FOUR FEATHERS PRESS ONLINE EDITION: GRASS LEAVES Send up to three poems on the subject of or at least mentioning the words grass and/or leaves, totaling up to 150 lines in length, in the body of an email message or attached in a Word file to donkingfishercampbell@gmail.com by 11:59 PM PST on January 17th. No PDF's please. Color artwork is also desired. Please send in JPG form. No late submissions accepted. Poets and artists published in Four Feathers Press Online Edition: Grass Leaves will be published online and invited to read at the Saturday Afternoon Poetry Zoom meeting on Saturday, January 25th between 3 and 5 pm PST

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Laura Daniels

The Unseatable Bench


Avery notes: 

grass screams when it is cut

tasting the blade before 

being mowed down

my eyes hear your cries 

for help


Meg declares: 

a smell 

cannot be a scream

it is but a breath 

of oxygen 

being released


Welcome to the pearly gates of stupidity

take a rest on the unseatable bench


as Annabell tosses herself down the stairs

screaming: Annabell is leaving 


the book writes itself

because the rusty gate 


leads to hell


her pen bleeds these words:

the grass screams to grow 

but will be cut still 

another day


From my Gentle Grasp poetry collection published by Kelsay Books 




Auburn Leaves


the storm just passed, but your leaves 

are still inside out, flipped over

showing your veiny muted under-side

not your smooth flossy top-side


your moisture response is to soften your stems

letting wind flip-flop your leaves around in the rain

reminding me of my hair's reaction to moisture  

growing my strands from flat to frizzy, dancing


twisting and turning like a baby's mobile 

caught in the wind's cross-current

created by the impending storm

short sprays twirling with dancer’s grace


off my head, a crown haloing in the breeze

each strand drifting away from its 

follicle fix, slackened from a prone position 

floating and flexing and moving about freely


abracadabra: from one step to the other

still the same but different, looser, liberated 

until the dewiness dries and you’re up-righted

by a new kaleidoscoping hairstyle 



Leaf Life


In  

spring  summer

leaf   has chlorophyll

making                it green

as days                          shorten

chlorophyll           travels from leaf 

to the tree trunk                                roots

letting other protective pigments shine through

xanthophyll                            delivers yellow hue

carotenoid                            provides orange tint

anthocyanin                               yields red blush

autumn progress                                 leaf dies

tree prepares                                for winter

foliole morphs                    burnt brown

all                                          needed

is                           gentle breeze

swaying        back and forth

to break           loose

and       drop

down 

b

   y

     e

       f

                      a            

              r

                  e

                      w

                          e

                              l

                                l




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