If hardened eye and calloused hand
are able to perceive
a rim of gold around a plate,
a touch of lace upon a sleeve,
and if the rough and scaly bark
of some gray trunk can be
at one with tender leaves of green
to share the single name of tree,
perhaps a body hard with bone
and muscle, firm within,
may own a soul most delicate
beneath a weatherbeaten skin.

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Image credit:Benjamin Ranger
Barbara F. Schutz

I am one of many poets in my family, past and present.  My introduction was through my mother, and my future lies with a grandson.  He just returned from a semester studying in Bhutan, and he brought me a book of poetry written by natives of this small, happy country.

 

Not very productive now that I am ninety, I did publish one book early on and hope to produce another before it is too late!  The poems are already written and available on postcards for sale at my CCRC Gift Shop.

 

I like to observe nature and write poems about what I see.  I also like to reflect on common occurences and turn them into poems.  I do not enjoy the tasks associated with seeking publication, though my poems appear in Tar River Poets, Alura, Snapdragons, The Miscellany and The Archer and on-line in Open Arts Forum.

 

Since music is so important to my life, my poems reflect that fact with a lilt that cannot be ignored.  I hope it is a happy lilt.