herbiehancock

Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #51 - Snow Squall Click the play button above to hear me read this poem. Click the photos below to enlarge them and see more detail. Snow Squall Biting wind stirs the falling snow like an eggbeater stuck into a bowl of confectioner's sugar. Spinning it, twirling it, throwing off clouds of crystals, puffs of cold, white dust. Pulling powdery snakes in wavy lines across the road. Chasing snowflakes in dizzy tornadoes of white. Skipping across the frozen yard. Dusting the poodle, who ventured outside black-- but returned white. Yin and yang, yang and yin. The poodle creates a squall of his own in the living room as he shakes his fur and sends the snow on his back flying and spinning once again. Yang and yin, yin and yang. It catches you off guard to see that what once was black is white; what once was white is black. You become aware that there is much more gray around than you ever realized. Just as you have it all figured out, the wind howls and...

Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #50 - Ringside Seat Click the play button above to listen to me read this poem. Ringside Seat From his desk where he worked, he had a free ticket and a ringside seat to the daily window circus that performed in the bird feeder outside. With great delight, he watched the birds who, like trapeze artists in bright flashy clothes, flew gracefully from the tree in the yard, swooping through the air, alighting gently on the perch of the feeder. At first he scowled when the squirrels arrived. Like clowns wearing gray fur suits with white underbellies, they climbed and jumped and bumbled about, twitching their tails, stealing seed from his birds and each other. He chased them away when he could. He rigged the feeder trying to block their path, but like clowns, they were smarter than they looked. Funny, furry acrobats with whiskers and shiny beady eyes, they flipped and flew. They scampered on wires, sliding here, pulling themselves there, clinging, cli...

Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #49 - Soldiers In the Snow Push the play button above to hear me read this poem. Soldiers In the Snow Dried stalks of Autumn Joy Sedum stand at attention in the flower bed like soldiers in the snow. Wearing cold, white helmets, with stick guns at their sides, they are guarding tender shoots in the frozen ground below, keeping them safe from the war of winter. In the spring, new shoots, green but strong, will push up and join their ranks. Reinforcement troops are on the way.

Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #48 - Morning Glory Skeletons Click the play button above to hear me read this poem. Morning Glory Skeletons Morning Glory skeletons hang from the black porch rails in the white snow. Seed pod skulls and thin vine bones cling to the bars of their winter prison. Next summer , they will find their colors and reach again for the sun, but for now, their heads droop and their vines shiver in the cold wind.

Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #46 - Night Icicles Click the play button above to hear me read this poem. Night Icicles Night icicles hang at the ready like swords waiting for battle. Their smooth blades gleaming, as if highly polished. Their points sharpened, dripping silent drops of icy water. They sparkle in the light from above the nearby porch. Winter monsters, who threaten and intimidate by throwing fistfuls of angry snow and blowing cold blasts of air, are the ones who hung the night icicles there. Night icicles clink, clang, crash and clatter, crack, fall, splinter, and shatter with just one SMACK from the backside of a nearby snow shovel. Frozen bits and fragments of the broken swords sink into the snow drift below. And the wielder of the shovel laughs.

Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #45 - Orchids Click the play button above to hear me read this poem. Orchids Delicate blooms, fragile alone yet strong united, they are like a host of angels with white wings and cupped faces glowing with the light of God. Each angel carries a small golden star shining for the hope of peace and the promise of days yet to come. Glorious wonder, wonderful glory! Sing hallelujah! Sing! The orchids float in the air above a single green stem. They are tethered by faith between earth and heaven, past and future, old and new. Glorious wonder, wonderful glory! Sing hallelujah! Sing! I wish for all of us a new year full of joy and peace. I hope the days ahead bring blessings too numerous to count. Don't forget to dance whenever you get the chance! Thank you my friends. I get a kick out of you! =)

Merry Christmas! Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #44 - A Christmas Message Click the play button below to hear this message.