Terri Glass
The Fairy Slipper
In the forest, the first spring flowers appear: small clusters of trilliums, pale lavender oxalis, pink fawn lily and the tiniest of orchids, one fairy slipper whose little billow is so deep red, my heart synchronizes with its pulse of color. She is Thumbelina’s gown with a violet cape, a royal spectacle on the moss carpet. How I love this little orchid so brave to shoot up among towering sword fern and wild azalea. How alone she is, but more vibrant than any spring flower opening under the canopy of fir. How I long to be this fairy flower showering the ground with red, purple and pink in a world of forest green. But I am hover like Gulliver over a Lilliputian. I must leave her alone in her blazing secret of beauty. Still Life with Matthew Late afternoon, under the beige umbrella, he sits knitting a soft shawl, the color of dijon. His gray beard brushes against his neck as he bends his head over his hands watching the smooth silver needles make a larger loop every third stitch. I ask him who the shawl is for-- he doesn’t know, but keeps knitting under the umbrella’s shade while our dogs play tag with one another in the dry grass. His hands are hypnotized by the motion, his face tranquil like watching a dragonfly alight on a pond of lilies. Behind him, ripening blackberries poke through a wide barred fence. The dogs pant, heavy with play. Here is summer’s bounty: a simple task, sitting under shade, the air sensing the closing of the day. I feel I am in a brushstroke by Monet. The Web A bridge between worlds-- a spider web holds two roses in place. Terri Glass is a writer, of essay, poetry and haiku. Her work has appeared in Eastern Iowa Review, Fourth River, About Place, California Quarterly, Young Raven’s Literary Review, and many anthologies including , Wild Gods, Fire and Rain; Ecopoetry of California, and Earth Blessings. Her recent books include Being Animal from Kelsay Books, a chapbook of haiku, Birds, Bees, Trees, Love, Hee Hee from Finishing Line Press, an e-book, The Wild Horse of Haiku: Beauty in a Changing Form. Terri leads poetry writing workshops through CAL POETS in the Schools and through DNACA, her local arts council. |