Summer Storm
By: Phoenix, Mugwort Grove

I love summer in the south, I miss it, I miss
that heat that calls me home
that sound, that pulsing sound of the insects
trilling in the background
like a Greek chorus wailing for free,
that heat that shimmers up from the red
packed earth in waves as the day heats up,
that smell like tea from the undulant green
simmering in the hot, heavy air.
When a summer storm is coming,
you can feel it.

You can feel it in your belly, you can feel it in
your toes,
it vibrates over you, that tight, held tension of
heat/not heat, rain/not rain waiting to burst
into a downpour
that soaks the ground and fills the rivulets
cracked by the sun.
Coming down, coming down like the heavens
been split in two,
like you don 't want to ask for tomorrow,
just this sweet cool rain pouring down on
your bowed head.
But now
waiting,
still waiting for that moment to break,

I feel that way sometimes.

Beltaine 1993
By: Phoenix, Mugwort Grove

Friday evening drum beat,
dark night tempo of the sky wrapped around
the flames
from a pit of coals,
and the Goddess is wild in the tree-tops.
Bare-breasted women and tie-dyed heaven
weave a spell of sunbeam-colored cloth and swirling
hair.
down a purple stair-well, your face,
a pale moon perches above the crowd
and the natives are spring-bound
as sure as the beer pours.

Learning to see
By: Phoenix, Mugwort Grove

Spring, she comes like a small brown rat.
Spring, she comes like a mole
lying peacefully by the side of the path.
Spring, she comes like a lady dressed in green
too pale to see at first
trimmed in browns and purple-grays,
her toenails the first blooms of skunk cabbage,
her necklace the thin red buds of a maple tree.
She is shy and must be coaxed.
We light a bonfire in the Cajun cooking grill,
toast dried leaves from winter's store,
turn our faces to the sky
so wide it makes your heart ache
and trace the lines of planes overhead.
Following the waving curves of wheat grass
from hill top to tree line, I see
Spring, she comes like a blackbird,
swooping past.
Spring, she is here.

New Moon Rising
By T'ai Sidhe

Indigo Shadows, like veils in the darkness,
Seem to conceal as they float on the breeze;
While in the heavens the New Moon is rising:
She watches the clouds whisper down to the
trees.
Descending, She takes on a form fully human.
Clothed in the star-studded glory She reigns.
Lady of Night has returned to the world where
She helps star-crossed lovers. escape from ,their
chains.

From their eyes She is able to rip off the blinders
And show them what loving each other can be.
"A choice you must make 'fore you look to your
future
From ties to the past, do you want to break
free?"

There's always a choice to be made when love
calls you.
Towards evil or good, only you have the facts.
When you and your lover hold hands in her
Moon Light,
Remember the cost, but don't ever look back.

The future is yours now, to mold as you will
Bringing joy to each other, for this is your life
When summer's sun calls you, its gardens in
bloom
New vows you'll be taking as husband and
wife.

Don't fear for the trials that may come your
way as
They'll bring opportunity for you to grow.
In sunlight you're planting a loving new family
In Moon Light you reap all the love that you
sow.

Two Stones
By Chikara

Two smoothed granite stones
Older than resurrection
Wiser than new winds

Two stones etched by time
See fates; know gospels; feel not
Each destiny's writ

Two weathered - these twins
Each crack, each fissure, each soul
Passing by - unmoved

Two as whole - all truths
One stone carved by history
One stone - - what's to come

Two stones pink as flesh
Towering as blood prophets
Two seers in repose

Blood
By Kit Howard

Blood red roses
Three
Six
Nine
You handed me nine
Changed your mind
And gave me three.

For You Alone
By Pam Crisovan

I am all things to you
And for You
And through You
I shift my shape
to meet Your every need
or whimsy

As heron
I plow Your shallows
As loon
I plunge Your depths
As fish
I slide Your currents
As dragonfly
I skim Your surface

Need protection?
I am stag
Guardian of Your lands
Need constancy?
I am willow
Ever mirrored in You
Need laughter?
I am otter
at endless play
Need lust?
I am boar
in eternal rut

I exist only
to serve
and service You

Companion. Consort. Confidant.
Kindred-Spirit. and Lifetime Lover
For You alone

I Wanna Be
By Richard James

Author's Note: At Wellspring '97, I encountered the idea that nobody should 'Write satire unless he or she had been previously authorized as a satirist. 'Ibis inspired me to 'Write the following poem. It is meant to be read ten times. The first reading should include only the title and the last line. the second should include only the title and the last two lines, and so on in the manner of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

I Wanna Be:

The slob who observes
The arch-druid who consecrates
The arch-bard who blesses
The counsellor of lore who qualifies
The bardic preceptor who ordains
The senior bard who OKs
The bard who approves
The senior satirist who authorizes
The satirist who mocks
The slob

Epiphany
Jenni Hunt

Listen for me in the wind;
Hear me in the plash of the fountain;
See me in the rippling water;
Smell me in the trees and soil;
Feel my voice in the stones.

The Earth is my soul.
And Life is my prayer.
I am all there is.
And all there is. is me.