Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 22

Gingerbread Man Guards

Eucalyptus, pine and succulent wreaths on gates,fancy up the chain link stairs to my cabin.Rains did their best to melt down grosgrain ribbons.Bobcat tore under the side to try at one of the sultans;but ginger bread men act as soldiers in the kitchen.
Grandfather's elaborate trains in the basement sold off boxes before we made it to Holyoke.Did the new owners keep the tracks?A tunnel appeared to blow up cars.It's somewhere now.
Missing days of believers at home.Mailing letters to Santa, tucked under comforter prayers.This too is passage.Entropy wears on cells..Noble fir stands tall withwhole ornaments fromcalamity of puppies of the pastknocking over trees.
Missing that dog's tail.A cross guards over her in the meadow.Mother always says, "I'm doing my best!"With and exclamation point, yes.This too is passage.Holding heart with cheers. Days before Christmas.
Copyright Caroline Gerardo 12/19/2016

Moon and Back

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My 2016 Moons
Don't observe full moon celestial orbsOccultation of Aldebaran, gibbous moonWane shrinks and wax build up absorbsCross brightest star in the sky, we swoon 
Stellar eclipse allows lovers to passFull hunger wolf moon helps in huntSnow sifts after Yule melts the grassUmbral shadow puts darkness front
Worm Moon comes round back gate Fields muddy crystaline calls robinswith earthworms miracle invigorateA Crow Moon hears you sobbing
Death of winter, Crust moon thawsBrings Sap Moon forsythia goldAching breath from layers of gauzePaschal Moon syncs stories told
Plant fields of crimson phloxPink Moon sprouts roseSalmon opens tribal locks Dianthus upstream prose
Brood for the lovers lostFlower or Milk is spring moonBlue moon marks the costTime for corn, not to prune
Full Harvest autumn equinoxLeaves to ground, deer is fatAt dawn and dusk spot the foxsteal under the watch of the cat
Beaver moon moves ocean tidesFrosty light makes hearts swoonClouds of memory take ridesupon winter's lonely moon.

Caroline Gerardo copyright 12/18/2016
Moon and Back Poem


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Christmas

Solar garden lights out.Elaborate expense,ladder extensions,tree scaling, critics saying theLED blue / gold  mis-match, batteries die.Crystal drop TERRO,herd of ants wipe out.
Sinus infection visits on darkest soot night.Pain behind eyes and gums swell,SNS stimulation.Anxiety peaks alonebest at night.
OCD kicks covers off.Steam nose, hunt for decongestant.Sterilize surfaceswith bleached anti-microbial rags, get dust shards off.
In lack of light swollen eyes read.Daughter texts, "What day we flyto HAV?" Ignore thequestion its too latefor an answer at 3 AM, look up the remainingnumber Goodreadsgoal of books to read.

Haven't booked trip to Cuba, flightsare six thousand dollars at Christmas. Clogged brain, a blinking sign says:FAIL. Glass blown decorationstenderly wait in storage,arrange for CHRISTMAS.

Copyright 12/7/2016 Caroline Gerardo

Santa Pup

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Retail PetDogs sleep on the bedchickens hatch in kitchenplan in my headlisten pupshoe you chewed up?new retail spanking sizes back in rackspurses are absurdChloe YSL  Vuittonsit in Sakspuppies for lovesDucati or Blackbirddon't wear glovesfly like lighteningwear Santa hatrun inno singive away

[image error] silly morning poem for the pup who eats shoes
Copyright December 6 2016 Caroline Gerardo

Star Knight

Star KnightNot Starry Night

A star pulse. It's a plane, circle pattern. Sleep stranger on  the red  eye bones seat belted.A boy in a smurf hat travels space. Me alone under covers.He's not an unaccompanied minor,  college physics books rest in the overhead compartment.  In between a drooler and a smelly fat man. John Wayne shuts tower for Newport slumber. Rest apple buds in rows. Flaps down unaware that open eyes face swarms of bees, condor cauldron of five hundred endangered wingspans stretch on tightrope wires.  They teach vultures to clear lines with electric shock therapy because touching two worlds: heaven or grave burns Icarus. Comet above cabin winks.Passing the sun duringhour the plane is givenpermission to land  itwill out gas, shows atail to be read by asoothsayer. I'm hereto reveal the story.Give love, hunger for art, get up uponfailure, each secondgoes faster, you fly condor with purposefeel the sound of lift slapping your soul, make a picture in closedeyes to recall on days when dark takeslonger and you think anearthquake breaks you. Study and fly my son!You canYou will.


Caroline Gerardo Copyright 12/5/2016 dedicated to my son whohas finals week in University of California. Work hard! Healthy snacks,all night cram  isn't much sticky brain help but re- read text books and thinkabout connective culture and research the landscape of internet they call fake news.Often I think paid news, and paid press writers who I once adored are influenced by circles. Just circles, end of sentence... be tolerant and read more.

Garden Loved Sestina

Garden Loved Winter FruitSestina 
Day Linda writes zero degrees without attention.His awful silence saws her spine as sinewy knife.
Despite prayers / absolution, superstitions grow.Dig trenches for olive tree wind break in garden.Does future Ouija press oil to help blisters heal?"Do time in her wrinkles." says the cruel mirror.
Daybreak french braid tresses without mirror.Sections combine, hold steady sans attention.Sing over under olly olly return sunshine heal.Sound echos pain rubber band clangs a knife.Sage drys, aloe bubbles, salve in the garden.Seeds of forget me not's barb sanguine grow.
Scorpion grass hitch hikes on souls to grow.Don't turn your jaw, look upon a winter mirror.Damn ghosts steal prism light in zen garden.Done recall the man's text detailing attention.Dead memory on dry hands balances a knife.Dregs starved  mud evaporates tears to heal.
Nights crack because grief therapy can't heal.Tendril connection bind, cease mind to grow.Terror think to escape the love of your knife.Teach Linda to sway joy angle for the mirrorTalk kind, become: don't care girl; attention.Taste chocolate tomatoes warm in our garden.
Bury your discarded fire ashes in the garden.Broken urine combines with nitrogen to heal.Behold: circumnutation coils for attention.Bold Coral Bells Passion vine starts to grow.Become Artesian well of citric acid in mirror.Marigold pyretherum cores bugs with a knife.
They tell you its time to put down the knife..They irrigate, pour chloramine on the garden.To be you, ball gown gorgeous in that mirror.Think about the steps the feet dance to heal.Those corns, old blisters from work grow.Touch her  heart  with  listening attention.

Knife cuts out nonsense  about attention.Garden winter fruit cures, satin time to grow.Mirror mercury glass water logged to heal.

Caroline Gerardocopyright December 2, 2016
Dedicated to Elaine, Lainey, Lucy, Carolyn, Kait,
Maggie all wonderful Poets

Advent

Advent

That son drove miles home from college, as our advent returns.Three on the tree, rust in cab, all weather tires drives us places.Traditions change, first I'm not hosting holiday, bringing dishes.The anticipation stirs a joyful; there's no Pinterest recipe for this.To go ahead, look back, mountain lion mauled deer on the stones.Thyme, sage, and basil - smoke fills house - cause bees distress
Table places set. No soot, no charcoal, no fire on wind pants.
Thanksgiving with other family moves away from dis-functions. Talented sibling says: liar!  Where truck keys? Escape bell rings. Through divorce struggle, insurance high as college payments.
Takeoff in open gown when radiologist sighs before surgeries.Tap clean windows for seashell echo of newsprint vinegar seas.Tail of raven twitches on doe carcass, knows where cabin lies.Turn on flooded road, skate to sanctuary for rare butterflies. Talent to ignore with silence, never show for its not anxieties.Take lover who treats partner as not as chosen, not pretties.
To return after prison digging up clover seeds in coffee cans.
Though mean well, I confess, forgot to cover mouse traps.
Those excuses...Today start over, walk with open hearts.
These hands ready, Mailed blankets to Fort Yates.
Time to listen hope and be kinder begins.
Thus prepare the robbed, shunned, and lonely for festivities. The list ahead is full of jobs, notes in the phone to pages.
The King comes.


Advent Poem
Copyright Caroline Gerardo November 27, 2016
Photograph I took at Flannery O'Conner's home

Nighthawk Rodeo

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Nighthawk Rodeo Talk negative multiplies ranch dogs escape midnightTalk negative multiplies
moon works to break clouds Jefferson, the male, creates holes a bull with a rope at his privates time for a party say the puppies escape artists have no worries boy's 12 gauge fire crackersboots on for two step dances.
Talk negative multipliesfree ticket watch for coyoteTalk negative multiplies
jerky treats, not our dogs  I'm a Mom with kindnesscome chase nighthawksflashlights on hooting owlsno worry muddy pajamasbrave thunder silly hatsshare joy seeps in souls.
Nighthawk Rodeo Poemcopyright Caroline GerardoNovember 20. 2016

Pyramid Mission

Pyramid Mission

Ourfearsdisappeardeep breath find buried gloveSaint Anthony find this: gun, ammo, sling shot, arrows,yew, buckeye, castor, thorn apple,affordable armored S U V vehicleswall footing four feet below sea level,god we must have clean water or perish,rain gutter, well, solar pump, aqueduct steal, goats, bees, chickens, big dogs, hoes, shovel, knives, Kerr jars, rat traps, peanut butter, seeds,glue, fruit tree sapling cinnamon for root propagation,storage tank, battery, do we care about USB connections?Disposable cell to call Mom no wait she's here sick, I pray, addcell patch, antibiotic, anti-inflammation, regenerate oxygen drugs,fishing line, duct tape, razor blades, wide shoes, snake venom pleasetunnel digging locks hide cache, praying skip loader doesn't go to mass,pyramid of concrete blocks to weather storms hiding gallon cans of peachesDid I forget to pray Saint Anthony? Please find list of supplies and keys to Canada


Pyramid Mission PoemCaroline Gerardo copyright November 16, 2016

Un-Named

Ash
struggle,
I doctored in
 heat of summer.Deep soak nights,
mound compost
wide as canopypray Santa
Ana storms
don't strip
the last leaves.Saint Ann, mother of Mary, hinted in the Qur'an unnamed in the New Testament. Devil winds call Grandmother. Tree lost everything. Naked stands fifty feet offeringbranch for Screech Owl Nanna to wait. Nanna perches in the rung near my window. Frame cracked open, her call wakens. That song welcomes. Less work for me.The owl box fell from a brittle branch. Friend helps me carry it up the Lodge Pole Pine near the chicken coop.The wooden box weighs sixty pounds. Hung in the ash tree alone,
involved a fall, fear stops me
fixing this
project alone. mistletoe remains
Enormous tear drop on bald charcoal lines.I'm on the extended ladder. It becomes Christmas decorations. Got mistletoe glitter ornament from 2014?This is a decoration with one use life.Nature not saved in dark box for a year.Tissue paper doesn't protect the past.
A
Silkie
chicken is
in the "hospital." Name Steve (her name,
hid in a box for our office move) struggles.Inspiration from a cardboard printed with name______   location______.Brown wrapped Steve's belongings. Name Steve suffered injustice.She has no
flying feathers. Giving diet
boosts to growbut she screams
for  buddies. Daughter
cuddles
appeasing
loneliness.
Fall
birds play:
woodpecker, crowds of jays Costa hummingbirds. Rhythms of needs simple. Insurance, payments for collegeand snow tires don't worry them. Care for young, find seeds and water. Birds suffer racism, injustice, and loss.Fear arrives and flies in the hot breeze. Wheelbarrow chips in the cool morning. Maybe go to Rancho Santa Ana Gardens,hike the Morgan Trail, or finish projects. Days soar by,
gain speed.

Caroline Gerardo Copyright November 12 2016Name Steve Poem