Some trees have had to twist and bend

and stretch to find

their way to green.

Even with limbs

 removed by wind or man or weight

of snow, they hold

a memory

that holds them too.

Holding and being held comes from

life’s own deep core

and from it flows

enduring green.

                                                                  JDG

Watching them lie there in the sun,

that cat and dog

of mine, I yearn

to give myself

over, as they do, to the warmth

and light that’s here.

That to-do list

needs to go, all

that inner chattering cease, as

I too circle

round and find my

place in the sun.

                                                                        JDG

Wisteria, weeping purple

tears of  joy, stand

next to dogwoods

full of smiles.

They nod to nearby redwood trees

grinning in the

early morning

sun. Lower down,

buttercups and dandelions

tell their latest

jokes to any

passer-by.

                                                                             JDG

So soon the cherry fades. After

its eagerness

to bloom, it has

but a moment

in the sun before it must step

 aside and make

way for dogwood,

persimmon, and

plum.  So it is with flowering:

a brief burst of

loveliness, then

a steady fade.

                                                        JDG

It’s early morning and all that

squawking I hear

down by the pond

makes me wonder

if, among these geese, it’s love or

war I hear. Just

like with us, it’s

sometimes hard to

tell. One thing, though, is clear.  Waking

to these sounds is

not music to

a morning ear.

                                                                                        JDG

The white I see on ground and trees

is no longer

snow. It seems this

season’s bipolar

days are coming to an end and

for a time we

can let ourselves

be soothed by Spring’s

new and tender green and bask in

the gentle shift

to pink, purple,

 blue, white, and gold.

                                                                             JDG

After a few unsteady days,

when gait and thought

lacked certainty,

some things remained

unwavering: the care of friends

and family,

the welcoming

presence of dogs

and cats, and the recentering

that humor and

writing these short

poems can bring.

                                                                                                  JDG

The smell of wild onions fills

the air as he

mows for the first

time this year. He

allows some buttercups to stand

and spares a small

patch of tiny,

blue forget-me-

nots, but shows no mercy to those

green upstarts who

so slyly try

to pass for grass.

                                                                    JDG

Surrounded by windows, I spend

my days in the

midst of holly,

pine and wild

cherry, home to ravens, robins,

squirrels and doves. As

they nest and feed

and squabble, I’m

drawn into a larger story

than is held by

these four walls and

my small confines.

                                                           JDG

Through winter the holly, cedar,

and pine helped us

 remember green.

As we look out

upon this land, full now with young

and tender green,

may we also

remember those

who kept watch when things looked bleak

and held for us

the memory

of all that’s green.

                                                       JDG