May 2023
Bio Note: I find peace outdoors, listening to birds, identifying plants, and noticing Earth’s beauty while practicing gratitude along the way. My eighth book, The Ethereal Effect – A Collection of Villanelles, was released by Kelsay Books in 2022. I'm an artist, animal lover, and nature enthusiast. I serve as a poetry editor for the online literary magazine Halfway Down the Stairs.
An Acrostic of Vernal Notation
Songbirds vocalize, mimic the call of their species. Plants answer to longer days, the expanse of light. Renewal awakens the leaden horizon of sleep. Increased warmth enlivens our lives, supports Newborns in survival, fosters Fawn’s and Gosling’s Growth as food flourishes and foliage offers safety. To witness the genesis of birth, its swell toward form, Invites celebration as Crocus lifts from winter’s vault, Multiplies, where Tulip’s cup of color quenches our thirst, Extends hope as the Earth hums, repeats Rise and Shine!
Human
See that blade of grass as it glows in the early light its green tip barely visible Do you see it? After the glacial months it pushes through the darkness surrenders to emergence and so can you
In Honor of My Mother's Meals
after an image —a villanelle for Karin Alice Smith Roberts (March 30, 1924 – January 11, 2013) You remember the prep before mealtime, the flair of cookery, fuss, and to-do. Like a bustling beehive, the hum was sublime. The kitchen utensils echoed and chimed when Mom mixed a batch of hotdish or stew. You remember the prep before mealtime. Griddles and skillets, lemons and limes, she juggled it all as she twirled and flew. Like a bustling beehive, the hum was sublime. Her meals reflected a thoughtful design, tasted like heaven from fish to fondue. You remember the prep before mealtime. Gowned as if goddess, dressed to the nines, you watched as she plied her ambrosial muse. Like a bustling beehive, the hum was sublime. Her poetic motion shaped rhythm and rhyme, infused cadence, bestowed aesthetics to food. You remember the prep before mealtime. Like a bustling beehive, the hum was sublime.
©2023 Jeannie E. Roberts
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL