Contradictions

Ecuador, Ethnic Latin Woman

                 Ocean, rivers, desert,
                       Verdant mountains, volcanic rock,
                                    Tropical jungle,
                  Whales – millipedes.
                           Humming birds – great parrots,
                  Changing surfaces – changing people.

 

                  Large cities – tiny villages,
                           Supermarkets – open markets,
                                    Stairwell shops – modern malls,
                  Sidewalk cafes – food courts,
                           Street venders – department stores
                  Flower gardens – dirt yards.

 

                  Painted and unpainted homes dot the land
                           Mansions, high-rise apartments,
                                    Cinderblock, adobe, cardboard dwellings and huts,
                  Painted gray and black by the earth,
                           Or by cheerful people
                  Green, pink, orange, or blue.

 

                  Cement highways – dirt streets – narrow pathways,
                           People riding in cars, airplanes, buses,
                                    Trains, vans, pickups,
                  Ships, boats, dugouts,
                           Or on burros and horses,
                  Some walking, walking, walking.

 

                  Agile young soccer players competing on dirt,
                           Cement, or sparse yellow grass surfaces,
                                    And on sandy beaches,
                  Professionals playing in giant
                           Manicured stadiums,
                 Cripples with canes, crutches, wheelchairs.

 

                  People spread across the land
                           Smiling young faces with sparkling white teeth,
                                    Sober, wrinkled, toothless, faces.
                  Crying babies, shouting venders, whispering breezes,
                           Brass bands – classical orchestras,

 

                  Traditions of home learning,
                           Training from the fathers and ancients,
                  Schools of private or public education.

 

                  Men, women, and children working the land,
                  Terraced corn, beans, and potato patches,
                                    Spacious rice paddies – Cane fields,
                  Banana plantations.

 

                  People filling shops and offices,
                           Wearing jeans, suits, or native dress.
                                    Living off the land,
                                             Living off the streets,
                  Clean and dirty.

 

                  Tourists looking on,
                           Old people looking back,
                                    Young people looking forward!

 

                  Ecuador, a land of contradictions,
                           Ecuador, a land in flux,
                                    A place to live, love, and serve.

 

                                                                       Epilogue

 
                  Traveling we experienced something of this land’s
                           Ugliness and beauty,
                                    Sound and silence,
                  Perfume and odor.

 

                  Then we returned to the peace,
                           The studied formal gardens,
                                    The refuge of the temple grounds,
                  Here we found the same peace
                           That the people of this land find as
                                    They come one by one
                                             Family by family,
                   To worship in our Father’s house!

                                                            Cerita M. Hewett
                                                            August 16, 2009
                                                            (revised Oct. 2014)

Cows in Summer

A pretty bovine hanging out in a green pasture

                        The wide eyed brown and white cows,
                        With their heads bowed down,
                        Drink from the little irrigation ditch.

                        Switch their tails skillfully
                        To dislodge biting black flies.

                        Extrude long strings of slobber,
                        Which look like fishing line.

                        The wisps are wafted away
                        As the summer breeze
                        Catches hold of them.

                        It hangs the silver strands on
                        Tall browning Indian tobacco weed,
                        At the edge of the water.

                        Creating a sparkling summer Christmas tree.

                                                                             Cerita M. Hewett                                                                                         July 2002 (revised 2014)

Reflections

                                Family Canoe River                                    The trees,
                                                   The canoe,
                                                               The paddles,
                                                                        The people 

                                             Shimmered in the still,
                                                      Clear as a looking glass
                                                               July water of Ratcliff Lake. 

                                             I sat on the shore,
                                                      Marveling at the
                                                               Duplicated images.
                                                                        Like the spirit and the body.

                                                                                 Exact!

              

                                                                                               Cerita M. Hewett
                                                                                               August 4, 2014

Notice to Wrens

The huge pine tree

Will easily hold

More than one nest.

It is large enough

For several nests.

Please build there

Not on the front porch!

                                     Cerita M. Hewett

                                     March 2015

Robins

A flock of robins

Invaded our woods today.

They must be on their way North

As we don’t see them

Here in the summer.

They went straight to work

Gleaning and cleaning the forest floor.

 

I couldn’t hear their chattering

From my upstairs window,

But I could see their hunger

As they pecked, pecked, pecked.

Heads down pecking

Heads up watching

Exposing their burnt orange

Breasts to cloud muted light,

Bringing the hope of Spring on a

Cold rainy day.

 

                                                 Cerita M. Hewett

                                                 February 2015

 

Wild Pasture Dance

                                    The dry brown leaves

                                    Raced across the pasture this morning,

                                    They leaped, skipped, and flew

                                    All the way to the fence.

 

                                    Then they piled on top of each other,

                                    Laughing, tickling, and jostling.

                                    Whispering joy in their

                                    Wild pasture dance.

 

                                    Their sprint exposed

                                    The tender new green grass

                                    To the sun,

                                    To the rain,

                                    And to the hungry goats.

                                                                                                           Cerita M. Hewett

                                                                                                            February 20, 2014

Percussion

                          The percussionists from the band

                           Did not get a lot of sleep last night,

                           And neither did I.

 

                           They started entertaining

                           About one in the morning and

                           Continued until six.

 

                           The opening movement

                           Consisted of low timpani slowly

                           Building to the staccato booms

                           Of the bass drum.

 

                           The second movement

                           Spotlighted large cymbals crashing,

                           While snares put together

                           Their relentless rhythms

                           On the roof, trees, and ground.

 

                           And the final movement

                           Featured the gradual

                           Retiring of the snares,

                           One clang of the small cymbals,

                           A silver tinkling of the bells,

                           Then three slow booms on the big bass drum,

                           And a gentle pom,  pom,  pom, by the timpani.

 

                           The early morning sun

                           Revealed a sparking world,

                           Gleaming in rain soaked trees,

                           And silvery grass.     

 

                           But, as I said to begin with,

                           The percussionists from the band

                           Did not get a lot of sleep last night,

                           And neither did I.

                                                                                                                      Cerita M. Hewett

                                                                                                                        April 2014