Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 12
May 10, 2018
Crime
Crime Poem
Sunday night the dogs escape to the wood.Rifle in the back, radio sings loud,fingers burning fear warnings of childhood,hours hunting, spy a tail in a cloud.
The trail ahead blocked by granite boulders.Mountain lion serial murderer,lurks hidden evil over my shoulder,in the dark ahead is a torturer.
Flashlight fires courage with each imprint.Upon the sagebrush the injured dog rests,not a whimper when my shirt makes a splint,carry back to the car without protests.
Wound appears to be torn by barbed wire.Three in the morning, where may find a Vet?Bottled club soda and Betadine dire,carry an eighty pound dog works a sweat.
Dixie doesn't cry as I unload her my arms wrap as I whisper, "we found help."Techs run with a stretcher as we enterin their hands a muzzle to stop a yelp.
Carmel eyes gaze touching my heart in trust."I'll hold her head, she's a gentle lady."Shave, clean, and xray reveals what it must,the dog's been shot by evil upper crust.
Spot in hell for a man who tries to kill.Easy to recover from lack of sleep.This story is not ended I know it willFind this criminal, a promise I keep.
Caroline Gerardo copyright May 9, 2018
This poem is a true story
May 8, 2018
Apple Advice for Robert Macfarlane
Dear Robert MacFarlane
How to make your apple tree dance.
I'm not certain where the subject tree is planted.
USDA hardiness zones are similar to the UK.
I assume you are 8 -10. A ten being poor for wild apples.
I pray you are not a ten.
Is this Malis Sieversii an ancient Central Asian cultivar?
How old is she? Some varieties will come to their girlish
maturity at three, and some late as fifteen year old from
first grafting.
We cannot change your climate with ice blocks sledding
or keep the soil from excessive rain as apples do not care
for soggy feet.
You can improve the soil.
Have you had it tested for ph?
To raise the PH add SMALL amount of lime or wood ash.
To lower the PH add small amount of sulfur.
Dig in any amendments three inches or 8 centimeters and
drip water.
Do you tend a compost pile?
Apples thrive on mycorrihizal fungi - that which found
in composted dry leaves, small sticks, and straw (not hay).
These fungi appear as silvery white zig zags in dark soil.
Do not compost any apple leaves or fruit (careful not to
encourage pests and disease).
I suggest kelp tea. Oh, yes, a funny brew.
A teacup of kelp meal with water added to create
a toothpaste texture. I use teacup rather then metric
.00023, as this is not necessary to be exact. Keep the
paste in the refrigerator. Add a spoonful, a heaping
stir of honey (yes, no gentleman adds honey to
afternoon tea, this is only a phrase)
- to a gallon of water, 0.1558 meter.
Spray this on the leaves and soil AFTER it rains.
Kelp adds: NPK , 50 micro-nutrients, alginic acid, mannitol,
cytokinins, indoles, hormones, auxins and gibberellins.
No I didn't say to add gnomes, and all living creatures
have chemical hormones even for your lady apple.
There are seaweed sprays and fertilizers if you can't
find the kelp meal, but far more dear.
Soil deficient?
I believe in composted chicken manure, bat guano, bloodmeal,
bonemeal, and azomite. (Azomite is a volcanic dust with a
million years of 67 trace minerals that apples enjoy.) Just
saying the word azomite three times, gives the tree magic.
Location?
Apples do NOT like to be crowded. They prefer full sun.
They like a breeze to circulate around all the branches.
Tell me the graft is above the soil line, if not correct this
ASAP.
You cannot change the chill hours;
however, you can play the tree music.
So you tried these remedies?
Three years of springless joy?
Weather conditions changed?
Get drastic with this fickle girlfriend,
this advice is not currently politically
correct but I would never suggest
you should girdle her.
Root spade now in the spring.
Use a clean spade and from the reach of
the branches shade on the round you will
slice directly vertical to cut any sucker
roots. Draw a circle at the drip line
where the branches end and about four
inches or 10. 1 centimeters deep.
No fertilizer from a plastic bag.
No nitrogen kicks in the roots.
No heavy pruning this Fall.
Have patience.
When she delivers,
please advise when the flowers
fade to white.
C G
How to make your apple tree dance.
I'm not certain where the subject tree is planted.
USDA hardiness zones are similar to the UK.
I assume you are 8 -10. A ten being poor for wild apples.
I pray you are not a ten.
Is this Malis Sieversii an ancient Central Asian cultivar?
How old is she? Some varieties will come to their girlish
maturity at three, and some late as fifteen year old from
first grafting.
We cannot change your climate with ice blocks sledding
or keep the soil from excessive rain as apples do not care
for soggy feet.
You can improve the soil.
Have you had it tested for ph?
To raise the PH add SMALL amount of lime or wood ash.
To lower the PH add small amount of sulfur.
Dig in any amendments three inches or 8 centimeters and
drip water.
Do you tend a compost pile?
Apples thrive on mycorrihizal fungi - that which found
in composted dry leaves, small sticks, and straw (not hay).
These fungi appear as silvery white zig zags in dark soil.
Do not compost any apple leaves or fruit (careful not to
encourage pests and disease).
I suggest kelp tea. Oh, yes, a funny brew.
A teacup of kelp meal with water added to create
a toothpaste texture. I use teacup rather then metric
.00023, as this is not necessary to be exact. Keep the
paste in the refrigerator. Add a spoonful, a heaping
stir of honey (yes, no gentleman adds honey to
afternoon tea, this is only a phrase)
- to a gallon of water, 0.1558 meter.
Spray this on the leaves and soil AFTER it rains.
Kelp adds: NPK , 50 micro-nutrients, alginic acid, mannitol,
cytokinins, indoles, hormones, auxins and gibberellins.
No I didn't say to add gnomes, and all living creatures
have chemical hormones even for your lady apple.
There are seaweed sprays and fertilizers if you can't
find the kelp meal, but far more dear.
Soil deficient?
I believe in composted chicken manure, bat guano, bloodmeal,
bonemeal, and azomite. (Azomite is a volcanic dust with a
million years of 67 trace minerals that apples enjoy.) Just
saying the word azomite three times, gives the tree magic.
Location?
Apples do NOT like to be crowded. They prefer full sun.
They like a breeze to circulate around all the branches.
Tell me the graft is above the soil line, if not correct this
ASAP.
You cannot change the chill hours;
however, you can play the tree music.
So you tried these remedies?
Three years of springless joy?
Weather conditions changed?
Get drastic with this fickle girlfriend,
this advice is not currently politically
correct but I would never suggest
you should girdle her.
Root spade now in the spring.
Use a clean spade and from the reach of
the branches shade on the round you will
slice directly vertical to cut any sucker
roots. Draw a circle at the drip line
where the branches end and about four
inches or 10. 1 centimeters deep.
No fertilizer from a plastic bag.
No nitrogen kicks in the roots.
No heavy pruning this Fall.
Have patience.
When she delivers,
please advise when the flowers
fade to white.
C G
May 4, 2018
Red Boat Poem
Blood Red PoemThe rope to the boat tied to nothingThe door to the red house unlockedThe Lexapro drowns in the icy lakeThe case of Pinot was tossed in yesThe hating of another side, silencesThe war turned road dust concrete.
The door unlocked the house openThe refugees turn water into fine;because fisherman gave them red
Caroline Gerardo copyright April 29.2018 all rights for photographs and poetry reserved
May 1, 2018
Why I Hike
#whyIhikeChasing whooper swansFeeling rain on my faceRelieving pain into windKnowing I can keep pace.
Caroline Gerardo copyright April 28, 2018
April 26, 2018
Water Haiku
Water nourishes ~her soul is the best teacher ~ flow with the changes.
#haiku
Caroline Gerardo copyright 4/26/2018
PoemADay
April 23, 2018
Rescue the Chick
a little poem for the rescued chick
A Poem a DayNational Poetry Month
It is a myth that birds smell our fingers.Chickens can't sense Carolina Reapers.Menagerie of rescue pets lingers,Turtles, frogs, & pygmy goats are keepers.
Every time my daughter calls out for helpThe dogs know to share room and never yelp.
Caroline Gerardo copyright April 2018
Black Sheep Poem
"We're poor little lambs who've lost our way, Baa! Baa! Baa!We're little black sheep who've gone astray, Baa—aa—aa!Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree,Damned from here to Eternity,God ha' mercy on such as we, Baa! Yah! Bah! "
(Kipling was talking about a shamed by a scandal
young man who enlisted as common soldier to hide
from society when he qualified as an officer.)
Innocents die.
We carry protest signs,
We enroll in "kindness training"
We take days for racial fairness class.
We offer thoughts and prayers as wine.
Public High School is a place where children are parked.
They are bullied by huge jocks and popular mean kids.
They are taught that only the college bound survive.
They wait in line; but, the system fails to change.
They play on their phone, the internet is all.
They wear the same jeans, shoes, t-shirts.
They conform, dye their hair to match.
They don't step on cracks, in fear.
They practice duck, hide, run.
They don't build houses.
They don't produce.
They don't plan.
They exist.
They are technicolor centers of the kaleidoscope where movie stars are heroes
They believe they will last as a crystal never breaking or fading or falling
They are earth to become seed and dust for poppies on the road side
Does the black sheep have wool to sell?
We are not creating a kinder world.
We must produce change.
Caroline Gerardo A Poem A Day National Poetry Month
copyright April 23, 2018
April 20, 2018
Boys Poem
Baby Boys Who Swim Great Poem
Friend of mine's oldest son is "on the spectrum."Teacher sent him to the Principal's office for play shooting with his fingers on carpet circle time.
Friend of mine's younger son has leukemia. He is doing extra chemotherapy because theycan't kill all the bad cells in the first rounds.
Friend of mine's oldest son dropped out of Stanfordthis Quarter because of his video gaming addition, to come home and push grocery carts at Ralphs.
Friend of mine's younger son has ADD and drugadditions which keep him depressed in bed they want to send him to a camp in Utah.
Friend of mine's oldest son was arrested the police pulled the door off his car and brokehis nose, but found nothing in his possession.
Friends of mine on Facebook seem to have Achilles without a fatal flaw, Babe Ruth,and Michael Phelps as their baby boys.
Caroline Gerardo copyright April 20, 2018 PoemADay Part of my poem a day for National Poetry
April 18, 2018
Wren Poem
Wren on roofCalls to seaCome homeCome backReturn to me.
Copyright Caroline Gerardo April 17,2018
Camelot Poem
Abandoned School Drama BuildingMusic drifts in the dust
teacher chose Camelot
10000 practices begin
learn to sing or dance
sew creative costumes
the ghosts haunt past.
Copyright April 18, 2018 Poem A Day for
