snow power

illustration by Julie Rohan Zoch

what’s under the white snow?

 

when I see the snowflake design on the weather report

I freeze, breathless!

forget to consider it a blanket

keeping the roots intact

sheltering the fungus which converts soil to new life

and lets me view light

and all the colors of its rainbow:

energy for my soul!

Pattern #23 Fungus

Photo by Quenby

Extreme weather winks and blows;
Wakes and prods you: darkens, glows!
Breathe in deeply;trust the throes
To morphe you into one who grows!

Riddle#36 Orange

Orange

Which is the fungus from Halloween?
Which is the fun guy from Easter morn?

Which has the yolk as yellow as corn?
Which has the shape of sweet candy-corn?

Which has the sun’s glow orange and warm?
Which has the ruffles that fan out when born?

These are the riddles all orange and bright
Sunny and funny and scary a sight!

Riddle#10 Fungus

Here is my first CLIMBING RHYME POEM:

Fungus
(“Easy, greaz-y, there’s a fungus among us.” Gary Moore)

Fungus in a tree
teases me to see
if I will fly to munch
mushrooms for lunch.

A bunch of roots
scrambling for my boots

climbing ‘tween my toes
to close the gap
of sap and growth,

lap dancing for me.

Look at this poem closely. The rhymes are not only at the end, but appear throughout in different places, like in African chants called g-hazels. There is a long history in poetry of rhymes being used in work chants such that one person starts a chant to set a rhythm to make the work go more smoothly and entertain other workers. Then the poem is handed off to another worker who keeps the rhythm but adds to the rhyme. In Africa, workers built reputations for being excellent rhymers or great game players in this form of poetry competition.
The CLIMBING RHYME has it’s history in Burma and the Burmese language only has one syllable words, but here in the US adaptations are needed.
Here is a graph for this poem.
Line 1 xxxxA
Line 2 xxAxA
Line 3 xBxBxC
Line 4 xxxC
Line 5 xCxD
Line 6 xxxxD
Line 7 xxxxE
Line 8 xExF
Line 9 xFxx
Line 10 Fxxxx