Julie A. Dickson --- three poems

Cicada Song

Based on Aesop's Fable: The Ant and the Grasshopper [aka Cicada]

Cicada sang his constant tune

while nearby worker ants collected.

Opinion was that he neglected

winter stores, instead he crooned.

Cicada’s singing filled the air;

below ground nests were slowly filled.

Ants toiled, not one crumb was spilled;

Cicada continued without a care.

When snow covered the ground and trees,

ants nestled below with winter store,

Cicada’s feeble attempt to ask for

food, denied despite his pleas.

Solemnly Cicada admitted

his song was meant to entertain.

They never told him to refrain; 

this justification was submitted.

The colony felt collective anguish,

all summer Cicada’s symphony

in fact, eased their litany - ants

agreed to aid him, not to banish.

Then all were feasting, no one perished.

in summer, the ants would work along

with Cicada nearby, sharing his song -

at winter feast, the music cherished.

Julie A. Dickson 2014

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Agave Spirit

Agave spirit of nectar

The cactus gives forth

Succulent refreshment

For desert dwellers

Who thirst while walking,

A quest across hot sand

Searching for water or truth.

Agave provides an oasis,

A refuge, cool repast.

Agave spirit calls.

Julie A. Dickson 2014

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Low Tide

The view this afternoon is peaceful

With large expanse of blue stretching out

Rocky shore uninhabited

Today I see a veritable water highway:

A freighter plodding slowly, billowing smoke

Sails moving leisurely, crisscrossing lanes

With an occasional motorboat hurrying between them

A small trawler is adrift with Miss Molly on her stern

Fishing poles upright from top beam - lines taut

Thin as etched pencil marks disappearing into the water

Miss Molly pitches in rhythm with the gentle waves

Bent over beachcombers with brightly colored pails

Collect iridescent shells and muted sea glass

A lone sunbather, legs shiny with oil

Sits atop the highest rock

Its low tide and the pools between the rocks

Are teaming with stranded fish – mouths opening

In search of the water that splashes only teasingly

Delaying the return to preferred submergence

Julie A. Dickson