A Chance

 

Today I found a severed stem

of milkweed, with each pod ajar –

so, like a wand, I waved it high

to help the tufted seeds fly far.

And many sailed into the sky,

but others tangled in small trees,

and so I went to pluck them there

and fling them out onto the breeze.

Were I a seed snagged on a bough,

I'd want someone to set me free,

and have a chance to reach the earth

to thrive where I am meant to be.

November 2020

(from the book Longing For The Light by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

 

Thrush

 

A thrush steps through the fallen leaves

With gracefulness and care,

Then stops to cast a dreamy glance

And shyly lingers there.

Her breast's adorned with misty spots

That fade from taupe to buff –

She flies up to an aspen's branch

To call her "chuff", "chuff", "chuff"...

November 2020

(from the book Longing For The Light by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

View From A Window

 

Battered by rain and wind,

the window pane shudders

from the violent assault.

Spattered glass displays

trees that sway and buck

in defiance of the gale,

Until a swift alchemy

turns the leaden skies

into streams of gold.

2020

(from the book Longing For The Light by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Starlight

I stumble through the night

Wishing there were starlight.

The path is long and dark

Lacking any landmark.

Then as the end comes near

Strong winds arrive to clear

The sky of all that bars

The grandeur of the stars.

They shine on me below,

Offering their guidance,

And my starlight shadow

Walks with me in silence.

2021

(from the book Longing For The Light by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

If You Can't Find Me In My Bed

If you can't find me in my bed,

come out and look for me under the moon.

Listen to the notes of the robin's song in the pre-dawn night.

I'll be in the shadows with the cats and skunks and raccoons.

I'll be crouching between wall and wheel filling up their bowl.

And I'll be filling my lungs with the scent of trees and grass and earth.

And I will listen to the notes of the robin's song in the pre-dawn night.

June 2018

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Daffodils and Dandelions

 

The daffodil – tended and tame

fashioned by man to an ideal –

In gardens wide it draws acclaim

and yet for me there's no appeal.

The dandelion – scorned as weed,

yet rivalling the sun's bright glow,

thrives on its own and has no need,

for metal spade, nor trowel, no hoe –

And spreading far by windblown seed

it's wild and free to simply grow.

For me that's all I need to know.

2020

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Golden-crowned Kinglet

 

Such tiny head to hold a crown –

how was your coronation?

I hope you deigned to settle down

during the grand occasion.

Your fleeting visits come in spring –

and loyal subjects greet you.

In fall you're once again passing

although we wish to keep you.

And so, my little feathered king,

long may your reign continue.

Noblesse oblige is what you bring –

this virtue lies within you.

2021

(from the book Longing For The Light by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Return of the Red-winged Blackbirds

 

With only remnants left of snow,

And cold and frost now letting go,

There comes my truest sign of spring

With scarlet epauletted wing.

His flash of red is nature's beacon

To say that winter's grip will weaken.

And when the air fills with his song

Of cheering notes so rich and strong,

I know that spring will not be long.

2019

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

A Vegan's Lament

How can long-time animal activists fail

to see that consistency must prevail?

Not only the steer or broiler 

suffers under the knife.

The dairy cow and laying hen

suffer throughout their longer life ...

only to meet the same blade.

Pictures flash in graphic display

on computer screens, day by day.

Atrocities are not in doubt –

no, that secret's out.

But sadly ...

convenience trumps conscience;

preferences trump principles.

Those whose eyes have seen,

whose ears have heard, 

and yet can turn away

for a good night's sleep

with an egg and dairy meal 

the very next day,

fail in a most profound way.

2018

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Night Air

The perfumed night air is heavy with mystery and promise.

I inhale its fragrance deeply into my lungs as if to fill my

soul with its essence.

What stirrings are these?

Haloed clouds drift by the moon and I am transfixed.

It is a delicious loneness –

not a loneliness of despair or disconnection –

but a loneness, a oneness

where the universe is drawn inside me

until my body contains it all.

All the stars, the seas,

and the long stretching land –

nothing remains apart.

The night air,

with all its dark and lofty secrets,

with all its heady magic,

makes this be.

1996

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Surrender

I gaze into soft brown eyes that smile

as warm hands hold me, melt me.

Slowly ... slowly the clothing falls away

and I am left exposed – delighting in

           my nakedness, in the desire in

           your eyes.

Your kisses reach inside me; touch me

            in wonderful places; soft, quiet

            places of my soul.

Your gentle hands stroke my face, cradle

            my face ...

And my body opens to you, ready and longing

            for your touch.

And you fulfill me – as I gaze into your eyes.

It is you:  your hands; your tongue; your presence –

That bring me to such heights –

             to such delights.

1980

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Survivor

At the flower shop she made her choice.

She'd found the one with nicest bloom.

In her expertise she did rejoice,

This plant would glorify her room.

And then at home, a fine surprise!

Beneath the leaves was another shoot

That had escaped her searching eyes

And defiantly had taken root.

She was intrigued, and marvelled at

This little plant – what could he be?

Exotic species? no doubt about that!

Unique and special she could see.

She named him "Survivor", and sought to tell

His story to all who saw him there.

She watched him grow and thrive so well –

A testament to her skillful care.

And then one day, she learned that he

Was a common weed that had taken root

In another's pot – and shamefully

She'd mistaken him for a special shoot.

"Survivor", she thought, was her claim to fame

But her judgment of him had been too rash.

In the end he had only brought her shame.

She threw him away with the trash.

1999

(From the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Winter Descent

       She struggles forward – her head bent low

       Buffeted by winds and blowing snow.

         Deep drifts and gusts erase her path,

           She vainly battles winter's wrath.

             Strength is lost with every step.

               Finally, there's nothing left.

                 Laying down her head

                   On a snowy bed

                     So soft and deep

                       Inviting sleep.

2019

(From the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

River Side Blues

 

The tree stands at the river's side –

Its gangly roots exposed

like the legs of a young girl

with hiked up skirt

to wade into the waters.

But for all her longing,

she cannot enter

to follow its seductive flow ...

for her roots go deep

and she's held steadfast

despite her downstream dreams.

The tree stands at the river's side –

and cannot leave her place

even when the rising waters

entice with playful laps

at exposed ankles.

2001

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Enlightenment

We humans endlessly aspire

to reach new levels ever higher.

Such lofty goals for sullied souls ...

The animals – already there –

know not of triumph nor despair.

Content to be, regardlessly.

They have a knowing far beyond

that which we seek.

And with the planet have a bond

that is unique.

A turtle basking in the sun,

has he not managed to be one

with the Universe?

2018

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Point Nemo

 

It's hard to know what brought me here –

yearning to be far from reach.

Do not try to reach me.

My desire is not to regain the shore.  It's not in finding land that I'll be saved.

I choose to stay at sea ...

lost ... but saved

by the vast blue horizon that calms my soul.

Do not try to reach me.

2018

Note:  the place on Earth furthest from land is called "Point Nemo" or "the oceanic pole of inaccessibility".

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Cat In The Moonlight

My Willow comes to the bedside and the moonlight halves

her little upturned face into light and shadow.

The moonlit eye beseeches me to invite her up.

The silvering of her fur accentuates the line of her flanks

and her feline beauty.

I pat the bed and, in an instant, she alights beside me

and curls up in contentment.

2017

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Winter Garden

 In a mind's haze, numbed by age

she stumbles through the house

at night

And finds her door

And opens it

And passes through

To frosted garden

there within

the moonlit view.

There's solace here –

familiar sights that ease her fear.

She sees the birdbath

but all is ice ...

And no bird will come to bathe or drink

And she is lost and cannot think

of what she needs or what she wants.

And when she's found in frozen pose

Upon her favorite garden chair

I know that it is no mistake

that something led her there.

December 2016

(From the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

When I Was Small

When I was small and just a child

I wandered 'long these grassy trails –

Observed the milkweed and mullein

And saw life's tiniest details.

It seemed that then the plants and I

Were almost equal in our size –

And this afforded me a view

Of monarch eggs and damselflies.

And now so many years have passed

Since once I wandered through this grass.

My height is more a hindrance now

And eyes – less keen – preclude the sight

Of all the tiny precious life

That once provided great delight.

When eyes and mind are of a child,

They are more kindly blessed

Than present eyes – set high but dulled –

And mind worn down by stress.

Have years made wise the thoughts that pass

As now I wander through this grass?

Cannot as deep a truth be known

From contemplation of a stone

At a mountain's base

Than from ascending t'wards the sky

To such exalted view on high

Of grandeur and of space?

1999

(From the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

The Comet

 

A comet, emerging

        from the black void,

                displays its wondrous grace.

A treasure made greater

        by its short life

                across the night's dark face.

And when its time is over,

        to blackness it returns,

                and we are left in grief.

For we are like the comet –

        bringing the world our light –

                unique, but also brief.

2001

(from the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter

Dedicated here to the memory of Gale Martin who died on December 23, 2022