I’ve been watching trees blowing in the wind

 

I’ve been watching trees blowing in the wind:

branches gallantly waving, leaves dancing, 

a rushing breeze buffets each bushy crown.

Inside, I cannot hear a single sound.

 

Sunlight highlights the wavering branches

spray painting the verdant chaos of greens

making a happy choreography

no music, no words, a deaf tranquility,

 

This jazzy ballet - so mesmerizing -

has been accompanying me all day

inside, thinking thoughts in disarray

outside, nature delightfully in affray. 

 

A companion of sorts, this busy view 

outside of harried leaves

inside my head it pleases me

to see them all waving happily.

 

S. Olivier

Menlo Park

June 19, 2023

Edited June 26, 2025

At the Gallery Clothesline Art Show

 

Woolen mittens flying everywhere

the best showing of the afternoon

well played, I thought, 

as the wind waved them off

 

Wind buffeted the tent booths;

their wares inside giddy with surprise

their vendors smiling, ever buoyant,.

 

strolling between the rows of white tents 

I bought nothing that day --

but flying mittens made me happy.

 

S. Olivier

09/08/24 

Exiting the pandemic

As far as I am aware, I never had COVID

although it’s ever-present like a haunting

perhaps using some of the air in my lungs.

 

I live in a bubble now -- is that how aging works? --

all your life you focus on work, family, and friends

making connections, and then they slowly evolve

 

into something unrecognizable, something untether-able.

Weightless in a space module is now how my life is spent

puttering and bouncing from here to there. 

 

I lost 2 years while ensconced away from humanity

meanwhile the old connections withered, so

I am much at sea, at a loss, even adrift at times

 

I was in pronounced denial, but am only weary now --

not for want of trying – to sustain the memories of the past, 

yet not live there, but where?

 

Oh, Ye Donkey

(Reflections on a visit to the Donkey Sanctuary in Hopland, Ca  2023)

 

Oh, ye donkey

Oh, ye donkey ears

Oh, ye donkey hair

Oh, ye donkey eyes —

those eyes!

 

Grace to the manchild who leadeth us 

beside the still, dry creeks

and lay down in the pastures

beside the donkeys.

 

Witness to the lovely awakening  

to the gentleness of these 

servant beasts and to 

their power to change lives.

 

We were comforted and 

feared no evil. We reveled 

that day in donkey-ness.

In those soft donkey ears.

 

And, oh, those donkey eyes —

those eyes!

Observations of experiencing an atmospheric river

 Observations of experiencing an atmospheric river A

 

The California hills a preposterous green,

the clouds nefariously white,             

the leafless oak trees desperately etch the sky 

and the windshield covered in tiny diamonds

left from yesterdays’ rain --

having decamped a power outage

I drive home.

 

 

Observations of experiencing an atmospheric river B

 

The California hills a preposterous green,

            (as they never are)

the clouds nefariously white,

            (as when full of more water to come) 

the leafless oak trees desperately etch the sky

            (as those scrubby trees do)

and the windshield covered in tiny diamonds

left from yesterdays’ rain --

            (grabbing sunlight as they can)

having decamped a power outage

I drive home.

 

S. Olivier

Jan 12, 2023

 Sad little patio on a bleak day.

Miss Christmas Tree 2022

 Miss Christmas Tree 2022 (& 2020 & 2021)

 

There is tree outdoors in a pot --

a big deep pot on a patio,

standing bravely in a spot

in a rainy December.

 

X marks the spot where outdoor tree

stood tall, dressed in bells, 

trimmed in white lights

and frippery of red and green.

 

Outdoor tree patiently waits all day –

to glow at dusk into night,

keeping watch, providing 

unexpected protection and delight.

 

Through the window she blessed me,

worth all the effort to dress her up

paying me back in constancy 

and remembered fantasy.

 

Never passing judgement

all the while witnessing 

the shenanigans of my daily life.

Miss Christmas Tree glowed quietly through th' night.

 

 

Monday, January 2, 2023