100 percent

I was hopeful this morning.  When I got up, the predicted 100 percent snow had not begun.  Then came the fluffy flakes.  Then it began in earnest.  And just now, as I write, it has stopped again. Maybe there will be more scheduled breaks.

This is 100 percent

Snow.

It started fluffy white flakes.

All too soon

This snow

Got down to business.

It is now 9:50.

The coffee break is over.

Monday

100 percent

Means

100 percent.

What are we paying you for?

After all

What are we paying you for?

Get to it

You have a job to do.
Productivity
is everything.

Valentine's Day

Of course the questions remains:  did I notice the red birds more yesterday because of the occasion or do they always come?  The red birds tend not to be ground birds, so the fly in, grab a seed, then fly away.  Still... whichever it is, I love it.

The birds showed up

Dressed for the day,

Pecked the seed from the ground:

The male cardinal

Bright as anything,

The red-bellied woodpecker

Most notable

For his scarlet mullet

Yet singularly indistinguishable

Belly.

The red birds showed to accent

The juncos

The sparrows

The starlings.

The red birds showed

To accent the crowd gathered

In the cold.

They all

Ate seed.

Clarity

Amazing birds.  Juncos.  Their markings so striking against the snow.  A sight to behold.  I could watch them for hours.

The juncos appear

So clear against the snow

Divinely marked

Dark gray and white.

We spread the seed

Close to the window.

They arrive en masse

Clear against the snow.

I marvel

At their dark gray,

Their whiteness,

Clear against the snow, 

Astonished

By their clarity.

Dry-pack daffodils

Daffodils always seem to help.

This is the time of year

For dry-pack daffodils.

They arrive

Out of water,

A bundle

Of sticks.

The arranged sticks

In my best vase

Water added

Show their color

Day by day.

My Monday sticks are now

Full bloom

On Saturday.

Nunc Dimittus

What if there's more than this?

What if the groundhog

Sees more than sun

Or shade?

What if the groundhog

Predicts

Groundhog life and health

Or maybe even more?

What if the groundhog

Showing up

Is enough for us to imagine

Something different

Than this,

Something more

Than this?

What if the coincidence

Of groundhogs

And Jesus shown off

A babe in Mary’s arms

In the Temple

For the first time,

Recognized by Simeon and Anna

The oldest ones there

Signals yet another beginning,

Something new

Not sun

Or shade

But something new

Altogether

Never before seen or heard?

What if the groundhog

Sees more than sun or shade

And Simeon can finally

Depart in peace?