BACKYARD SUMMER DRAMA

The last dog walked

and garage rolled shut,

backyard stirrings cue

the porch’s invitation

promising tonight’s

summer evening presentation. 

Take a chair

dim the lights.

the curtain rises . . .

to heavy muggy air

settling, darkening to night –                                                              

harkening the first fireflies...

Stage left, then right.

Rise and disappear.

Cricket interludes intrude –

scattered . . .

building . . .

pulsing . . .                                             

to a surround sound

insect etude.

Rock it, cricket, rock it, cricket

rock it, rock it, rock it, rock it, . . .,

          

From a tree,

Excited chirping

sears the air –

trumpeting tension.

Unseen.

Where?

Minute gnats

take the air bringing

twisting bats weaving

through their dinner space.

Then long-awaited fireworks    

slo-mo, everywhere                             

rise and disappear –

a firefly ground finale,                   

ballet sans choreography

the heated evening mating urge, severe.

Rock it, cricket, rock it, rock it, rock it

A stir of breeze;

showers rattle the maple leaves.

The drama cools.

Night’s curtain falls.

Time to  exit

reluctantly

Dennis R. Keefe

May3, 2007

 

SUMMER SOLSTICE FROM THE PORCH

The late afternoon sun sends its rays

Angled high

Down through the leaves

Swirling shadows

That encircle me

A summer sanctuary

 

Serves me

And a passel of birds

I am glad to host

Last minute feeding

Then an announcement 

Of that perfect roost

The angle of the sun lowers

addressing trees higher on the hill

Then climbs those trees

And lifts the day away

A Michigan alpenglow

Dusk, cooling, the wind now gone

The aroma of once freshly cut grass

Now works its way up from the ground

As a more pungent drying hay

Encore

Solar lamps

Pop on before ten

For a moment of cheer

Then gradually dim

Bird chatter, gone

Darkness slips in

Tomorrow’s show begins

With cocktails around four

After Carole, with her hose

Has had a chance to visit

Each new seed and flower

DRK

6/19/20

     NURTURING NATURE’S DANCERS

From the backyard arise
our first fireflies.

Months of magic released, spring’s
annual pool, genes,
from last year’s wintered over
beetle larval leavings.

Now lightning bugs poise
to open summer’s show.

Mates to be sought,
eggs to be wrought.
Their air, warmed and conditioned, just so.


On the day before summer
they danced at dusk.

Now through July,
    seeing it a must,
their daily rise
to a silent frantic
ground finale.


Luminescent genes
egg on the dance
that continues the pool.

DRK
9/13/11

 

TIME TRAVEL AT THE CENTER OF SPACE

Travel to Canaveral, 
and Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
for rockets and more.

Land turtles, creeping basketballs,
inch their way to the bush.
Gators in the summer heat
retreat to the woods.
Stop for a picture?
Snake bait.

I suggest, for
images to share,
explore
the Kennedy Space Center legacy.

A shuttle crawler, low, shuttered in its track
    recalllng
        slow steady steps into space
    awaits
        the last shuttle, now in stall
        anticipated payload in prep
        for one last space station haul
    and wonders.
        What’s next?

Apollo 8 on display,
its mission complete --
    sent a crew
    to orbit  the moon
    and return.
Experience it with the original cast
and control room technology --
IBM, NASA and Boeing.
The world, awed
at first-time views.

Kids, this is where it all began
on a clear day, December 21, 1968
Apollo 8 took a picture of the U. S. of A.
and your mom’s and my wedding in Lax, GA.

DRK
7/16/11

 

THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING

THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING

    Remembering Chicken Little

Are you struggling to remain small?

Or negotiate old distances?

Physicists have answered the call

There is a movement outward

 

Big Bang!

Have you noticed it? 

When I return to campus, as a retiree

I struggle to get from A to B

For thirty years I traversed this campus

Corner to corner, place to place

From office to classroom

And every imaginable meeting space

It never took this long

Students have always been challenged

To get from one end to the other

But, hats off, their generation is adapting

Through some evolutionary mechanism

Parking lots, our neighborhood

         Insert your own experience here

Everything takes more time

And energy to negotiate

When the universe expands

Everything does

Yonder, people must speak louder to communicate

And I do the same for them

Ladders extend higher

My girth and weight

But the future looks good

When I call upon the young 

They respond with such aplomb

Son, please take this stool 

That light bulb needs to be replaced

That one way up there

DRK

8/28/20

 

THE TROUBLE WITH GETTING OLD

 

Is that not everyone does

Someone is left

With what remains

 

In the brain

 

Unpreventable intrusions

Infusions?

 

Phantoms

Rummaging

Jostling for brain space

 

Is there still room in there?

 

Do these visitors occupy

Empty areas?

 

Or do they create

Maybe dignify

New spaces

That might have

Mouldered away?

 

That is the hope

Welcome, spooks

 

DRK

4/5/2025

 

 I-N-V-A-L-I-D

 

My retinue of roles

On their journey

Playing out the rules

    Let me get that door for you

    May I help you up that curb

        Young man

Young man?!

 

Life's logic urges

Move along

 

Were I to question that logic

One of us could be declared

As/an

 

I-N-V-A-L-I-D

 

DRK

1/16/25

 

 

 

 

THE KITCHEN TRUCK

Alyssa and Hannah, aged three and four
Traveled to a lake shore camp ground

In a kitchen truck
Where daddy hooked up lights and heat
Hosed in water and hosed out muck.

A campsite, complete with acorn marbles
     To rain on our roof
     And cover the woods
With breakfast for the wild turkeys 
That joined us for bacon and eggs
     Though only the dog and Hannah saw
     The animals with just two legs.     

It was spring
And exploring the woods was the thing to do

Marinas, sight-seeing, dams?  Too adult
The kids wanted to collect
Bugs and worms

Outside into the cool, 
Back in to the heat
Boots on, socks off
Dirty feet, cold feet
Comings and goings became the rule

When rain kept us inside
Grandma’s stories brought snugglers to her side.
“Meme, will you  make another lap
So that I can sit there too?”

What was the big hit, 
our favorite?

Setting our clothes on fire 
with campfire sticks?
     What a laugh that brought                             
Seeing live catfish?
     Are these the fish that cats eat?
The place with the rocks and dead people?
     Definitely not

To our kids 
Feeling the soft fur of a dead deer 
Could not be beat.                   

Dennis R. Keefe

May 7, 2004
March 20, 2016

 

 

SPRING ASSERTS ITSELF

 

Every spring, every fall

This dynamic duo works fast

For a month or two

Changing the rules

 

Winter and fall, hauled away

Now, lawns to mow

Things to grow

 

Look at what’s coming up

Do you remember planting all those bulbs?

The clematis, fantastic

Roses, racing along

Must speed into bouquets

Before they become buds

Of prey 

 

Hanging baskets, for sure

New seeds.  What?  Where?

Petunias in the sun

Impatiens in the shade

Most I cannot name

 

Carole, spring’s enabler

Will give you the tour

Including the transplanted

Dependable hostas

 

All summer, attend we must

New plants and transplants

Old bird baths

A hummingbird feeder

Locate, clean, keep them going

 

And, of course, the birds

Cued by warming winds

Their intense songs

Announce new broods

 

Could you use an old paver?

Once a patio

Help yourself

Take a dozen

 

Carole’s hidden garden

Has a pagoda

To me, Zen

 

DRK

6/13/22

 

MOLLY IN THE GARDEN

'Tis spring

Molly is in Florida

Visiting mom and dad

And her flowers

The ones that wintered there

Did not like the cold

Had no time for dormancy

(Their snowbird trek last fall --
Still a mystery) 

In Orlando

Nana and Boppa kept them busy
Preened and green

Let them strut their stuff

Now spring's hints 
Of summer's southern heat
Have led them to consider 

A retreat 

Molly timed her visit 
To return them to their summer digs
Back home, on her knees

She will fluff their dirt

And address them in their flower-ese

In no time they'll respond

And, I predict, astound
Their Michigan fans

Should you be one

Be sure to take note of their Florida tans

DRK

4/11/08

4/24/17

        

 

 

SPRING

Into warmth
Let your senses run a little wild
Freed from winter's coop

There is a string attached
Though loosely tied
You must fuss and "Ooh"
O'er all the new  


See the lace?
Look through the buds, seeds 
And hints of leaves

Blooms in sequence
Splash the greening yards and trees 
While winter's shut-ins gather at the fence  

You do realize  
Intro's from this emcee

Bring summer's earnest greenery

The need to make hay

Photosynthesize while we may

The time will come 

Again next fall

To enjoy the view

For now, your thumb,

How green?

Summer has its eye on you

DRK

5/2/17