I saw the Cooper’s hawk this morning. She landed on the chimney pot, probably looking for my miniature hen, Grayson.  Four years ago she was a starving fledgling who mantled over while I fed her cold chicken.  She’s back this holiday, my spirits lifting. A good Christmas present.

   In the middle of the commercialization of Christmas, Nature closes the gap.  I have noticed squirrels with pecans in mouths leaping the trees, hawks hunting low over now-bare woods, unknown song birds sitting on fences, heard the migration of Sandhill cranes as they honk in formation. You hear their cacophony well before they appear.  Their chiding cries float down to upturned faces.

   There is brightness to the holly, washed by our late autumn rains and the orange of the nandina berries has turned crimson. Smell of woodsmoke in the air and the crispness of mornings means the earth is going to sleep. We humans should reclaim our past and our fecal plugs and join the slumber party of our brother bears.

   Jingle Bells will fade and our tension with it. Looking towards deep winter when the Earth is again silent will restore our balance and calm nerves with a blanket of peace.

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2008, 2010, 2023

haiku related to the prose above:

the hawk sits quiet

Songbirds now hide their heads

8x eyes wander

Haibun:  Healing with Nature

My solitude shared

night crickets and an owl

the moon must approve

soft moonbeam filters dust motes

a thousand fish swim upstream

–

It is late afternoon, winter by calendar, spring by temperament. The radishes have pushed above the dark soil, and look promising.

Two cats and I are sitting on a retaining wall that retains nothing, except Madame Alfred Carriere and Graham Thomas.  They both have climbed to the second story and are looking in the windows, watching us sleep.  I am surrounded by budding nature, the canna lilies brush my thighs with tenderness, making room for me. I sigh and relax into the gathering dusk.

Last night I heard the wood owls.  Their demonic chattering scared me into the chicken coop to stand guard with a rake, nervous as the hens.  Now I know they are only six inches tall and can’t eat me.

When I die, I want my ashes scattered on this garden.  Then, my ash-hands will caress the seedlings from below, my ash-heart will take pride in their growth, and my ash-ears will still hear those wood owls.

The moon is rising, a beggar’s cup too thin to fatten the soil.  Mourning doves chant their benediction and swallows tumble like sickles in the failing light. The dark embraces all below. I am healed from the day’s tribulations.  The sounds of the urban give way to the enchantment of the Night.

The soil our bed

Our classroom and our graves.

 Reborn to the world.

–

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2017-2025

since dumping fb and nextdoor….life is so much better. I have time to do creative things, not just duck from insults and the usual violence from Nextdoor, and to post for people who are only interested in cats. LOL. I love cats and dogs and have 10 cats and two dogs: a 15 month old cane corso and a 9 year old German Shepherd. they are hysterical to watch run around. Hana (Japanese for Flower) the Shepherd has been a mother to Maya the cane corso. No jealously, but Hana was saved from the ususal shelter slaughter by us two years ago at Xmas. She was only 49 lbs (she should have been 75 lbs) and she is so sweet and intelligent. We love her and she has stopped (finally) from eating toilet paper in the laundry room. LOL. That is progress. Maya, the cane corso is a riot, who watches the cats jump on my husband’s lap and wants to be a ‘lap kitty’. At 120 lbs…. she is quite a lap kitty.

Life is good and leaving sites that just are energy vampires was the proper thing to do. there are about 4 people on fb that I do miss but they can contact me if they want. They are the ones who are intelligent enough to read. So many on ND and fb aren’t. As I said, energy vampires.

wow. it is amazing how peaceful my life and marriage has been. I detatched from fb, nextdoor, and all other sites. I am no longer interested in contributing to haiku sites, and other writing sites. there is peace here because of it.

Facebook was a problem in any case. so many people there were trump supporters, (mostly secret ones) and it was never clear who was reading,…IF they ever could read. I am finishing a book and to publish another one on haibun this spring, but no one except a few on my former fb site would read. Maybe 4 people. LOL. why would I waste time on these crappy people. ???? Life is easier and calmer without this stuff.

i got this message from facebook this weekend. still don’t know what they are talkling about but I don’t have the right to an appeal. LOL. within the trumpian world, I must be seen as an ‘enemy of the state’. LOL.

We disabled your account

We reviewed your account and found that it still doesn’t follow our Community Standards on account integrity.

You cannot request another review of this decision.

To learn more about the reasons we disable accounts visit the Community Standards.

so it goes with facebook and so called ‘freedom of speech.’ which isn’t very free. still don’t know what ‘account integrity’ means. LOL. but so what. fb is no leader in any integrity these days.

but facebook and other of my sites have been deleted. this wordpress site is also scrambled…..such is life under the new authority.

Skeleton-trees wave

While the wind whips dead leaves

Wood smoke scents the air.