Powder Puffs

When I was a little girl, Fountain City was inundated with Mimosa trees.  My sister, Teresa, and I called the pink blossoms powder puffs...hence, the Powder Puff trees!  I don't think I knew it was called a Mimosa until I was much older.

We had one in our backyard  that was quite large.  It was large enough that my Daddy built me a tree house in it.  I spent at least part of every summer day in my tree house.  Of course I stayed in it through the fall as well, as long as the weather permitted.

I don't recall the dreams I had in that treehouse.  I just know I had them.  I loved books, so spent a lot of time reading in my tree house....books like "Little Women,"  "Little House on the Prairie," and "Secret Garden."  "Girl of the Limberlost" and "Freckles" were also on that list, along with every single Nancy Drew mystery ever written.

I do believe I thought I could write like the authors of those books, and one dream I did have was that I would become a famous author.  My first poem was written in that tree house.  It wasn't written in the summer or the fall, so I guess I was spending the spring in there as well!  Truth be told, I probably climbed up in the winter!

Today, we walked along the Tennessee river on a beautiful trail here in Knoxville that had powder puff trees everywhere you looked.  As it always does when I see one of those trees, my mind, my heart and my sense of smell went back to Fountain City Tennessee in the 1940's.

My first poem...

SPRING

Spring is in the air.
Birds are singing everywhere.
Butterflies and bees,
Flowers and trees.

At night, with the cool breezes blowing and the bright stars glowing
The moon waits for the sun to rise, as it brightly shines up in the skies.

Morning is come!  Hear the hummingbirds hum?
Dew is on the ground.
Birds wake up from their nests made of down.

Can't you tell it?
Can't you smell it?
SPRING is in the air.
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