Down the windward way
The Calm of the Midnight Peepers
Generosity
I was in deep despair
For a thousand reasons
But I went anyway
To a community garden,
In a peaceful pasture
Outstretched to the treeline
Far below the the towering steeples.
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Led by Sister Ana
Who cut me a bouquet
Of brightly colored zinnias
Speckled red and white,
Magenta and yellow
Flaymboyant
Like living paper mache.
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Here, take these purple tomatoes
And these bundles of chard
From this verdant bounty
Of peppers and squash,
Melons, pumpkins, carrots, and dill
Make them into your dinner
To sustain you through the night.
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“Generosity” written by Sandy Ross Bender on August 13, 2010.
The Sand Dollar
The Sand Dollar
Walking around the curve of beach
The light house still far to the west
Out over seemingly endless dunes
An infinite distance reminding me
Of the poet who observed that
Beyond mountains
Were more mountains,
Soon after my companion turned back
I accepted the futility of continuing
But in my turning around
Circumventing the ocean’s horizon
Looked down upon a treasure trove of shells
Glittering beneath my feet,
There in the curls of seaweed
I found a sand dollar
Smooth and round
Ten pine like needles radiating
The image of the moon
Which would soon appear
Over the darkening sea
Along the Corn Furrows
I was in Tyler Park near my home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania on a cold, wintry day. The sun was low in the sky and the bare trees and knobby remnants of corn stalks evoked the music I had recorded a few days earlier…