How to Get Happy
Wait for a breeze, hope that vine of honeysuckle
smells stronger, stirs a rush of fragrance in the air.
Will these climbing roses to open, dazzle the day with red.
Allow a prick of thorns when you grab a stem to keep.
Thank the gold and black buzzing pollinators in the garden.
Beware of attack. That territory is their own.
Taste the air when the tickling breeze finally bustles,
fresh as cold spring water from the source.
Push one honeysuckle blossom to your lips,
slip under the spell of sweet wishes and dreams.
Lazy away, charmed into a summer’s day.
Published: Enjoy the Holidays, a poetry and prose anthology by Old Mountain Press, October 2020, and forthcoming chapbook July 2021 Keeping in Place, Finishing Line Press
Mary Ricketson’s poems
often reflect the healing power of nature, surrounding mountains as midwife for
her words. Her published collections are
I Hear the River Call My Name, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and Shelter,
Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian,
Keeping in Place, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
Congratulations, Mary! Even though I know Japanese honeysuckle is invasive, there's still nothing like that scent--attar of summer. :-)
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