Three Poems by Janet Butler

A Chinese Poet Prepares for the Year of the Rabbit

Yesterday morning called me early.

I had to set my soul in order.

I buffed its surface to a soft glow

and looked with nostalgia into dark corners

laced with cobwebs, holding old dreams

prisoner.  I opened stubborn windows, and a gust of wind

unraveled silky webs, sweeping my dreams into night, freed from me. 

How happy they seemed!

I too felt lighter, ready to embrace that tender whiteness I see

hopping towards me.

Venus

She wakes, shakes her head

and soft curls ribbon the morning sky,

pale yellows against cool blues.

She rises and leans, full-breasted, against earth,

her creamy paleness a shudder of white

those distant hills dream on.

Her star gleams then disappears in seas of light

leaving us dazed longing night.

Watercolor:  Sorrento Harbor

Pull me in.

Ravish my spirit with transparencies

shimmers of color on pale paper

shaped by brush

strokes of quiet thought

layered in patience to perfection

penciled boundaries vision

fleshed to form.