worthwhile. So, for that I say thank you for your support and encouragement.

Sharing thoughts with you
Connecting with such great friends
Brings joy to my soul

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

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Painting Poetry

I watched these two Red Bellied Woodpeckers carve out their nest in a rotten maple tree at the edge of my yard. They worked together for almost a month to make a hole big enough to go inside and have a nest. I took a lot of photos with my 200mm lens and had a couple of them printed on canvas. After printing, I noticed that the birds were not as sharp as I would have liked. Since I like to paint with acrylics, I decided to paint over the photo using the same colors to make the colors more vivid. I finished this one today.

Working together

As spring buds open around

Carving out a home

Eggs laid will hatch into chicks

Raising their young together

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Poetry in motion

 

 

Woodpeckers’ Romance

 

This past spring I received a real gift of nature.  A pair of Redbellied Woodpeckers decided to make their nest in a maple tree at the edge of my yard. The best part of it all was that I could watch them from my easy chair in my living room.  I began shooting photos of them with my Nikon D-200 which has a 200mm zoom lens. Then I would use my photo tools on the computer to crop and enlarge the photos into the images you see in the poem. The story is told in my poem below. It was beautiful to see!!

Woodpeckers’ Romance

Redbellied woodpecker pecking on the tree

Making holes in the maple for his mate to see

She makes her choice and the work begins

Woodchips flying as they dig in

Deeper and deeper into the trunk

They carved and pecked for over a month

Bodies disappear deep into the tree

Now only their tails is all I can see

A cavernous hole a perfectly round circle

Ready to start nesting in those shadows of purple

Warming the eggs for a couple of weeks

Hatching out new babies all hairless and weak

Continuous food trips all day for a month

The new birds get stronger and ready for launch

Hanging around for a while in their cover

Then off to the woods starts the cycle all over

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Woodpecker Photos: Dwight L. Roth