Poem Index

I often share original poems at Live Your Poem. Here's a Poem Index of selected works organized by subject and title to make it easier for you to sample my work. Thank you for reading!

ANIMALS

Bear

Bear's Promise

Courage Has Four Feet

Birds
After the Fire

crow haiku

crow red sky haiku

dove hope haiku

dove haiku

Flamingo School of Dance

flamingo haiku

hummingbird haiku

Life without Birds

mama cardinal

ostrich haiku
Owl

Owl Haiku

When Dapper Owls Dons a Hat

Wisdom Has Wide Eyes (owl)

Two Parrots Take a Walk Together in Spring

Peacock in Love

penguin haiku

Hope Has Long Legs (stork)

The Birthday Birds of Bonaventure Island

Hope Has Long Legs (stork)

Butterfly
Monarch
Monarch (2)
Snake to Butterfly

Meadow Kaleidoscope

"Three Black Cats" by Maud Lewis

Cat
Cat Bath
Cat and Bird
What a Cat Needs
Three Black Cats
In the Company of Kittens

I followed a little cat one day

old cat wakes (haiku)

Chameleon

Creativity is a Chameleon

Chicken
Mother Chicken's Plea

rooster haiku

Cow
Warning (bull)
Cow at the Gate
Two Cows
If Cows Were Red or Yellow

Deer

What the Deer Sees

Dog
Beach Dog
Sailor to Dog
To the Artist
The New Puppy Promise
Girl and Dog
Dog

Dog's Birthday Song

Dachshund (dog) haiku

hunting dogs

Donkey

Donkey Frieze

Duck
On the Water

Elephant
Let's Celebrate the Elephant

Elephant Haiku

Fish

goldfish party haiku

Fox

Fox Haiku

Frog

Frog Haiku

Giraffe
Triptych for a Thirsty Giraffe

Goat

Wild Goats

Childhood poem "Man O'War"

Horse
Man O'War
Anatomy of a Horse
Horseback Riding
Wild Horse
When a Horse Writes a Poem
Before the Race

after sorrow/blue horses poem

Insects

Why Grasshopper Wants to Meet the Moon

Grasshopper Haiku

called by light (haiku)

Lion

lion and sun haiku

Monkey
A Tale of Two Monkeys

Mouse

Mouse Haiku

Mule
If You Bring a Mule to School

Octopus
Dream with Three Hearts
Dear World

Ostrich
ostrich

ostrich haiku

Pig

pig haiku

Rhino
What Rhino Knows

Sheep
A Dream of Sheep

Sheep in Snow

Skunk
Skunk

Snake

Snake to Butterfly

coral snake haiku

Squirrel

Squirrel and Cherries

Tiger
Tiger
Tenderness is a Tiger

Tiger Talk Triolet

Zebra

Indecision

ARS POETICA

"Girls Dancing" by James Van Der Zee
(inspired "The Last Poem")

This Poem is Practically Perfect
Summer Poem Swap
The Last Poem
Let There be Poetry
Poems Come Lately
This Poem is a Dream
This Poem is Green
When a Horse Writes a Poem
Window



ART POEMS (aka ARTSPEAK! -- this link takes you to a page containing Padlet galleries for each year of this annual National Poetry Month project)

BOOKS/READING

"Mrs. Cassatt Reading" by Mary Cassatt
(inspired "When Grandma Reads")

Dear Reader
Mary in the Garden
Man, Reading
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
When Grandma Reads
Storytime
Sometimes Books are the Only Playground I Need
A Girl Who Reads

Once Upon a Time

EMOTION

Anticipation
If Thirst Has a Color

Brave
How to Rise
Courage

Courage Has Four Feet

Confidence

Confidence Wears a Prickly Coat

Envy
This Poem is Green

Empathy

Empathy Has Long Ears

Fear
When Red Pours Down the Mountain

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a Small Bird

Sometimes Forgiveness Comes Like a Spring Snow

Grumpy

Today I'm Feeling Autumn

Because No One's Cheerful All the Time

Happy
How to Make Merry

Anticipation
So Many Suns
The Weight of Happiness
Girl in a Yellow Dress

From Here to Happy

Because Every Day is a Red Letter Day

Hate
Because a Church is Its People

Hope

"The Bubble Boy"
by Paul Peel

Boy Blowing Bubbles

somewhere

Hope Has Long Legs (stork)

When All is Lost

The Clearing

If You Put Light in a Box

Love
Weather Report
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Gratitude
Mona Lisa in Love
When We Meet in the Garden
Courtship (According to the Cat)
A Dream of Yellow
Bedtime Love Song
When I Write to You, I Put on My Red Shoes
And This is Where We Shall Meet

Love in the Time of Long Distance

Peacock in Love
Once

A Traveling Song

Mountain Wedding

When Light and Water Meet

Patience

Patience Has a Soft Voice

Resilience
Because a Church is Its People
Listen to the Windmill

Whenever You're Feeling Weathered

Sad
Sorrow
Dark the Day
There Can Be No Sorrow
The Truth Is

After Sorrow

after sorrow/blue horses poem

Once (missing a loved one)

Shy
What If? 


EVERYDAY OBJECTS

Household Items
Bed
Bedtime Love Song
Bottle to Bowl
Broom

the trick of the candlestick
Clothesline Season
Couch

"Still Life with Bottles and Bowl"
by Alex von Jawlensky

Desk
cracked plastic bucket
Kitchen Table
Friends Like Us (mortar and pestle)
Fruit Jar
I am the Plate
A Message from Your Mailbox
A (Simple) Message from Your Pencil
Still Life with Straw Hat, Bag, Umbrella
Umbrella's Complaint
Sister Sister (slippers)
Strawberry Basket
A Trio of Short Haircut Poems (scissors)
Yellow Dress
The Letter
origami swan
This Old Chair
Escape of the Toy Horse
Window

Red Skirt

Outdoor Items

"Watering Can" by
George Seurat

Gardener's Companion (watering can)
This Wheelbarrow
A Song for Old Glory (flag)
Garden Rabbit's Dream

Hello, Neighborhood (houses)
Shadow's Song


FAMILY
Just Like the Garden (growing up)
Child in the Garden
A Trio of Short Haircut poems

The Truth About Happy Families

Family Events
divorce

Father
Papa with a Pipe

Mother and Child
Girl to Mama
Girl, Waiting
Gathering Fruit
At the Vegetable Market
Anne Moynet Audubon, Long After Birds of America (stepmother)

Other Family Members
When Grandma Reads
Sister Song
Sister Sister



FANTASY
Come, Fairies
Conversation with the Monster Under My Bed



FOOD
Bread (and other starches)
Bread's Lament

"Field with GreenWheat"
by Vincent van Gogh

A Dream of Wheat
Rice

Dessert
Peace is a Sweet Potato Pie
Peace in a Coffee Cup
Like Peace for Chocolate

Fruit
What Grapes Say
Math Lesson (lemon)
September (apples)

Summer Foods
A Taste of Summer
Barbeque
Cheesy Summer Days (macaroni and cheese)
Still Life with Summer (tomatoes)
Watermelon Time
There Can Be No Sorrow (strawberries)

Fall/Winter Foods
Soup Season

FORM POEMS

Found Look
Dear Martin

Nonet
Al Tafar, Iraq, 2004

FRIENDSHIP

Where Friendship Begins

Map to a New Year

Two Parrots Take a Walk Together in Spring

GARDEN/PLANT LIFE

Gardening
Let Us Now Praise Leafy Things
Gardening Basics
Anticipation (in the Garden)
Orchard Barber Shop

Flowers
Yellow Irises
To a Sunflower

"The Flower Seller"
by Diego Rivera

The Weight of Happiness (calla lilies)
Boy in Poppy Field
Call Me Zinnia

The Truth about Sunflowers

Water Lilies

Trees

Tree for All (bush willow)
To an Olive Tree

Mountain Wedding

When in Doubt

It Takes Courage to Be a Tree

Where the Path Bends Long and Narrow

A Summertime Story (apple tree)

Autumn Maple Haiku

maple tree with birds haiku



HOLIDAYS

Map to a New Year

Birthday Poem
Valentine's Day
Election Day
Dear Martin (Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday)
Let's Celebrate the Elephant (Elephant Appreciation Day, Sept. 22)
Manger (Christmas)

moon extends its knife (New Year's)

How to Make Merry
October Dreams (Halloween)
Thankful Poem (Thanksgiving)

IDENTITY

Poem for Lydia

My Name is Peace
She
Measurements
Namesake
I Am From (by Ludelphia Bennett)
To a Glorious Girl
Sun and Moon

"The Road" by Edgar Degas

Night
Sixteen
Speaking of the Weather
Paint-by-Number
The Lady Confesses
Self-Portrait as a Seagull on a Beach in June
Self-Portrait as a Country Road
Color Talk

Self-Portrait, Early Morning
The Left-Handed Way of Learning the States
Hair
If You Want to Know My Heart, Come Inside My Studio
Umbrella's Complaint
A Dream of Red

Call Me Zinnia

The Power of Art

The Opposite of Invisible

MINDFULNESS/SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

I Could Say I Believe in the Ocean
American Idyll, 1934
Gratitude
Happiness
Now
A (Sub)way of Looking
This is the Hour
After Three Years, Finally Rain
Priorities

Instructions for a Sunwashed Sunday

When a steep wind sends you sailing over treetops

Wisdom Has Wide Eyes

Acceptance
origami swan
A Murmuration of Acceptance
The World of the Vase is Dark, Wet

Change
Listen to the Windmill

Comfort 
Boy in Poppy Field

Learning
When the World Learned to Drive (for Eric)

For a Better World
Alterations
Mending
In the Midst of It All

"Valley of Yosemite"
 by Albert Bierstadt

MORNING
Morning Pages
Yosemite Morning
Everyday

On the First Morning in a New Country


MUSIC
Cello Love
Hazel Scott at the Piano
Night Music
The Music Lesson
The Guitarist
Fiddle Song


NIGHT
If the Moon Were an Onion
Wish I May, Wish I Might
When the Stars Came to Town

moon extends its knife (New Year's)

Night

Night 2

Devil in the Night

Night Swimming

Three Ways of Looking at a Night Party

PEOPLE
Fictional People
Babysitter
Girl to Mama

To a Water Boy
Papa with a Pipe
Trio

Music Teacher
Prayer for the Berrypickers
The Postman in Spring
The Toiler

The Guitarist
Portrait of a Writer
Miss Mary's Crimson Life

Lacemaker, Late Afternoon

Milkmaid's Lament

The Harvester Shouts at Vincent

Real People
Anne Moynet, Long Before Birds of America
Audrey Hepburn at the Dance Studio
Self-Portrait as a Painter (Vincent van Gogh)
Whistler's Mother
Poem for Oprah Winfrey

"The White Cloud"
by George Catlin

I Am (White Cloud)
My John Henry
For the Builders


PLACES

City

City Song

Desert
What to Do in the Desert

Farm
After the Fire

Neighborhood

Hello, Neighborhood

Town
I Give Thanks for Trussville, Alabama

Lake Life 
This Old Boat
I Pledge Allegiance to the Lake
#lakelife
Under a Sturgeon Moon
Quiet Place
Morning
Night 2
Rowing Scene
Spearfishing
Boat on a Pond
Late June Afternoon

A Poem for the Girl by the Lake

When Light and Water Meet

Mountain/Forest

Mountain Wedding 

Beach/Ocean
Prayer of the Black Rocks
Wish I May, Wish I Might
Only in Summer
On the Water
By the Sea
Beach Time
Boat Dock, Early Evening
The Ocean Opens Its Arms
Recipe for a Sunset

US National Parks
Yosemite Morning


QUESTIONS

Who Paints the Leaves in Fall?

SEASONS
A House for all Seasons

Winter

One for Joy

When Snow

Walking in Winter

how to dress in winter

Digging in Winter

Boating in Winter

February

Snow Song

snow haiku

Why River Smiles in Winter

Saying Goodbye to Winter

Winter Solstice
Writing in Winter
January maple
mama cardinal
untitled snow poem

A Dream of Winter

At the Window

Spring

Horses Plowing in Spring
Margot Says Hello to Spring
May Promenade
Why Roses
Fishing in Spring (Life is But a Dream)
because every day is a symphony in spring
untitled almond blossoms haiku
if god was a season, it would be spring
Spring Forward
Early Spring Rispetto
daffodil haiku

Triolet for Planting Day

"New England Farm in Winter"
19th Century American

Says Snow in Spring
Summer Poem Swap
Sun Speaks on the First Day of Summer
To a Child of Summer
Yellow Irises
On a Golden Day in May

Two Parrots Take a Walk Together in Spring

crow daffodil snow haiku

Summer
Midnight Party
Summersong
In Summer
These Alfresco Summer Nights
Beach Speaks of Boys
What Wind Says
Last Day of Summer
Only is Summer
On a June Afternoon
The Sound of Summer is a Hum
Still Life with Summer
Late June Afternoon
If Thirst Has a Color
There Can Be No Sorrow
Geometry of Summer

Monet's Haystacks

End of Summer

A Poppy Day

A Summertime Story 

Writing in Summer

goldfish party haiku

Summer Travels North for a Season

Fall
Why Evening Comes Early in Autumn

Autumn Love Song

Today I'm Feeling Autumn

Who Paints the Leaves in Fall?

Gathering Season

Autumn Puzzle

October Dreams
Autumn Prayer

Then Sings My Soul
Fair Prayer
Two Small Poems for November
jack-o-lantern
Writing in Fall
At the Harvest Ball
Harvest
Scarecrow's Wish
Three Black Cats
ghost pumpkin

September
When Red Pours Down the Mountain

Autumn Maple Haiku

SCHOOL
The Left-Handed Way of Learning the States
Science Fair

SKY

Sky, with Horses
sky a ripe peach (haiku)

crow red sky haiku

SPORTS/PLAYTIME
Dear Basketball

"Checkers Game"
by Palmer Hayden

For Love of the Game
Jumping on the Bed at the 
PJ Days (pajamas)
White House
Tea Party

The Swing

A Summertime Story (tree climbing)

Dance
To a Dancer
Dance Lesson
Backstage

Flamingo School of Dance

Painting/Art
When Papa Paints
Promise
Virginia, Sitting for a Portrait
Cave Painting (Altamira)

Sewing/Textile Arts

Lacemaker, Late Afternoon

Alterations
Mending

Storytime
Storytime
Sometimes Books are the Only Playground I Need
Sunday Afternoon
Boy with Plane
A Girl Who Reads

Once Upon a Story Orchard

Theater
Show Time

Water Activities
Beach Time
Rowing Scene
Spearfishing


WEATHER

Riddle for a Dry Day
Riddle for a Wet Day
Eclipse
Frost


WOMEN

"The Fiddler"
by Marc Chagall

She


WRITING

Writing in Fall
Writing in Winter

Writing in Summer
Morning Pages
The Letter
Fiddle Song
When I Write to You, I Put on My Red Shoes

When Faced with White Space

Night Swimming

A Writer's Prayer

A Writer's Journey