A Pretty RedTail Hawk, NOT a Skylark….nor a Cooper’s Hawk. janekohutbartels, wc, 2006
Dversepoets.com is taking a holiday and OLN (Open Link Night) is tonight where we are allowed to post one poem of your choosing. Come read for a year’s end selection of some great poems.
Lady Nyo
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I saw the Cooper’s hawk this morning. She landed on the chimney pot, probably looking for my miniature hen, Grayson. Eight years ago she was a starving fledgling who mantled over while I fed her cold chicken. She’s back this holiday, my spirits lifting. A good Christmas present.
In the middle of the commercialization of Christmas, Nature closes the gap. I have noticed squirrels with pecans leaping the trees, hawks hunting low over now-bare woods, unknown song birds sitting on fences, heard the migration of Sandhill cranes as they honk in formation. You hear their cacophony well before they appear. Their chiding cries float down to our upturned faces.
There is brightness to the holly, washed by our late autumn rains and the orange of the nandina berries has turned crimson. Smell of wood smoke in the air and the crispness of mornings means the earth is going to sleep. We humans should reclaim our past and join the slumber party of our brother bears.
Jingle Bells will fade and our tension with it. Looking towards deep winter when the Earth is again silent will restore our balance and calm nerves with a blanket of Peace.
Winter’s seasoning:
Bitter winds, branch of holly
Haunts in the attic.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2017
Tags: bears, dversepoets.com, Jane Kohut-Bartels, One Reason for the Season, poetry
Lady Nyo's Weblog 
December 14, 2017 at 3:16 pm
What a gorgeous haibun! I love everything about this. So much peace and silence, away from the hustle bustle.
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December 14, 2017 at 3:32 pm
Ahhh….you are making me cry! I am so glad you like this. It’s not new, I post it every Xmas season. That Cooper’s Hawk is real and I see her in the skies infrequently…especially when the leaves have fallen. We need peace and silence this time of the year. I am so sick of the commercials and the damn stores start Xmas back before Halloween. Ugh.
I love Winter because it embodies the silence and peace I seek. It’s a clean palette to work on.
Thank you, dear friend. And Merry Xmas! We try to celebrate the Winter Solstice every year this time, but it gets smothered under all the tinsel.
Love, Jane
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December 14, 2017 at 8:35 pm
Love the thought of sleeping, and soon I think it’s time to go for some hibernation… will have some vacation during the Christmas week and sleep a bit more. Such a dark time. Love your haibun as it describes the best part of winter.
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December 14, 2017 at 8:56 pm
Oh, the best part of Winter is the silence! The clean palette to write. All these duns, blacks, greys, etc. outside are so appropriate for the closing down of the rush of life.
I did have a sentence about ‘regaining the fecal plugs like our brother bears’ (which is how they hibernate) but people thought it gross. LOL!
Sleep! Lately I have been going to bed at 8pm (except for “Poldark”) and getting up at 6 with my chickens. There is wisdom in this and I have actually recovered from some back and knee issues in doing this. As we age we need more sleep.
Thanks brother Bjorn, (Bear) for reading and your comment. Merry Christmas!
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December 14, 2017 at 9:21 pm
Crisp and peaceful, this poem. You make winter seem beautiful, even if it is cold.
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December 14, 2017 at 9:34 pm
I savored every single line! The haiku is wonderful as well. Blessings on you and yours this holiday season … and the serenity and peace of winter.
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December 14, 2017 at 10:33 pm
Yes, indeed you capture so much here – a pretty perfect three liner. the notion of haunting holly especially really caught me…
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December 14, 2017 at 10:59 pm
Thank you, Scotthastiepoet!
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December 14, 2017 at 11:00 pm
Thank you, Beverly. Blessings on you and yours, back. I love the peace of winter. It seems that even the cars are quieter. LOL!
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December 14, 2017 at 11:02 pm
Oh, but it is, Jane. It is beautiful. The surrounding quiet, a muffled atmosphere, helped by the cold because we stay indoors more….except for feeding the chickens, the dogs and cats and the strays cats up the street. There is a peace and serenity as Beverly notes …to winter. It’s also a season for me where I feel most inspired for poetry. Thank you, sweet Jane.
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December 15, 2017 at 1:46 am
What a lovely Christmas present from nature ~ Love the remembrance of what is really beautiful and important in this Christmas season ~ Happy Holidays dear Jane ~
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December 15, 2017 at 2:46 am
COld Cures oF Peace
Winter Resting
Nature
More
iN
FertilizinG
LovES SPrinG
SMiLeS.. wHeRe
i LiVE WiNteR MiSSinG
ComeS Back To Dance A Rest oF me2..:)
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December 15, 2017 at 3:52 am
thank you for reading! Merry Xmas!
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December 15, 2017 at 3:53 am
Thank you, Grace….and to you!
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December 15, 2017 at 4:11 am
Merry
Christmas
To you too..!..:)
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December 15, 2017 at 5:31 am
Jane, this is perfection, and just what I needed in the midst of the Christmas rush. Nature does smooth out the wrinkles of our lives, doesn’t it.
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December 15, 2017 at 11:23 am
A wonderful capture of the winter season. (K)
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December 15, 2017 at 1:39 pm
How well you capture the seasons offerings and denials in your words. Lovely they are.
Merry Christmas!
Anna :o]
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December 15, 2017 at 3:11 pm
And Merry Christmas to you, Anna! With love.
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December 15, 2017 at 3:12 pm
Thank you, K~ Merry Christmas!
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December 15, 2017 at 3:14 pm
Hi Sarah! Your comment meant so much to me. Nature does smooth out the wrinkles and it is so easy to forget in the stupid Xmas rush that Nature has our back. With love, and a wonderful Winter Season to you!
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December 15, 2017 at 4:44 pm
Merry Christmas!
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December 15, 2017 at 5:04 pm
And to you!
With love…Jane
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December 15, 2017 at 5:19 pm
Thanks with
Love too.. Jane..:)
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December 15, 2017 at 5:28 pm
I struggle with the cold and dread winter, to be honest. It’s beautiful in the abstract and provides so much material for writing, but I’ll be glad to see the back of it.
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December 15, 2017 at 6:46 pm
I certainly understand. I used to get so excited about snow….last week, and it is very rare in the South USA…we got about 6 inches unexpectedly. I think the best thing about snow is the expectation, like when we were children? This came without much warning and though beautiful, a fantasy land….something was missing. And it was that ‘waiting expectation’.
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December 15, 2017 at 7:20 pm
I liked how the Cooper’s hawk was a Christmas present. I don’t pay attention to holiday shopping so it is like any other time of year except for the coming winter’s solstice, but seeing the hawk as a present is a nice thought.
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December 15, 2017 at 7:33 pm
Hi Frank. To me, I get excited by Christmas. The music, the colors, the weather, and in many cases (not the over lighted houses) the twinkling lights. We use white lights because its something that harkens back to the Solstice celebrations….thelighting of candles to beckon the Sun back to Earth and rebirth. We celebrate Winter Solstice with devotions, and remembrances and invocations. We will attend a church once in the season to just feel part of humanity. LOL! We heat this entire house (1880’s) with one wood stove, but we have rebuilt it more ‘openly’ so it mostly works, so warmth is also part of the season celebrations…as is the chipper and log splitter and our constant labor. If there is anything that captures my attention it’s “Celtic Devotions” by Caitlin Mathews….that is a small book that day by day takes you deeper into the ‘good stuff’ to celebrate of all seasons. We decorate with magnolia leaves, holly and nandina berries and some ceder branches. Makes the house smell lovely. An Xmas tree because of my husband’s German traditions….but mostly, this season is a season of quietude and silence. Hopefully, Most times. Merry Winter Solstice, Brother Frank! And with the downing of the leaves, the Red Tailed Hawks are visable in the skies. A beautiful gift for our searching eyes.
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December 15, 2017 at 8:55 pm
I don’t remember liking the snow as a child either. It snowed every winter and every winter we had to slog a mile to school and a mile home in wellington boots with cold feet.
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December 15, 2017 at 11:32 pm
Ach…..that would queer it for me, too! I remember dark grey skies and drifts after the snow plow got through of 8 feet high. We used to stick our little brother in a snow bank and listen to him yell.
Snows in NJ in the 50=60’s were fierce and meant the power went down. We were far out in the country anyway and no street lights at the best of times. More later.
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December 16, 2017 at 10:59 am
Our snow was small beer compared to yours, but we had no snow plough, few people had cars, the buses didn’t run and we were usually cold. Especially the feet and hands!
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December 16, 2017 at 2:03 pm
gotcha! We would have our pjs on at the bottom of our drive, with our coats over them and pray the bus wouldn’t come. It did.
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December 16, 2017 at 2:48 pm
You went to school in your pyjamas?
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December 16, 2017 at 4:19 pm
Love your haiku… with haunts in the attic.
Nature is such fun to watch…especially the birds.
Great post!
Dwight
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December 16, 2017 at 11:02 pm
Thank you, Dwight! My haiku is usually ‘hit and miss’ but that one I like. LOL! Merry Christmas!
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December 16, 2017 at 11:03 pm
No! We were hoping the school bus wouldn’t make it. LOL! And it did.
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December 17, 2017 at 1:07 am
Merry Christmas to you as well!
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December 17, 2017 at 6:39 pm
🙂
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