THE OPEN DOOR
A brown cardboard package
ker-thumps on my porch.
The open door
creates a cascade.
Icicles scatter-shatter.
Squirrel-tail twitches
before tiny toes flee.
Brown birds heckle and hang
on twig-twanging holly branches.
Rabbits munch ice-crusted clover,
small, round eyes fixed. On me.
I give the cold package a shake.
And a tilt. Bump-whump.
My nose doesn’t quite freeze.
Inside, I slit packing tape,
but some part of me
remains outside
as if my soul is part hound
and the universe has shouted
“Squirrel!”
© 2020 by Brenda Davis Harsham. All rights reserved.
Buffy Silverman has challenged us to write a poem that uses combined or invented words. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.
Post your poem on our February 2020 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, February 28th, and one lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her nonfiction poetry picture book from Millbrook Press:
I keep reading your poem Brenda. For the language and your word combining onomatopoeic creations:Bump-wump,ker-thumps, twig-twanging. All tongue and ear-pleasing these. And also the visual. You pull me in to this moment. I see the rabbit, the birds, the squirrel and you. And the story of their busyness while we attend to our mail, our lives, our jobs. Makes me want to go for a long walk. Oh for a pair of snowshoes!
ReplyDeleteLovely, Brenda! You opened the door to a refreshing and magical poem, perfect for this time of year.
ReplyDeleteLove the sights/sounds/feels that come cascading through your open door (the hound hearing squirrel is a scene that replays in my house every day, and made me smile.)
ReplyDeleteMarvelous Brenda–love the excitement that ker-thumping package brought, all around! Reminds me a bit of Ogden Nash's antics with his animal poems.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun, pulling outside, no resisting, all beautifully imagined from "The Open Door"
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud. I love this! I felt like I was right with you! So wonderful, Brenda!
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