Writing Retreat

****Awarded the Rain Bird 2010 Kolekolea Honorable Mention in Poetry


I look forward

each month to return to
Hale Akoakoa
at Windward Community College
for my regular shot of
Lillian,
my special coffee mug
brimming
with her enthusiasm

compelled
to share
listen and
be challenged.

To explore-- this strange new country
called writing,
jam-packed with strong verbs, and syntax
bubbling from a practiced source.

To discover my own special voice.

As I venture
into uncharted
atriums and lanais
sheltered by banyan trees,
while grinding on
chocolate chip cookies
cantaloupes
and cherries.

To boldly go
on a
lyrical expedition,
serenaded
by
cellos
chickens
and a heart stopping
rendition
of cock a doodle doo.

Garnering G's

Garnering G’s

Gallic gadflies gaff gallant gamecock gauging galley.

Garrulous game garners gangplank.

Garden gargoyle garrotes garter snake.

Geisha gets gaudy gazebo, ghastly garden.

Ghetto gentrification gives gauche gatecrasher generous grade.

Gecko geek genially genuflects, gleaning gender.

Glacier glass gleams grace.

Goose gossip grades gradualism.

Group grinds gorp.

Grape gratis greets grimace.

Gross grub groans gruff grocer!

Guacamole gulch guarantees guerilla guidance.

Gutsy Gurkha grasps guava guitar.

Gesundheit--giant germ!

Gleeful girdle give-away, girlfriends giggle gladly.

Forking F's

Continuing on my journey through the alphabet!!

Forking F’s

Fabian faces-off fancy falcon famous for fatal faux pas.

Federal featherweight father’s feral feline.

Ferocious female finds fence favorite feature.

Flaccid ferret flashback’s following festival field-testing flannel.

Filipino film figure fillets Finnish fish, finds fleshy finger tip fondue.

Frisky flirt fondles florid floozy.

Flypaper font foments frenzied folk-art.

Foreign foreclosure foreshadows four-square foul-up.

Frantic fowl free frisky friend.

Frightful four-o’clock  fracas fricassees frog.

Fugitive from fudge factory furthers futurism.

Enlisting E’s

FYI--this month , my twelvth month of writing a poem a day,

I'm going through the alphabet--stretching a bit with my friend Merriam-Webster (dictionary)

Enlisting E’s

Engaging  elusive elands
 enable

elbow room elegance,

embrace emollient emissions.

Emir’s emerald

embroils emissary

eating enchilada.

Endangered enclave ends epic erection.

Elite ermine erase erogenous Elizabethan era evangelizing elk.

Egret elixir experiment explodes exponentially.

Egregious ethernet euphoria excludes

eighty ethnic European elders.

Evangelist excogitates exceptional expletive
exhibits eyeball.

Ezra extracts

elephantine eyewitness eliciting

elevator elegy.

Dealing D's

FYI--this month , my twelvth month of writing a poem a day,
I'm going through the alphabet--stretching a bit with my friend Merriam-Webster (dictionary)



Dealing D’s

Dainty debutante dabbles daily, dribbling drama.

Damask dandelion decor decoded, drawn dominantly defining domicile.

Defiant definition decrys democratic deficit, dividing district.

Diphthong diplomacy doesn't deter dedicated dairyman.

Dinosaur dioxin disease deceitfully delivered disguises dumping duct.

Disagreeable disc jockey drifts dreamlike, drenching druid.

Disclaimer discerned daring Darwin database.

Duplicity duress dysfunction delivers dauntless dead end.

Dry-run disarmament dumbfounds duenna duly dudgeoned.

Culling C’s

Culling C’s

Captivating carambola caresses

caribou caricature.

Careworn caregiver carves casaba carp.

Caribbean carnage catapults cataclysm.

Cautious cauliflower caws celibacy.

Cerulean cetaceans challenge chimera.

Chimpanzee chimes chilly chorus.

Chrysanthemum cloisonné clearance closeout.

Close-knit clique clones club-sandwich.

Costumed Cossack counts coyote.

Creature craves credit.

Crocodile cultivates cyst.

Boogie Fever

Boogie Fever by Cornelia DeDona

Make Your Own Book

Meadow Pause

Meadow Pause by Cornelia DeDona

Make Your Own Book

Bossy B’s

Bossy B's

Bill’s biplane

buzzes blind blond bombshell.

Blowsy blueprint

boasts blue-cheese.

Blue whale boggles

bohemian.

Bonze boos boodle.

Bonny buxom bookworm

butters butcher.

Bumptious Bookie

bugs bookseller.

Boor borrows breast plate

brakes bramble branch.

Biological breach

breeds bucolic buddy.

Bulky buttock

bypasses Byzantine bystander.

Warrior Cat

Go to http://hazardcat.blogspot.com/
to see my poem, published 5-7-10

Accruing A's

Accruing A’s

Aseptic arm

articulates assertive

abeyance astride

assassin.

Abandoned arboretum abuts

arid archipelago

anticipating anticlimax.

Antique apothecary

appends appalling

Antler art.

Adios, Adieu, Arrivederce,

Auf Wiedersehn

Aloha!!

Paradise Found

I’m calling down my muse.

He’s calling up the ocean’s warrior fish.

The carp swim.

The tilapias continue to breed.

The golden koi fountain shoots water 24/7

calming the inner crimson and

the outside world dissolves

into pink, indigo

and jade.

The days roll by

flipping their tails at us

circling

jumping and splashing

in spring fed ponds

fertilizing

plum orchids

basting orange

bromeliads and

healthy green papaya

dripping

in the sun.

Gray Dawn

Gray dawn yanks down the covers

and proceeds to pour in light

 shifting the mask.

Emerald cliffs loom from the shadows

sharp points and dark outlines

line up and

demand recognition

as green splashes against gray

waving at an orange beauty

by the water’s edge

blushing content

finally

from the notice.

MOM--Six Word Memoirs

Calms outbursts tucks hanky in sleeve.

A safe port in fierce storm.

Irreplaceable treasure, guards key to contentment.

Uses Seeing Eye dog when necessary.

Pulls rabbits out of hats daily.

The best medicine, money can buy.

Unpaid cook, maid, and phone operator.

Domestic goddess trained on the job.

Gray hair, chipped nails, bright smile.

Sensitive tornado sweeps away unreasonable conflict.

MAY SLips in

May slips in unannounced




humming


bringing style and verve


as last month’s voice loiters


in a sad corridor


released from the cast.


A bouquet of white and purple lilac follows


freshly cut and arranged.


Their sweet scent lingers


long into the night


exciting


young noses


singing


a new song.

Mendacity

Mendacity

detects you from a corner

next to the potted Anthurium,

a poster child for normal behavior

in the ghetto.

It sneaks up and tries to get cozy

then proceeds to suffocate you with an invitation

to ponder

justifying past deeds,lining them up for the firing squad

aiming for the whites, in a sea of gray.

Drowning in delusion

it comes up for one last gulp

one last vain attempt,

to stay alive.

Lawns Horses and Pigs

We moved into our new, old house in 1985.

A new adventure, on
a dead end road in the country,
away from the noise and traffic,
a piece of the rock to call our own.
2.1 acres that we had to rope and tame
rough doesn’t even begin to explain it.
Imagine carving out a lawn with hand tools
and brute strength and doing it after work with lanterns into the night.
It took years to even think about having a lawn,
fifteen years to be exact, by then we had two houses
and a three car detached garage.
Add fruit trees, flowers and a pond not to mention a giant lawn.
Our ancestors would have been proud.

In the beginning we purchased a bull
and went to work.
During the day we had our business to attend to
Roofing and Vinyl siding, when it was slow we painted and did interior renovations, hell we did it all.
After work sometimes by flashlight
we would pull weeds, and hack away at California grass
about six feet high tough and tangled
choking upon itself in the humid tropical clime.

Bully the steer was our first new addition to the family, and then before I knew it we had Billy and Jennifer, two goats and then chickens and roosters, not just any chickens mind you, we had feather dusters. After that the ducks came along, six of them, and they would be joined by six geese, two horses Beauty and Hoku, which you couldn’t ride just one, both had to ridden or else, and I began to think the farm life was for me--except for one thing

I object to ducks swimming in my pool-- too much poop
and with the poop came the flies, so many flies
that I couldn’t enjoy laying out by the pool in the sun after work when I wasn’t doing anything--yeah right!

Oh and did I mention the pig--

did you know that horses and pigs don’t get along?

Excavating Bones

Inspired by Poem a Day--Academy of American Poets April 2010 and by Spencer Johnson's, "Who Moved My Cheese."

Excavating Bones

Skeleton in ice

gently thawed

and cradled;

hair
and bone

worn down to marrow.

Frigid strength

icy lover;

your contact sears

callous scrutiny.

I can hear your muffled scream

preserved

in time’s frosty cavern,

concealed in cheese

station C, and me

in E, advanced and alone.

Caterpillar Dreams

Caterpillar Dreams

Inch your way

on tiny feet

climb into the tree of dreams.

You are not yourself

the monarch lurks inside.

Spin

a strong silk pad.

Sleep,

you are not yourself

the monarch lurks inside.

Hunger for

red clover

goldenrod and

fluttering breezes

beneath the cool shade

of the

stately palm.

You are not yourself

the monarch lurks inside.

Awake

from nature’s baptism.

Shed your former skin.

Declare your magnificence.

Dance atop

yesterday’s fragile petals

soar into the callous wind.

Fly

dazzling insect.

Show off your large

tawny orange and black wings.

Rise

potent prince,

wander throughout the provinces.

You are magnificent.

You are Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor.

Fly brilliant monarch,

Fly!

Compost at Dawn

Up at Three—not a pretty sight!!


They say the older you get the less sleep you need.

I’m here to tell you that they are WRONG whoever THEY ARE.

It is a bald faced LIE.

Those THEY’s need a good bitch slapping

and I know just the person to do the job.

No thinking about it or talking it over--just a grim reaper.

That’s what you get when you mess

with a crazy person—two shots directly

into the brain—no questions

no dilly dallying

just cold hard steel

right between the eyes

and then I’ll go work in my garden,

start a compost pile.

Don’t you love fertilizer?

The flowers love it

I can hear them screaming now

pile it on—we’re starving here!!

And by the way--Have you ever heard of this other element—it’s called WATER!!!

We don’t have any feet or THUMBS,

so if you could just

pay us some attention

we will show you

something nice to look at

tomorrow morning,

when you are still awake

and NOT SLEEPING!!