There are no other creations that cover more styles and topics

  than the visible arts and poetry. The marriage of these two arts

    can take the viewer-reader through a full roster of emotions from pleasant relaxation to the catastrophic negative.

          These arts duplicate and sometimes even mock the     characteristics of Nature and Mankind but never fail to arouse emotional reactions. A misty pastel landscape may induce a pleasant  dream, whereas a dark stormy scene can provoke strong hatred. The written word alone can sooth or upset, but when combined with the visible, can reach the ultimate nth degree.

         SO  - Read, View and let your imagination flow.

                   Ask the Wise Old Owl, he knows.

Desert  Fanfare

   William F Martin        http:www.wfmartin.com

SANDY  SUN  GARDEN

The desert is not just a dry and barren land of wind and heat,

When conditions are right, life will stir from a deep sleep,

Hidden beneath the grains of sand lays a 'garden of eden',

One of Mother Nature's subtle and wonderful creations,

A miracle awaiting the season storms that bring elation,

Dormant seeds send forth a 'fanfare' of color sensation;

Prickly cactus burst with florals in bright hues

Of rainbow shades; blossoms both tiny and huge.

Blessed is the traveler who shares the desert's own.

Would you dare to make an oasis your home?

                                ........ffacer.......

'LIGHTNING'  up the Ciity

   Photo by Jim Bishop       http://stormgasm.com/lightning

FIRE-WORKS  IN  THE  NIGHT

Nature's fire-works are beautiful to observe,

Photo or painting;  pictures to conserve,

Making mankind seem small

With only memories to recall.

Such good photos one wants to preserve.

Of course lightning fire-works are dangerous,

To ignore such perils is not called courageous,

Exciting and beautiful to see,

And Nature's shows are free,

But rampaging storm can be quite ferocious.

So stay indoors where lightning rods prevail,

There are  safety rules made up in detail,

Keeping safe - a life saving need,

So pay attention and take heed,

And stay to enjoy another Natural regale.

                           .....ffacer.....

THE  CABALLERO

   Dolores Delgado   http://SiteKreator.com/doloresdelgado

YEARS   OF  LIFE

The years of life have made him wise,

He's listened to truths,  heard the lies,

Learned to love,  suffered loss,

Knows the pain memories cost,

From lowest lows,  retained his highs.

Life's trials toughen the soul of a man,

Touched his soul both small and grand,

Able to sort the  good from the bad,

To meet each new day and be glad,

And capable of making the right stand.

.....ffacer.....

THE  BEGUILING  OF  MERLIN   1874

By Edward Burns-Jones

Cast thy spell, oh cruel one!

Transform this flesh into spirit

To languish amidst lost growth,

A prisoner wed to broken dreams.

In this forest that seasons have spared,

With thy beloved voice now speak,

And read from thine book I have long gifted

From thy very lips where passion once flowed,

Where love now only bitter promises that will entomb

Pages that I had by my own hands had writ.

Those very words now thine weapon, ever sharp,

Thy bittersweet dagger into this captive heart.

Yet forgiveness be my parting gift to thee,

With these loving hands affix thy eternal crown

And my love for thee will forever take

What was profane and make it sacred.

Even as thou whisper'd the final word

And so mke well thy spell complete.

Where once my being,  now vines entwine.

With my last mortal breath I say to thee,

"Love, I bid thee with sorrow.....

these tears to fill thine inkwell.

This love I now bequeath to thee,

A final farewell, for all time. Adieu....."

AFRICAN  LION  KING

                                                                          Jason  Morgan                 http://onlineartdemos.co.uk   

STILL  THE  KING

A true born jungle child

Part of the African wild

A fight to win a pride

No brother at his side

Entitled to his time

Full grown in his prime

Proud in his kingly roll

A fighting warrior bold.

Must defeat roving males

Lose his throne if he fails

Wars with hyenna foes

As the jungle rule goes

Strategies well proven

May reign years to seven

Then new youth will wiene

Leaving behind only genes.

                   .....ffacer.....

Liquid  Gold  -   Photograph

Ian  Britton             http://www.FreeFoto.com

GOLDEN   MORNING

The rising sun makes a melted molten sky

And the morning is filled with liquid gold

Searing the clouds and blinding the eyes

Splendid to watch the new day unfold.

Heavens saturated with glorious hues

Objects below seen  in three dimension

Soon colors fade, turn to daytime blue

New time, for dreams worthy to mention.

                                           .....ffacer....

A  WALK  IN  THE  MORNING

Original by John Singer Sargent

Available as hand  'oil painted reproduction'

The model for the original painting  was

Mrs. Violet Ormond, the artist's sister

DREAMS  OR  AS  IT  SEEMS

What brings the lady out

an hour past the dawn

with parasol and peachy

white walking gown?

Is it chance she chose this

path beside a meadow pond

or is there memory here

dear to the heart and fond.

Does she relive in the day

time on a moonlit night

meeting with secet love

spent in mutual delight.

Or but a girlish whim

a lasses fantasy dream

 and she a lonesome soul

just walking as it seems

                     ...ffacer...

STILL   WATERS

                                                     Julie Lamons                 www.jlamonspainting.net

AT   THE   DOCK

Boats  tied up at the dock

Fishermen have gone home

Small catch, small talk

With a shrug and a moan.

Some days fish don't bite

So don't go on a peeve

Just give up the fight

With yourself be pleased.

There's future fishing days

Good catch reason to rave

Meantime accept the ways

Enjoy, be content. Knave!

When desires don't arrive

They're never meant to be

And faith can be contrived

Takes patience to wait & see.

MY  OLD  TEAPOT

http://www.FotoCopy.com

To  an  OLD  TEAPOT

Now  from the dust of half-forgotten things,

You rise to haunt me at the year's Spring cleaning

And bring to memory dim maginings

Of mystic meaning.

No old-time potter handled you, I ween,

Nor yet were you of gold or silver molten:

No Derby stamp, nor Worcester, can be seen,

Nor Royal Doulton.

You never stood to grace the princely board

Of monarchs in some Oriental palace.

Your lid is chipped, your chubby side is scored

As if in malice.

I hesitate to say it,  but your spout

Is with unhandsome rivets held together --

Mute witnesses of treatment meted out

In regions nether.

O patient sufferer of many bumps!

I ask it gently -- shall the dustbin hold you?

And will the dust-heap, with its cabbage stumps

At last enfold you?

It ought. And yet with gentle hands I place

You with my priceless Delft and Dresden china,

For sake of one who loved your homely face

In days diviner.

                                     ...Fay Inchfawn, 1880

                                               University of Virginia Library

Title:  IVY  HOUSE

                                                           Jerry Yarnell                           http://yarnellart.com

School of Fine Art

Memories   Without   End 

This house has seen better days in earlier years,

Home of a regular family with hopes and fears.

Children laughing, childen squabbling,

Neighbors in the garden gossiping.

Now these happy voices have been stilled,

Family has grown and left as fate has willed,

Parents both now in their grave,

No one cares, this house to save.

Ivy now hides the sun-bleached walls,

Flower garden overgrown and wild,

The fence is broken and falling down,

Rodents have taken over the grounds.

There is a life time of living stored here

And if you care to listen, draw near:

This is history of life, my friend,

A tale that in memory has no end.

                                      ...ffacer...

Title:  A  BUTTERFLY  ON  A  DAHLIA

                                        Guy Kettlehack             www.Forum.about.com/poetry

And here is the Poem:

Caring too intently stops the works -

feeling viscarally that you are invested

in the course and outcome of  - lets say,

a love - jerks you into fun-house

mirror vision: running through a wobbling

tunnel of untenable decisions lining up

like disapproving judges, ready to condemn

you for the least infraction: sharp contraction

of the heart: all of whose strange parts

are on the verge of cracking and exacting

yet more action bent on - what?

Conducting a small mottled butterfly:

which would sooner die than follow

your restricted course.  How do you induce

a force, a flow?  Don't say no.  Imagine

that it flutters on a dahlia in a dream,

fantasia-ed through the bed-room of your

quarry.  Want more than that?  Sorry.

                        ......Guy Kettlehack...

Amazing  Flame  Fractal

                                               Water Lilies            htttp://techrepublic.com.com/

FRACTAL  FLAMES

The spectrum colors fracture into fantasies,

Of shades and designs in beauty naturally,

Compared in brilliance like images from space,

Yet dainty, delicate like fine French lace.

Feathery wisps, pastel hues, curly and soft,

In awe compared to aurora borealis aloft.

The rainbow colors, both tame and bold -

Fractal flames;  beautiful to behold.

                                             ...ffacer...

THE  CHANNEL  BACKWATERS

             Faye Facer             www.FacerArtStudio

The  Wetlands

In the channel,  Kootenay River backwaters;

A sanctuary where waterfowl gathers,

Where snails and frogs and turtles

Find safety from modern day hurdles

A haven for wildlife: that's what matters.

Turtles sunning on a floating log,

Muddy shores for toads and frogs,

There's water-beetles and dragonflys,

Marsh birds of every size.

These things that please the wildlife gods.

                                               ...ffacer...

PILLAR  OF  STRENGTH

Michelle Stavely Jefferies        www.jefferies.myexpose.com

FROM  MY  BACK  YARD

An old weathered fence post

It stands proud in the cool crisp of winter

Overlooking the fields and guarding the yard.

A weather beaten tower,  adept to life;

split and cracked,  like well earned wrinkles

and wrapped in vines,  like the trials of life.

Holding firm to fence boads,

as if they were his loved ones.

A monument to our fathers,  our mainstays;

Standing strong with wisdom and pride,

the Pillar  of  Strength.

                        ...Michelle Snively Jefferies...

KNIGHT,  DEATH   and   the   DEVIL

Copper plate engraving by

                                                  Albrecht Durer               Ref: http://www.wga.lh/frames-e.html

MODERN   NOBILITY

The man is stirred by love and basks

in warm light

He learns of rivers inside.  He loves

a woman and part of that loving

is not human and runs at the feet

of his primal nature,

And just as Eros was preseent at the egg

of the earth, the man'slove is subject

to season, to whim and charm and and keep

sake

Befoe the hour of revenge comes,

the man is forced to stand up to death

and the devil;  for once he surrenders,

the earth will surround and claim his body

as if he were to be engraved for centuries

on a thin sheet of copper.

                                 ....Tim j Brennan...

                                                  www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?action=info&rid=66728

The engraving  Knight,  Death and  Devil

did inspire Tim to write the poem; but

it also reminds one of the of

the life and times of  King Tut

THE   DEATH   MASK   OF  KING   TUTANKHAMUN

STATUE  OF  DIANA, THE  HUNTRESS

                                                    Huntingon Library Gardens      http://pbase.com/bernal1/image   

ALL  AT  ONCE  BEFORE  HER  EYES

Catch the whiplash of her bow - freeze it

into bronze - flash it into living stasis -

ardently refuse to exorcise the breathing

basis of your wish to enter every moment -

empty of dimension save the sleek suspension

of eternity: full of that sweet sourceless light

and solace that ignite the spirit: spear it

like Diana spears sublimity - every taste

of anything you hunt and chase and capture

is divinity. All that she can tell you otherwise

is that your life is avanescently arriving

and departing, all at once, before her eyes

                                      ...Guy Kettlehack....

 Title:  MYST,  OUR  GERMAN  SHEPHERD  DOG

Artist: Wendy Peiof           http://priorfineart.blogspot.com

ALL   FOR   A   SMILE

For loyalty, one may travel a country mile,

A dog we cherish; a dog with a massive smile,

Has an amazing taste for fun,

Her antics are never done,

Her trust, unconditional;  she with her fiesty wiles.

She guards our home when we are gone,

Has a special warning when things are wrong,

Alerts us when strangers are about,

Is usually right when we have doubts,

Our devotion to her is far beyond just 'fond'.

.....ffacer.....

Title:  THE  BLUES

Artist:  Susan J Richards           www.susanssoul.com

MY  BLUES

When I look upon the wall,

Doesn't matter when I do;

Of the past I see up there,

All is the color blue.

When I reflect on each piece,

Of life and times gone by;

Each a part of someone dear,

Blue is the color of why.

When I think of women past,

A family of lasting strength...

Supporters, nuturers, workers all,

Fought thru' blues at length.

When I question,  Lord why me?

I feel them say "Why not?

We had hope to carry us on

Our blues we always fought".

When I look upon the wall,

And I see those honored there;

I see the blue as pride and love,

The blue they'll always share.

Tho' the fight grown hard,

Some sadness always known;

I cling,  at last,  to blue that's dear.

And realize how much I've grown.

When I look upon the wall,

Their colors bold and true;

Of the past and present there,

All is the color  of blue

                   ...Susan  Richards...

Title:  IN   ANIMAL   LANGUAGE

                                                                 Artist:  Anna Lofstrom                                 http://fourquicktimes.wordpress.com

WITH   SPEAR,  WITH  PAINT

When truly angry one can paint for relief,

Pour a bad day into brush strokes and paint,

It acts sort of like a souling relief,

Abandon references; temper rates,

A warrior angry, revenge on his mind,

With spear, or with paint; to each his kind.

                                                    ...ffacer....

Title:  HARVEST   MOON

Artists: Faye Facer         www.FacerArtStudio

THERE  IS  WORK  TO  BE  DONE

A spectacular golden orb glows on the horizon,

The Harvest Moon signals to all that fall has come,

So round-up the stock,  gather the sheaves,

Harvest time and there is work to be done.

The woodpile is stacked with fireplace logs,

Garden is gathered,  they've butchered the hogs,

There's potatoes and bacon in the larder,

Grains were traded in fair barter,

They have been kind;  the harvest gods.

The bales  are stacked,  the hay loft is full,

Cattle are home,  including the ornery old bull,

Soon there will be new fallen snow,

Seasonal lights in colorful glow,

And we can  bask in this bountifull,

When the works all done in the fall.

                                      ...ffacer...