April

                April

Not too many days ago
the softening earth leading
to the dogwood tree trunk
was a level plain of browns.

Leaf litter and dirt clumps
up close, from afar
just flat.

Today

Mr Grey dipped in White,
with his wings folded down
and his tail feathers up
for balance,

went by tiny inch long foot
by tiny inch long foot

tentatively

ever so tentatively roaming

into a bright green forest
as far as our eyes can see,

roaming sparrow sized paths
in the bright green forest
of vertical verdant green stems
that push straight up and then out
with vivid green leaves gracefully
unfurling over his feathered head...

Tomorrow is set to echo
his sparrow steps and
his sparrow song
with a multitude
 of bright white
blooming
 Lily bells
of the valley.

poem & photo copyright ©2014 Anne Selden Annab
The Fairy Garden Poems # 58

March

           March

One day a sunrise
drawing you outside
will tell you it is time to wash
and put away the heavy wool sweaters.

Birds will be knitting the air
with lighter song.

Front yard winter trees framing the far horizon
with diminutive dew drops catching
orbed glow on last year's tiniest twigs
drinking it all in

As huge cloud formations beyond 
celebrate breeze and amber and golds

and greys and pinks and 
roses and tangerines

in the cornucopia
of a coming spring

poem & photo copyright ©2013 Anne Selden Annab
The Fairy Garden Poems # 57

Devotion

Devotion is twenty some years
of marriage day by day learning to love
the best of him with the best of me
shaping the I Ching of us.

Two decades of sharing and daring
to know when to argue
when to back down.

Learning trust and being trustworthy.

Remembering to remember what is worth remembering

(and forgetting most of the bad, except
as a cautionary clue)

Figuring out what to say- and what not to say.

Creating and keeping a comfortable home and a world
where we are King and Queen-
noble partners mixing spheres
and making the most of life
what ever might be, as we are humble citizens
as well as mighty rulers here
here in our world...
the I Ching of us.

Hollywood can manipulate emotions BUT
Hollywood can not capture
real happiness- nor can it depict
a healthy heavenly marriage in full.
Hollywood can only offer up
entertaining stereotypes and symbols.

The best role models
are real people
with real time and experience proving
their integrity...

"Birds of a feather flock together"
my grandmother used to say.

She too lived a happily ever after
happily honoring her husband
and their heirs
and their ancestry
and life itself
day by day
and the beauty of a garden...

poem & photo copyright ©2011 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 56

Clematis & Coral Bells

Clematis & Coral Bells
and three fat robins fledged-
my Fairy Garden blooms

For now at least- this spring

copyright ©2011 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 55

Azalea Sunsets

Suburban woods
where SPRING means
our Snow drops, Crocuses
& Daff-a-down-dillies announce
that soon enough
these expansive Azalea sunsets
all all all all a-round
will subside:
The full spectrum of heavenly color
to be carefully blended and stirred into
a bright series of garden blooms
one by one on the way to being
as the maples' red buds overhead
burgeon accidentally into the necessity
of Summer's shade- and bird watching
is circumscribed to only the closest twig
and bit of lawn.

copyright ©2011 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 54

Find a Nook

In May

write poems
on what might be

flavored
by spring

each bloom
and blossom
a baptism
into community

and exile

In May
write poems

find a nook- hide
and dream

make lavender sachets
or elixirs of honeysuckle

copyright ©2010 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 53

An Eastre Story... a visual poem celebrating Spring by Anne Selden Annab

copyright ©2010 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 52

...Fairy Doors

Our own academic freedom
is hugely real in a vast
marketplace of ideas...
doors and windows everywhere
and long meandering corridors
in a palace of thought.

Ballrooms and balconies
and cupboards of every type

Some prefer dungeons- others like
tall towers & turrets...

Libraries and media rooms
and keyboards of every type

Fields and forests
and rambles of every kind

What might be true here
is contradicted there
for there is no final authority
no end to the process
of thought
as every one owns
both right and wrong and the power
to move away- or towards...

to step up- or back

to know what to bother with-
and what to abandon

and where to find
fairy doors.

poem copyright ©2009 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 51

...One

If I might touch you
glitter in your thoughts
for a micro second

sparkle in your dreams
as if I am alive forever
fused through your neurons

alive with your own energy
To be of your breath-
and pulse in your heartbeat

To be your thought
and your desire
To be who you are with
when you are alone

poem copyright ©2009 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 50

...On Our Wind Chimes

One Goldfinch
gently wind sails
on our wind chimes

His legs so like
the string
pulled taunt

He tightly holds his grip
while shifting his bit of weight
on the pendulum-

I think the first Arias
will startle him
but he stays...
looking up

he knows... he knows... he knows...

poem copyright ©2009 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 49

... Welcome Home

At the threshold
by the burgeoning
honeysuckle
vine

A vibrant
ruby throated
humming bird
flitttttttted up-
to hover

forever
it seemed
eye to eye
.... so close...
to me....

Did he think me bloom?

or did he simply want to convey
welcome home.

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 48

...Up Out of the Mud

Rivers of paint
run through my blood

Rivers of unequivocal color
up out of the mud

huts to palaces
every home

where ever tint can roam

every floor
every wall
every tile
every hall

every costume
every dance
every embroidery
every glance

huts to palaces
every home

every garden
every wood
every field
every could

huts to palaces
every home

where ever ever ever
an I might roam

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 47

...You Are

You are

You are

You are
my perfection

a polished gem
thoughts tumbling

You are my secret
my language of flowers
blooming in every bouquet

You are
my strength

a polished gem
thoughts tumbling

Surreptitious surrender...

My favored port

My ocean

and land

My mountains and clouds
My four leaf clover

My delight

My treasure

My good mood
on a dismal day

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 46

...Anthropologies

Birds watching
as we prune
and preen our trees
preparing
for spring

bundles of branches
and bags of twigs

we bend and break
and hoard our haul

brush from the garden
and broom from the hill

Do they imagine our nest
our herbal brews

with ornithosmorphic
empathies...?

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 45

February's Fairy

Come cold
melt

emerge
in metal blades
carving space
time... thought

fairies caught

in the culling

in the balance between
air and there

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 44

...The Universe Speaks.

"The universe
speaks..."
as they say

and I flow with it
but one drop

tributaries into creeks into rivers into bays into
ocean
evaporating

into clouds

Castles
where i might find
true love

Castles
where i might be
true love

The universe speaks

signs and symbols

yes or no

come here go there...

be bloom or not

blush
and feel the flush of life

breath
and feel the dream
of day after day
simply being

Three billion heart beats
in one human life

The Universe speaks...
allows us to know

leaves hints

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 43

...Fairies Twinkle

Fairies twinkle
in new fallen snow

each glance and glimmer

of shifting
prismatic
shimmer

as all the world turns white

each glance and glimmer

of shifting
prismatic
shimmer

might be one
with rainbow wings
flickering

here there and everywhere
while you might try to capture her spirit
try to save her clues
try to count her community
try to

but never quite come close enough
to catch her

never quite close enough
to know her

to understand her

to define her

to defend her

beyond
your own wildest imaginings

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 42

...The Last Leaf

The last leaf
darkens with dawn

spins on autumn winds
and nestles momentarily
into bird shape

Up and fly little leaf
with all my hopes

Make real my dreams

Flit away little leaf
into light

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 41

...Wishing Well

Wishes weave into dreams
dreams into thoughts
ideas

work

String by string
new songs stir

ideas
work

Blending always blending
then with now

ideas work

Entire worlds wished into being
one by one

agree

ideas work

Practiced into place
tweaked and twittered

and rearranged

to be memorized anew...

"..Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!"

poem copyright ©2008 Anne Selden Annab

The Fairy Garden Poems # 40

Visual Poem

Visual Poem
copyright 2008 Anne Selden Annab