Lake Effect Snow

Lake Effect Snow

The lamp post wears a tall chef's hat

juniper branches bow low under deep

white weighty snow.

Wind pirouettes, now west, now north

northwest, southeast

in treetops, shakes down waterfalls of snow--

drapes sinuous shapes on eaves

where icy daggers grow.

With still more snow in its maw

the wind moans low.

Frost flowers sparkle my window panes

and still more snow.

Robert’s Rules For Writing Poems

Robert’s Rules For Writing Poems

Memories of Rhinelander

King Robert fills up the room

With windy sighs

With lover’s groans

Then setting pen to paper says:

This is good time.

And like obedient children in school

We try to write.

He writes we write—

Can we possibly be wrong?

We scrutinize the lake

Water lilies with umbilical stems

Descending into muck.

We enter into unspoken thought.

Our auras grow large

The room is all aglow

We brighten like a fire

When fanned by a breeze.

We see ripples on the lake

Hear lapping on the shore

A good time—a sweet time

To give and to take.

We read our small efforts aloud

Our words tremble through the air.

What will he say?

We had all come a long way

To hear what Robert will say.

Lake Effect Snow

The lamp post wears a tall chef's hat

juniper branches bow low under deep

white weighty snow.

Wind pirouettes, now west, now north

northwest, southeast

in treetops, shakes down waterfalls of snow--

drapes sinuous shapes on eaves

where icy daggers grow.

With still more snow in its maw

the wind moans low.

Frost flowers sparkle my window panes

and still more snow.

--Barbara Spring