Small treasures and small enchantments are the finest kind
By Barry Vitcov
Thank you to all the poets who have already submitted poems to the Poetry Corner. For information about submissions, please see below these two offerings for this week. This week we have poems written about two distinctive places: one from a walk around Ashland and the other from the hills around Agate Lake.
Face in the Tree
By Perii Owen
While aimlessly wandering
I spied a face IN a tree.
Or was it
a face ON a tree?
Well, it was
a tree WITH a face.
This was not in Westeros
where the Weirwoods are abundant.
This was not in an enchanted forest
where wide-eyed trees surprise.
This was not Dorothy & the Scarecrow’s
talking apple trees.
This WAS a neighborhood
with a sidewalk
and picket fences
and a Little Free Library box
and over-wintered geraniums
brought out for the morning sun.
This was my town,
maybe yours too,
where people create garden whimsy
for themselves
and for all of us.
Thank you, dear neighbors.
Perii Owen (aka Perii Hauschild-Owen) is a former flight attendant (India is her favorite destination), former program developer for the University of California, Berkeley Extension (Natural Science was her focus), former San Francisco and NYC art dealer (M.C. Escher was her favorite artist), former Assistant to the Development Director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the first so-called block-buster shows happened during her tenure), former high school librarian (who sometimes felt like a bartender on the other side of the bar as teens told her about their angst), and retired children’s librarian (Ashland Public Library was her home), who loved each and every one of her careers. She also loves whimsy and says she has fun with the mind-expanding experience of putting words together in written form. Perii has lived in Ashland for 25 blissful years. Learn more about her at ashland.oregon.localsguide.com/perii-owen-ashland-childrens-library.
Agate Lake
By Shona Allen
Looking together
On a dry lake bed,
Small treasures to find,
Wherever we look.
It might be an agate,
Or petrified wood,
It might be some glass,
Or just an old hook.
The claw of a crayfish,
We gather around,
Finding small treasures,
Wherever we look.
Over here, someone calls,
And there lies a bird,
Embedded in sand,
A lark or a rook.
No time for sorrow,
No time for doubt,
Small treasures we find,
Wherever we look.
Shona grew up in La Jolla, California, and played in the tidepools below the pier. Her father, an oceanographer, brought the family along with him to live in Peru, and later to France, before she finished high school. She and her husband immigrated to Canada in 1971 and lived there for over 30 years. Adventures in white water rafting, teaching at an independent school, ranching in the far north country on 7000 acres, building homes in the US, Canada, and Japan, including a lifelong pursuit of Art and Music, continue to inspire both her poetry and photography. Settling in Ashland in 2001, she and her husband started a small vineyard in 2007, in the hills by Agate Lake. Surrounded by birds, deer, strutting turkeys and even a coyote or two. Every day, she is captivated by all that Rogue Valley offers.
If you are interested in submitting original work, email your poems to Poetry Corner editor Barry Vitcov at haikubjv@gmail.com. There are only two restrictions on submissions: First, poems need to show a connection to Ashland and/or Southern Oregon. Your interpretation of that connection is fairly loose! Second, poems need to be aligned to the left margin. The publishing platform used by the Ashland.news has issues with the creative use of space! There are no length restrictions but try to keep your poems to less than 30 lines. Be sure to include the title of your poem, your name as you would like it to appear, the city or town in which you reside, and, if you wish, your preferred pronouns.
