Rain Storm
Standing on our porch
A cloud
    monstrously large and black
sat overhead
filling the entire sky.
Suddenly--from somewhere else--
a lightening bolt
zipped down
striking a tree
and
making the cloud
a thing forgotten.
Rain drenched us
while I fumbled with keys
trying to reach
the warmth and safety
of our kitchen
mere inches away.

Ripples
Toss a rock in a pond
   and the waves created
move in all directions.
Teach a child to love
   (or hate)
       and what you've taught
affects them and others
for years,
      generations
           perhaps.
  

How to Live Happily Ever After

How to Live Happily Ever After

Go amid factory noise and rock concerts, and you may not be able to hear your grandchildren giggle and coo.
As far as possible, never surrender your wallet to a friend, for it will be returned empty.
Be on good terms with all creditors.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly when required to do so in a court of law; when on  a jury, listen, for even the guilty have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they can beat the snot out of you.
If you compare yourself with others, you may realize how smart you are;
for always there will lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements, for you can plan tomorrow's accomplishments after you have accepted your accolades today.
Keep interested in your career; your paychecks pay your bills
Exercise cautiously, or you may wind up in the hospital...
but let this not blind you to what virtue there is in exercise, for the world is full of skinny people.
Be someone else for Halloween, for the holiday comes but once a year.
Especially do not feign affectation, for you will not impress others when you wear your Elvis mask..
Be not critical of lovers if they make you happy.
Take kindly the counsel of your attorney, for you are paying for it.               
Gracefully surrender your things to the youth who mugs you, for he can kill you.
Save a fortune, for money can help you avoid misfortune.
Do not distress over CAT scans yet to be taken.
Many fears are born of loneliness, so buy as many friends as you can afford.
Be gentle with yourself, for no one liked Marat Sade.
If you believe you are a child of the universe you'll believe anything. I have an ocean view property in Arizona. Wanna buy it?
And whether or not it is clear to you, I am a clearly superior being.
Keep up with the Joneses, for he who dies with the most toys wins.
Looking out at it from inside a Rolls Royce, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful for someone is always working to undermine your happiness. Just ask  Max Ehrmann.

(With apologies to Max Ehrman, who wrote Desiderata)

Rite of Spring
Like parents and children headed to the beach
The family of Canadian geese--
       parents and four goslings--
walked down the driveway
through grass
      that often hid the youngsters from sight
to our neighbor's pond.
  

Abandoned House

What dreams were left behind when  the previous owners left for the last time?

 Writers Block
Surrounded by natural beauty of the farm
   I am sometimes overwhelmed
      by inspiration
but unable to connect that inspiration
      to suitable words:
frustrating!

What's Going on?
Last night's train
sounded like it was going
through our bedroom.
The night before the train
sounded very distant
and much more muted.
This morning, I looked:
the train tracks hadn't moved.
The train obviously hadn't change its course.
Am I living in bizzaro world?

Living in the country
I don't miss the city's sounds of
      traffic
      neighbors arguing
      loud late-night music
      sirens
      children whining
      honking horns
      babies crying-- loudly
      lawn mowers
On the other hand,
I like country sounds of
frogs croaking
whippoorwills calling
dogs baying and barking
the sights and sounds of deer jumping fences
       and crashing through high weeds
the distant calls of coyotes
the smells of skunk, manure and newly mown grass 
and even the "welcome home"
  greetings of moths
  at the back door light.
I think I'll stay a bit
longer.

Greetings
In the great silence
          that is a early morning
                                   at Roxford
Scattered sounds greet me
        when I step out on the porch:
   woodpeckers, in the far distance,
        hunting up breakfast;
crows "cawing"overhead
          and song birds making music.
Ah, the joys of country life.

Jumping Deer
The old steps,
that lead to nothing,
   stand less than 50 feet
      from our back porch.
One morning
    while leaving for work,
I heard a sudden sound
   and looked up
just in time to see a deer gracefully
jump,
over the steps
and
disappear
down the hill and
into the
forest

Deer Crossing
Like a businesswoman standing on a corner,
   the doe waited for me to stop the car.
Then it bounded across the road
   and was out of sight before I
      could even lift my foot from the brake
and press down on the accelerator.

Wading Pool Meal
Drifting on wind currents
   the buzzard patiently circles.
But when the bikini'd feast
   suddenly gets up off her raft,
the buzzard flies away.

Cat's Eyes
At the end of the couch
sat        the       black cat.
Her yellow eyes glowing intently.
I felt very lucky not to be a mouse.

Halli the Pit Bull's Latest "Find"

All the World Likes a Country Traffic Jam
Almost exactly four months after starting this blog Jeanine and I can claim that if you build a better poem or take a better photograph  (originally the word was "mouse trap"-- I know) the world will beat a path to your door. And so it is! Besides Americans this blog has been seen-- according to number of visits-- by readers in Germany, Malaysia, France, Russia, United Kingdom, China, Greece, Poland, and Australia. Thanks so much for visiting our blog and allowing us to share our small part of the world with you. Please return soon and often.

Bill McCann & Jeanine Lister

Sepia Toned World
Early today when 
the sun was risen
     just above the tree line
there was a golden haze
     of comforting warmth
around everything--
much like an old
photograph does to memories

Night Life
When the moon and stars are out
       dogs are baying
         and  frogs and whippoorwills singing--
What are people looking for
    when they seek "night life?"

Old Growth Blossoms
Went roaming among the red bud trees
   that surround our home.
The flowers bloom from the old growth--
   from the tree, not last year's additions.
Perhaps there's a lesson there.
  Am I right Col. Sanders?
     Did you say something Gradma Moses?

Wrong Profession
A teacher, a writer
of  32 years
today
I discovered
that I
chose the wrong
profession.
After fifteen arduous months
a yahoo,
at Yahoo,
walked away 
with 58 million dollars.
Now I feel like a yahoo.

Teddy Bear
Lying in the center of the bridge was
  a teddy bear--
       blue muted almost to gray by mud and water.
What brought it there:
     a three year-old's temper tantrum?
Flood waters
     of the Licking River?
Or perhaps just the fact
     that a teenager
no longer needs
protection from the monsters
under his bed?
      

Rejection
"We don't like your
      poetry
        short story
           novel"-- fill in the blank,
said the letter.
That must mean I can't write--
      so I won't, said the writer.
And yet another writer was silenced,
      another voice lost!
But,
       if you lost a single game, would you stop playing
           checkers, chess or cards?
Then why stop writing because a single editor
     is wrong?

Mustard
Why did you leave the mustard
    in the office yesterday?"
 Jeanine asked.
"I didn't,"
I said.
"It walked in there,
   all by itself."
"Uh huh," she said with a smile,
    while tossing it in the trash.
We both laughed--
   then fixed something other than
      hamburgers for dinner.

Winter's Comeback
Like an aging athlete
    or a "retired" politician
        making a comeback--
I awoke to winter's return
There was half an inch of snow
    covering everything this morning:
porch, grass, car . . .
Frogs were silent.
Birds quiet.
And for a moment it was
possible to believe
in winter again.
But the sun rose.
The world thawed out.
And like the athlete
and the politician pushed aside
by a younger colleague--
forsythia and red bud won the day.

Finally . . . Gone
With each passing day,
I happily notice:
Red buds-- popping out in bursts of color.
Forsythia -- blazing yellow splotches of color
Bradford pear trees leaves hidden among
     beautiful white blooms
And as the days pass
memories of
    the grays and browns,
       cold winds and
           piles of snow
              too long a presence
this past
win-
ter
fade
a
w
a
y.
  

An Example to Others
Be the Change
    you want to see in the world!
So how is it that I could operate on electricty
      instead of food,
 and set an example of how the
     world can run on alternative
         energy sources?

Wind and Rain
The wind rambled quickly across the roof
     and drain pipes
followed soon afterwards by
     a long drenching rain.
And when I got up the only evidence of either
     was my rested self
       and a bit more greening grass
and yellower daffodils.

Bicycle Horns
I heard them before I could see them:
"Honk" "honk"--like someone
   was squeezing pink rubber bulbs
       behind gold and black horns.
I looked around and saw nothing.
   Then I heard the sounds again,
      directly overhead:
geese, not bicyclists were responsible
    for the sounds I had been hearing.
Moments later the bicycling geese were gone.

After lunch
  I lay my head back
    closed my eyes
       and just enjoyed
          the warmth of the sun on my face
             and the cooling breeze
   before the honking and blaring of cars and traffic
      jolted me back to the reality of city life
  

Grazing
Driving home past a pasture
   I noticed three deer
      quietly grazing--
hardly giving my slow moving car
   any more notice
     than did the cattle
        one field away.

Mud Puddle

Questions
Halligan, our pit bull,
   always seems to give me
       more questions
           than answers.
Today, for instance,
   she came home
       with a turkey foot
           in her mouth.
What next?
   Later that same day she
    was seen throwing and playing
      with a dead animal of some sort--
           we never did find out
what it was because she went
running off towards the forest
below our house before we ever
determined what it might be.

Balanced
Last night I fell asleep
   to the sounds of frogs croaking
     and the distant wail of a train's whistle.
Today I awoke
   to the sounds of birds chirping
     and the distant sounds of a passing train.
Man and nature
       in proper balance.

Lighting Designer
Driving home
   the sun was behind
     black clouds
fringed with white ones.
The effect was of
   lights behind a black scrim
     with cotton masking.
Who knew that God
  was a lighting designer.

Reflection
On a quiet morning
    like today
       when  bird calls
            are the only
                noises I've heard
It can be easy to forget
    that I live among people.

Quilts
Tobacco barns
in our neighborhood
often have
wooden tapestries beautifully
painted
on their sides.
Of course, these quilts
are much too small
to provide warmth or comfort
Indeed, the animals within would sooner
have a muddy blanket
across their backs
than the cold perfection of human art.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Sunrise
Each new day
    brings possibilities
      opportunities
         and sometimes
           an end to yesterday's
dreams.

You Don't Want to be Charlie Brown
A single black cloud
   scuttles about the sky
      seeking Charlie Brown
to rain on.

Possibilities
In the moments before
dawn
the day
is rife
with
possibilities,
for
joy
hope
love
beauty
achievement
and
yes,
even,
disappointment.

Perspective
For those celebrating birthdays
   young, vital and alive:
The sun is glorious
     the wind is bracing
        birds are singing
as clouds scuttle by.
But for those in mourning
the day is gray and quiet
  with desolation
    and disappointment
filling the air.
Seemingly, the world will never to be
    as it once was.
Until with time
    it is,
      of course.

An Irony
As grass greens up
   calves and ducklings
     start growing
the death of a friend
   or family member,
     regardless of age,
      seems so unfair..

A Long Sleep
The lingering gentle rain
   upon my roof
      urges me to "sleep in,"
which I do without remorse.

Waiting for Rain
Gentle sounds of thunder
    roll across the heavens.
Clouds are mostly shades of
    blue and gray--
       though God has used some
white for highlights.
Even as the sky gets darker
    the shadows inside
       deepen-- lights are now required.
And still the rain holds off.
And
still . . . .

Seven Signs of a Roxford Spring
A moth at the porch light
Frogs croaking
Falling asleep to rain on the roof
Awakening to mud muddles
       where there had only been dust before
Mourning doves courting in the yard
Daffodils
and
Green grass!

Rain
Where
oh
where
is
the
rain?
Send in the rain.
Don't bother
it's
here!
(By the bucket,
no less.)

Around the Corner
It is a bright spring day
they day is warm
the sky is cloudless.
But when I walk around the
corner
I am hit
by a burst of wind
that makes me
believe that
winter might yet
make
a
re
appearance.

On Warm Spring Days
Everything seems brighter
   cleaner, clearer: nicer
people
roads
cattle
pets
everything!
Today it was warm
with a light breeze
and hardly a cloud in the sky.
Spring it would seem
has finally
arrived.
  

Moseying Cows
When cows go visiting
  down the road,
      around the bend.
Then neighbors meet
   to get everyone sorted out
     and back where they belong.