#Garden Songs – “Sunflowers and Mushrooms”
#Garden Songs
©2023. Lynda McKinney Lambert.
The first ten days in June are a wonderful late spring gift.
I live in western Pennsylvania and the beauty in this part of the country makes me dizzy with delight as I walk in the woods, photograph the flowers, listen to the bird songs, and enjoy the view of my Peaceful Prayer Garden while sitting in my old Amish Rocker. Life is so good here in the Village of Wurtemburg.
Here’s a poem I wrote for National Poetry Month this year. It’s perfect for my celebration of Father’s Day and a testimony of my father’s memory – William Joseph McKinney (1996 – 1988). How I miss you, Dad!
Photo: Sunflower
Here is today’s “Garden Song”
“Sunflowers and Mushrooms”
Backyard birdwatchers notice
yellow song-birds
Amongst a variety of species
because yellow colors flash like sunshine
diffused between green tree leaves
as they search for insects and seeds.
My Father is a woodsman
knows every type of mushroom.
He picks them in season
Searches the woods for
Mushrooms that Mom will
Sizzle in sweet butter
and serve for lunch.
Dad’s bountiful vegetable garden
attracts goldfinches when sunflowers
are ripe with corpulent black seeds.
My happiness flourished when
I secretly planted those sunflower seeds.
Dad was surprised when he
Discovered flowers growing
In his garden.
Dad said,
“Lynda , you have surely made a lot of work for me
by planting all those flowers.
It’s hard to mow the grass!”
Dad watches yellow finches
Gather the late summer harvest.
Soon, they will fly south to Mexico
Where they spend the winter.
The seeds I planted attract
Yellow-feathered songbirds like
Warblers, so tiny they can be caught
in spider webs.
*
Lynda McKinney Lambert, April 25, 2023
©2023. Lynda McKinney Lambert. All rights reserved.
Note of Interest:
I received my recording of Newsreel this week.
As I am working on a new project in my fiber studio, I am listening to Newsreel, too.
My poem, “Sunflowers and Mushrooms,” is on the June issue. While listening to it, I realized how appropriate it is for Father’s Day.
Below, I have posted it for your enjoyment.
I wondered if you have similar outdoor encounters and experiences with your father in your own memories?
Often, I make such discoveries by listening to someone read my poems out loud, or even when I listen to my own voice reading them.
The human voice makes our poems complete, as they are shared in these ways.
Thank you, Newsreel, for publishing my sound recording of this poem, June 2023.