Category Archives: Ethel Mortenson Davis

The Builder

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

We were hoping
to catch a glimpse of
the one who made this place,
a summer home
by the water.

We wanted to see him or her,
but we keep missing him.

Perhaps if we rise
early in the morning
when it is still dark
we will glimpse this one.

Or if we delay in the evening,
when the summer light
lays on our shoulders
for endless hours,
we will see the builder.

I know he or she has left gifts everywhere,
like the pile of stones
at the water’s edge.

It is a masterful display
of color and size,
each one shiny
from the motion of water,

a universe within itself.

 

 

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Wilderness

For Brand Windmiller

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

 You take a boy,
ten or eleven,
and put him
into the wilderness,

let him do
the hard work
of boating
before the destructive
influences permeate him,

and
let the wilderness
finish his training.

Let him eat berries and nuts.
And let him hear the sound of
the red-eyed loon
as she carries her young
on her back.

If once is not enough,
bring him again.
Let the wilderness
do her work.

Early in the morning,
push the bow
into the darkness
as the white fog
sits on top the water.

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Cricket

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

Tonight, black cricket,
if you sing your golden song,
you can have my room.

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Lotus

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

The water lotus
should not be so beautiful
in this war-torn world.

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Fractals

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

Wilderness embraces us
this wet morning
with pictures of chaos.

Fractals,
repeating patterns
of symmetry
that quiets,
sets our minds free.

These lovely patterns
in trees, rivers, coastlines,
mountains, and seashells
give us designs that are graceful. . .

like the wild dogwood,
a signature tree in the forest,
whose fractal symmetry
is like no other.

The most beautiful grace
I have ever seen
brings rest to our minds —
our souls.

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Wind

a pastel by Ethel Mortenson Davis

wind

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Trees

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

The trees have always
extended their hands to us,
making deep, cool chambers of cedar,
birch and maple,
where enlightenment is possible.

But we, in turn,
have responded
with a sharp slap
to the side of their face.

The women of Kenya
started a green revolution
across their land:
Women planting trees
in hope of stopping
the encroaching desert.

Trees that created a moist climate,
pulling water to the parched lips of Kenya.

When our great, great, grandchildren
ask us what we have done
to save the trees on our planet,
will we be the generation of enlightenment,
or one with empty hands?

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Mourning Dove

a pastel by Ethel Mortenson Davis
IMG_0264

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How Hard

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

 
We talked about children,
their schooling,
their boyfriends.
How they are becoming
serious about their relationships.

We talked about children
becoming people.
How hard it is.

We talked about
how hard creating
a new piece of art is.

How much energy
the making of art takes —
an extraordinary piece of art.

How hard that is:
Like the yellow orchid
in the forest this morning
among the blue waters.
How hard the earth struggled
to bring about that flower:

Like my ancestors
that were sailors,
sailing to other lands —
among the blue waters —

how hard.

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Door

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

There,
in the bright morning,
hepatica,
whose leaves stay alive
under the dead layer
all winter,
send up flowers
before all others.
 
It is here where
the pale pink and lavender
are the door opening
to where my god lives:
 
Her angels are the birds
opening their wings.

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