Billie Dee
Bouquet Garni
Up early to beat the heat. Down the path to the tool shed
blackbirds twitter indigo into a blushing dawn.
A silhouette of Grandaddy’s old Allis Chalmers begins
to emerge. The saddleback geese are just waking.
hornworms
tossed to a Guinea hen—
six new chicks in tow
Once the cherry tomatoes are staked, I weed the zucchini,
thin out a row of carrots. Now, here comes
our bantam rooster, crowing as he struts through a patch
of tarragon. Marigolds the color of traffic cones peek
from a swath of thyme. My hoe takes care of the bolting sage.
Satisfied, I scrape my boots, tie on a crisp gingham apron.
first lavender wands
a sprig of parsley
between my teeth
About the Author
Billie Dee is the former U.S. National Library Service Poet Laureate. She earned her doctorate at UCI, has won numerous poetry contests, publishes online and off. She lives in the Chihuahuan Desert with her family and a betta fish named Ramon.
Ah “blackbirds twitter indigo into a blushing dawn” is a beautiful line and for me, in England, there is no more wonderful singer than the Common Blackbird, known as the Eurasian blackbird in North America.
And the lines continue with glory and relish. 🙂
“A silhouette of Grandaddy’s old Allis Chalmers begins
to emerge. The saddleback geese are just waking.”
And
“our bantam rooster, crowing as he struts through a patch
of tarragon.”
The spirit of the line sings like a thrush, and a wonderful choice of using prose couplets, and the final haiku is a joy to embrace with eyes, mouth, and ears. I’d love to hear this performed!
Aw geez, Alan. I’m blushing with pride over your flattering comments. Thanks for being such a careful reader, especially for your appreciation of the long couplet form and my woven theme of fowl and herb. And indeed, the exuberant song of common blackbirds is a delightful backdrop for sunrise! They make me think of Paul Klee’s “Twittering Machine” painting–so in a way this is an ecphrastic poem. Many thanks.
—Billie
I’m very much into the power of the line first and foremost, both in haibun, and single line (monostich) haiku, and basically any writing that contains lines! 🙂
We sometimes forget that ‘the line’ is often more important than the genre itself.
I feel echoes of Dylan Thomas, and others, with your lines. They are gorgeous in their own right, and a gift.