Snapping Turtle

artwork: jeannie e. roberts

Snapping Turtle

     by Jeannie E. Roberts

Here, where countless creatures

weave through these waters,

where wild jewelweed

and Oswego tea

explode like fireworks,

where cattail spike  

and wood ducks float

quietly, here, you hide

near lily pads, soaking

your vicious temper,  

your mighty jaws

mid these muddy waters

you call home.  Here,

something ancient rises,

unchanged, stalking,

tearing turbulently

with aquatic skill,

reptilian toughness

and cold-blooded instinct.

Here, where your life

means death

to countless creatures,

where final breaths

weave peacefully 

       

through waters,  

shining home.    

~ first appeared in Nature of it All

    (Finishing Line Press, 2013)

The Punctuation of Ferns

photo: ralph murre

The Punctuation

of Ferns

by Jeannie E. Roberts

Like snail shells

nestled in crooks

of question marks,

fiddleheads coil,

cap fronds, within

ponds of noonday sun. 

Spirals unfurl, respond

without question, roll

out the answer, clarify

meaning in the fleeting

nature of time; only

to rest, repose, after

accentuating glens,

underlining gullies,

hyphenating ditches

with dashes of green,

upon making their mark,

completing this seasonal

sentence, before fading

to full stop and finishing

with periodic ending points.

~ previously published in NATURE OF IT ALL

  (Finishing Line Press)

Butterfly

photoart: sharon auberle

Butterfly                                                              

by Jeannie E. Roberts

Your order flew

through my door,

a class act

of Insecta —

full-blown,

four wings

fully grown,

a feast

for furtive eyes.

But before

you fluttered,

time was spent

unfolding,

inflating,

producing juice

for the journey.

There you waited,

defenseless,

tender to attack,

drying, until

your wide-eyed

wings let loose

on waves of air.  

Lepidoptera:

you've lived

fourfold,

been altered,

reshaped, reborn

and now,

you've shown me,

through my door,

you're my life

in metaphor.

                                                                                                 

~ previously published in Nature of it All                          

   (Finishing Line Press )