From My Poetry Corner

Apricity and Ida B

This was recorded with original audio, so please excuse any popping or background noises that you may hear. :)

“Apricity” 

The lacy, filigreed fingers 
of the trees wave hello 
to my heart 
as I enjoy the apricity 
of January.
The trees have names everyone knows
such as Oak and Maple, 
Pine and Sycamore.
But in my mind,
I’m a girl who counts the trees as friends,
so I learn their true names
as Ida B does.
Her trees are Alice and Harry,
Bernice and Jacques Cousteau.
Mine are Sylvia and Silas,
Jane and Marcus.
They all enjoy
the January apricity, too.

Inspired by Ida B…and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World by Katherine Hannigan

This is Jane.

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“Ida B, some day this land is going to be yours.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

…

“But I want you to remember this: We don’t own the earth. We are the earth’s caretakers, Ida B.”

…

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Ida B.”

“Sometimes in the summer I’ll get to sweating and stinking so bad that Lulu will hiss at me when I get near her and even Rufus will run away. So I’ll come on over here and lie down in the brook with my clothes still on. I’ll let its coolness roll over me and I’ll feel the stink rolling away, too. And, Daddy, it is delicious.”

Daddy just smiled.

…

“Daddy.”

“Yes, Ida B.”

I stopped walking

When Daddy saw what I was doing, he stopped, too, and waited.

“I think the earth takes care of us, too.”

Well, Daddy looked at me kind of surprised. He stood there for a bit, rubbing his chin and considering.

Finally he smiled and nodded and started walking again, and I came with him, and he said, “I think you’re right, Ida B.”

And we were quiet the rest of the way home, just enjoying the breeze that was blowing through the stars.

Psalm 1

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

⁴ Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Go enjoy the apricity of February!

~Stephanie