Pumpkin Snake

Pumpkin Snake

Spring snakes singing out

heat crusts their burrows

signals to waken to find

silver feathered mice, 

that hide in pumpkins,

and apple blossoms on the

earth waiting for them to

play and scare me silly.

I'm building a silt fence

over the mesh wire buried

in front of the chain link

to keep out the rattlers

a critter evil surprised

strike me when I forget 

leather gloves, snake chaps

and sharp shovel to keep my

garden safe from some crazy

king who steams his subjects

with nerve agents and say they

 meant to kill the bugs and rats.

DIY:
 mice walk the plank for peanut butter
dump pirates miles away for condors
don't murder garter snakes or frogs

Copyright Caroline Gerardo April 2018 Poem A Day

t

ABC Poem

 I'm missing teaching the alphabet

Answering every question with a: "yes, here's how."
Believing I fix things after watching a UTube video.
Cleaning ears of our Golden Retriever named Honey.
Dancing to music composed on a Stratocaster guitar.
Enlightening your mind to constellations over earth.
Feeling appreciated by the gestures, notes, & smiles.
Greeting sunrise with a rosary and packed lunches
Having courage to do motherhood and fatherhood solo
Investigating the clicks on the home computer for evil
Judging after hearing lies from blinking eyed faces
Knowing car repairs when no Moms know how to
Listening for the front door to open when your home
Managing the payroll check with the mortgage money
Nagging when you can study longer, or do an extra lap
Organizing the drawers, bagging stuff for the Veterans
Planting heirloom tomatoes next to the herb garden
Questioning the Principal about school safety plans
Reading the tandem books in your syllabus
Searching graveyards for new rose cultivars
Tallying statistics for Frosh JV and Varsity Lacrosse
Underlining the legalese to change the contracts
Verbalizing prayer, plans, praise, and elation.
Waiting for your call that requires my advice
X husband pays for nothing criticizes particulars
Yawing in the morning under dark Tule fog
Zzzz is not sleep it is the diligence of my mind.

Love,
Mom




and more
Stopping the leak of the river of the world
Planning for
Saving for goals

Copyright Caroline Gerardo April 11, 2018 A Poem a Day

Roland Reiss

" Ars longa, vita brevis occasio 
praeceps 

Art is long, life is short, opportunity

 fleeting,

experimentation perilous, and judgment 
difficult.

:Ὁ βίος βραχύς,

ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή,

ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξύς,

ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερή,

ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή."

Hippocrates

Roland Reiss Poem 
on my 10th day of 
National Poetry Month 
Poem a Day

Roland Reiss at Claremont Art Museum 

celebrate a return to history ~

not a retrospective, peeks in his past. 

Color bombs cultivated to outlast. 

Miniatures in plex-cases reveal 
narratives laid out in minute detail
diorama  natural   history. 
lifelike scenes offer a view of story.

Watch a television melodrama
endings determined in the spin around
movies playing out without the three acts
from a peephole, viewers discern the facts.

The paintings also share high principles
buried brushstrokes under dirt road washboards,
glossed color medium gives such a sheen,
stinking aroma of permanent green.

Amaryllis opens on time Christmas
captures forced a 17th Century bulb
and tulips as the Dutch Masters did save
Reiss tames cadmium yellow to behave.

Disney, The Capital and winged airplanes 
humming low under Matisse colored sky.
Not wild lupine, these cultivars create
music by the Master that is first rate.

Caroline Gerardo  ©  copyrights reserved April 10, 2018

Please see his exhibition
"Unapologetic Flowers and Small Stories"

Poem To My YOUNGER Self #wtwrites

A Poem to myself many years ago.

Fear nothing

the highest

silo cannot 

stifle growth.

Practice hourly,

daily, dream,

drum until

arms ache.

 Plan new

climbs they say

cannot complete

or flew before.

Wake early

smile before 

the sun hits

 smoke horizon.

Save money

harvest like

a worst year

store energy.

Love many

when they rip

the soul, plant

seeds for more.

Make mistakes

save the scabs

mix in the mortar

build YOUR life.

National Poetry Month Poem a Day

Copyright  ©  April 10, 2018 Caroline Gerardo

Moshen Namjoo

Moshen Namjoo on poetry, form and rhythm. 

 در شعر، شکل و ریتمن

USC Lecture April 2018