Ron Peat
THE ROSE AT SUMMER'S END
—Ron H. Peat, Auburn
—Ron H. Peat, Auburn
The rose of summer opens up,
leans into the warm sunlight,
stands firm in its rooted stance,
dreams of the brightest red
it can become in a sunny sky.
It stands outside the old fence
It stands outside the old fence
with a wide-open, fragile heart
and sings of hidden beauty.
With its deepest velvet wonder,
its shaded leaves are still green.
The rose of summer holds
to all it can be and wants more.
_______________________
Rattlesnake Press is proud to welcome Ron Peat back to the Sacramento poetry scene. He was active in the SPC Hart Center Tues. night workshop for many years and did many poetry readings around the NorCal area. Ron worked with disabled adults as an art instructor before he retired. He has an MFA in painting and drawing from Texas A&M University-Commerce, and remains interested in painting, drawing, print making, sculpture, ceramics, galleries, museums, the outdoors, birds, animals, trees, stones, spirit, love, and revelation, in addition to poetry. On Wednesday we'll help him celebrate the release of his new poetry book, Abyss of the Moon, from Xlibris, which can be ordered on the Internet at www.Xlibris.com/Bookstore
or purchased Weds. at The Book Collector. It's available in paperback or hardback through Kindle and Amazon, as well. Today's poems are from Ron's new book.
See you Wednesday, 7:30pm! That night we'll also be celebrating the release of Richard Zimmer's new broadside from Rattlesnake Press—the first in over a year—A Bench Called Henry. And it's not too late to sign up for the Seasonal Read-Around: five minutes reading poems of your choice—yours or somebody else's—about the winter/holiday/whatever seems appropriate season. Just lemme know: kathykieth@hotmail.com
I've spent quite a bit of time the last few days spiffing up the Kitchen, which included moving around some of the furniture. Most noticeably, the local online journals (Poetry Now, Ophidian and Convergence) have been moved higher up on the b-board, where they'll be permanent fixtures for easier access.
And happy 80th Birthday today, Allegra Silberstein!!
______________________
SNUFFED WICK
—Ron H. Peat
—Ron H. Peat
Following a voice in the vulnerable heart
he is led deeper into rambling turns
within a shadowy labyrinth.
He marks the mossy stone walls
He marks the mossy stone walls
to remember his numb wanderings
through those winding passages.
The course of the hallways narrows:
The course of the hallways narrows:
begins to crumble away: end: they become
a thickened night around his footsteps.
At last, he stumbles, falls face-first inside
At last, he stumbles, falls face-first inside
a huge black chasm: Emptiness widens
where his mumbled echo is silenced.
______________________
DANCE PARTNERS AS THINGS IN THE WIND
—Ron H. Peat
—Ron H. Peat
Her spirit holds him near in lift and fall
it takes his breath away with each embrace;
In laughing wind and graceful sky they dance
and he’s a clumsy bear within the fog.
She sets her toes so softly down on tiles,
she’s like a gentle fawn that walks in snow.
In effortless dance she tracks, uplifts and maps
the orbit placed on moon or stars as deep
in velvet space she follows: traces grace
that’s held in ceaseless movement; while he
is caught within his struggled steps amid
the fray of motion’s spin, where tumbling feet
announce their fall inside mistaken range
of pace where quest collides with pulsing heart.
______________________
HER FIELDS AT NIGHT
—Ron H. Peat
—Ron H. Peat
If he were the dark sky tonight
the shadow of his open heart
would lay across her earth
and touch her furrowed
and touch her furrowed
fields. He'd linger easy within
those moments that are her
muffled wings held in owl's
muffled wings held in owl's
flight. Amid the rustled rows
of dried corn-husk, he'd sing
and reach out to kiss each
and reach out to kiss each
mountain top that quenches
her resolve in a rounded
sleep. He'd blind the dark cricket
sleep. He'd blind the dark cricket
and the cat's silent foot-fall
inside the moon’s limpid drop.
inside the moon’s limpid drop.
_______________________
THE REMEMBERING GARDEN
—Ron H. Peat
—Ron H. Peat
He hears a faint fall of rain-
drops on leafy cloth
The cool air is crisp, moist
from his released breath
All this in the lush garden:
contamination of spring’s
demanding fullness
regains its tinted greens
The iris is dressed-up
The iris is dressed-up
in its fragile purples
standing straight, tall, rigid
in its longing for the dream
Too soon its breath—
Too soon its breath—
its beauty is retraced
where it withered
and faded a moment ago,
yet now it’s reborn again.
yet now it’s reborn again.
______________________
Today's LittleNip:
SPREE
—Janet Pantoja, Woodinville, WA
Shop 'til you drop my dear friends.
Spend all your hard-earned money.
See it go away with ease—
Slip right between your fingers.
Soon your credit card will call . . .
Sorrowful, you'll regret your
Self-indulgence with a sigh.
—Janet Pantoja, Woodinville, WA
Shop 'til you drop my dear friends.
Spend all your hard-earned money.
See it go away with ease—
Slip right between your fingers.
Soon your credit card will call . . .
Sorrowful, you'll regret your
Self-indulgence with a sigh.
_____________________
—Medusa (and thanks, Janet—Pleiades! That's what those seven-thingies are called...)
The Many Faces of Ron Peat