Advent

Advent

                            *           ^             ^             ^              ^             *       

                                 a                  d                   v             e                n                   t

                               ##                 ##                $$           $$             ##              %%

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 spark 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 more than college payments.
Take off 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, he knows where cabin lies.

Turn on mud flood road, skate to sanctuary for rare butterflies. 

Talents to ignore with silence, never show for its not anxieties.

Take lover who treats your core as not as chosen, not pretties.
To return after prison spell, dig up clover seeds in coffee cans.
Though means well, confess sins, forgot to cover mouse traps.
Those excuses...

Today start over, walk those 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, jot 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

Nighthawk Rodeo 

Talk negative multiplies 

ranch dogs escape midnight

Talk negative multiplies

moon works to break clouds 

Jefferson, a male, creates holes

 bull with a rope at his privates

 time for a party say the puppies

 escape artists have no worries

 boy's 12 gauge fire crackers

boots on for two step dances.

Talk negative multiplies

free ticket watch for coyote

Talk negative multiplies

jerky treats, not our dogs 

 I'm a Mom with kindness

come chase nighthawks

flashlights on hooting owls

no worry muddy pajamas

brave thunder silly hats

share joy seeps in souls.

Nighthawk Rodeo Poem

copyright Caroline Gerardo

November 20. 2016

Pyramid Mission

Pyramid Mission

Our

fears

disappear

deep breath 

find buried glove

Saint Anthony find this: 

gun, ammo, sling shot, arrows,

yew, buckeye, castor, thorn apple,

affordable armored S U V vehicles

wall 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, add

cell patch, antibiotic, anti-inflammation, regenerate oxygen drugs,

fishing line, duct tape, razor blades, wide shoes, snake venom please

tunnel digging locks hide cache, praying skip loader doesn't go to mass,

pyramid of concrete blocks to weather storms hiding gallon cans of peaches

Did I forget to pray Saint Anthony? Please find list of supplies and keys to Canada

Pyramid Mission Poem

Caroline Gerardo copyright November 16, 2016

Un-Named

Un-Named

Name Steve Poem

Ash
struggles,
I doctored in
 heat of summer.

Deep soak nights,
mound compost
wide as canopy

pray Santa
Ana storm
don't strip
last leaves.

Saint Ann, mother of Mary, hinted in the Qur'an, unnamed in the New Testament. 

Devil winds wake Grandmother. Tree lost everything. Naked stands fifty feet offering

branch 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 dropped from a brittle branch. Please help me carry it up the

 lodge pole pine shading the chicken coop.

Wooden box weighs sixty pounds,

 hung in the ash tree,
 falling into sea, 

fear stops me
fixing this
project alone. 

Mistletoe lasts,
enormous tear drop 

on bald charcoal lines.

Up on the extended ladder 

it becomes Christmas decoration. 

Recall the  glitter ball from 2014?

This ornament with one use life.

Nature unsaved in plastic for a year.

Tissue paper doesn't protect the past.

A
Silkie
chicken is
in
"hospital." 

Name Steve (her name,
hid in a box for bought for office move) struggles.

Inspiration from cardboard printed with name______   location______.

Brown crepe wrapped Steve's belongings. Name Steve treated unjustly.

go sans
feathers. 

Boost diet
 protein grow

- she screams
for siblings. 

Daughter
cuddles
appeasing
loneliness.

Fall
birds play:
woodpecker, 

crowds of jays, 

Costa hummingbirds. 

Rhythms of needs simple. 

Insurance, payments for college

and snow tires do not worry them. 

Care for young, find seeds and water. 

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 paintings?

Days soar
by,gain
speed.

Caroline Gerardo Copyright November 12 2016

Name Steve Poem

I Voted Sticker

Election Day

American Drama denouement

Characters doing 

tragedy / comedy

noble actions

murder words

heroic verse of

Aeschylus. 

Plots, ludicrous charges,

language of media,

turns off audience

a

satyr

a 

shrew

a

chorus of coyotes

Wear your sticker

I voted

that's all you get

Tonight come together

the play is done.

Caroline Gerardo copyright November 8 2016
I devote prayer today for United States to bond together and fix our country no matter the outcomes

Prayer for Pony

Prayer for Pony Poisoned 

Ancestor of River

I am Cree.
"Trust technology."

What BP?

King of Wind 

Fire In Water
renege Laramie
recall slaughter.

Cool poll hunting horse
sip benzene.
poison in graves,
Corexit anoints clean.

Quarters for gaming,
Sonoco pray with me
toxins leak,
land lives, see.

Bulldoze grandfather,
blast ends hearing,
chant #NODAPL
pipeline disappearing.

Hills sacred
pony I love
buckwheat wine
mourning dove.

Caroline Gerardo copyright November 7 2016

The Handmaiden Review

The Handmaiden

I saw The Handmaiden last night. Chan-nook's film still has me thinking. A great emotion when a film stirs. 

The story is plotted upon from Welsh novelist Sarah Water's book Fingersmith. Water's novels are wonderful in their own right with period details that will keep that book in hands until the end.Chan-nook changes points in the adaptation, the story is loosely after the novel. It is set in Thirties Korea under Japanese colonial rule. The Handmaiden is a lesbian romance set as a dark crime thriller.Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee) is a brooding heiress locked away in a off grid estate, a Japanese castle with and English architectural wing. Her evil uncle (played by Cho Jin-woong) plans to marry her to be able to buy more books. Yes, I said, buy more books. The library collection of hard backs and illustrated manuscripts is part I love. The narrative reveals that the collection focuses on sunga, Japanese sexual and dark illustrations.

Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo), a scoundrel without a penny plans to defraud Lady Hideko of her fortune. Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) a Dickensian thief with a heart (perhaps cliche). The grounds are spectacular. Chan-nook shares a landscape of rock gardens, blooming cherry and groves of dark pergolas. The film kaleidoscope of greens, ultramarine blue and white are jewels. Chan-nook uses Victorian themes from Waters. Characters wear masks to be English or Japanese. Social ranks are set in stone. Underneath the uncle and his friends who attend sexual readings are depraved. There's art theft, sadism and a dungeon with a hungry octopus. To touch the books Lady wears gloves. Emotions are held back at the dining table and in tuxedo. Underneath is a thriller. 

My son, home from college for the weekend, works on an essay about Japan in the Seventh Century. We spoke about privilege, power and Buddhism in the morning. Western education fails to show how Korean art and spiritualism influenced Japan. I was happy he is reading work he was not exposed to in California High School curriculum. We convinced daughter to take a trip to Korea this summer.Park Chan-nook is one of several great filmmakers from Korea.  I encourage you to see the film in a big theater, as the visual experience is lovely.

Purple Martin Found Amelia Earhart

Purple Martin Found

Condominium built on hopes

crowd of swallows creates

Homeowner Association copes

clamor close confines grates

Blame Clytemnestra 

Or ask Electra?

Serve rites of the dead  

Barnstormer songs of past

sing cher zweet and ched

express cannot last

Purple Martin Found 

Fate frustrates aerospace

Kingfisher one engine plane

double vertical tail race

wait on an island in pain

Purple Martin Found

Call Poncho silky spy?

Riding Club tests disaster 

her bird house burned asking why

Black martin flying faster.

border="0"style="position:absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px;" /> Purple Martin Found 

   

    

Purple Martin Birdhouses from Centreville.
Dedicated to Amelia Earhart

copyright Caroline Gerardo November 1 2016