Building a Vocabulary

My phone carries an app for the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I like to kid myself that I know the meaning of each new Word of the Day posted on its front page. Most of them are familiar but, I will admit, some of the words baffle me. For instance, I had no idea what arrogate meant until it appeared front and center on today's app.



Building a Vocabulary


An-tho-phile
selected Word of the Day:

someone/something fascinated by
                                           flowers ---

bees, butterflies, and me.

Lilacs and lavender
               provender for them,
                                  aloe for my soul.

But weedkilling gly-phos-phates
unwittingly maim monarchs
                               and painted ladies

         while

neo-nic-o-ti-noids
inadvertently blindside beehives
on our way to the perfect lawn or
                 a bumper crop of corn.

We plant butterfly friendly bushes,
         scatter milkweed seeds,
             tally pollinators,
    rejoice at twosomes and more.

But lep-i-dop-tera and hy-me-nop-tera
              continue to dwindle
      here, there, and ev-ery-where.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor





   

Tipping Point

Back from the cabin up north where spring seems to come in fits and starts. At least the ice is out of the lake, leaving behind cold but clear water.

It's a different story for the ponds not far from my home here in the city. Last year seemed to be a tipping point, and egrets no longer tarry in these once pristine pools.



Tipping Point


Run-off herbicides and salt-winter streets.

Neighborhood ponds dull as dun,
no duck pairs nesting,
maybe two turtles sunbathing.

An egret, fresh from a long flight back,
steps into the tannin, dazed as a homeowner

scanning the muck fouling his house.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

How to Deal with Recalcitrant Plants

It's Mother's Day, and, of course, memories of my own mother persist, make me chuckle.

On this sunny May morning when so many are pumped about planting flowers, I can't help but think about Mom's relations with anything green.



How to Deal with Recalcitrant Plants


Weary of the pathos brought
by her own brown thumb
my mother heard
that plants respond to speech.

She turned to her orchid
bereft of blossoms.
Lovingly, she coaxed,
stubbornly, it resisted,
persisted as scraggly foliage.

Next up
a struggling philodendron.
Every morning she praised
the stunted leaves clinging
to trailing tendrils
until they died of embarrassment.

Then an ivy caught her attention,
eyed her warily
as she sidled close and cooed,
"I have three little words for you."

Appraising its droopy runners,
she let loose with
"CHOP, CHOP, CHOP!"

Mom never did hold with small talk.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

Urban Warbler

Spring eluded us this year. It seems as if we jumped from a forever winter into the warmth of summer.

As if in fast forward, the trees are almost leafed out, and tulips buried under masses of snow two weeks ago are a day or two away from blooming in full color. More importantly, at least to me, cheerful song birds have returned to perform in surround sound.



Urban Warbler


sings spring from a spindly boulevard tree.
A solitary robin belting his heart out

cocky as a top ten artist, confident
of outperforming airbrakes, rumbling bass.

Locals open their windows,
curtail their cats, turn down their tunes

shrug at his disappearing acts,
walk with a lighter step when he's back -

this fair weather rockstar of our 'hood.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor