Memorial Day

 

Knockout Roses

On Memorial Day,

dozens of Knockout Roses

explode beside the Burger King.

Customers race past

the fabulous flowers,

too busy to notice

this magnificent garden show.

Roses glow like rubies

in the morning light.

What a sight

for those who will savor

the table that nature spreads.

             --Brenda Kay Ledford

Thank a veteran for his or her service for our country on Memorial Day!

Decoration Day

 

Today I decorated the graves of my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparent.  Many of my relatives are buried at Many Forks Baptist Church Cemetery in the Gum Log section of Towns County, Georgia.

Many Forks Baptist Church holds Decoration Day on the fourth Sunday of May.  Many churches don't hold these occasions anymore.  This is an old-time tradition in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

My family attended the decoration when I grew up in the mountains.  Some people gathered on Saturday before the Sunday event to decorate the graves of loved ones.  On Sunday morning worship service was held in the country church.  After peaching, they held dinner-on-the-grounds.  Back in the 1960's-1970's, they built tables under the shade trees for the lunch.  The mountain women brought boxes of food to spread on the linen-covered tables.  It was indeed a feast.  The women fixed their favorite recipes for the decoration.

You can see in the photo that the women brought a wonderful selection of homemade desserts.  Pies, banana pudding, blackberry cobblers, black walnut cakes, pound cakes, coconut cakes, and many other mouth-watering desserts graced the tables.

After the "feast" folks gathered again in the church for an afternoon of groups singing old-times gospel songs such as "I'll Fly Away, Oh Glory, I'll Fly Away in the morning..."

It was a bittersweet gathering each year.  You honored and recalled your ancestors, had fellowship with kinfolks you hadn't seen for a  long time, and worshipped in the little country church.  The Many Forks Baptist Church cemetery was beautiful with the flowers and American flags decorated the resting places of loved ones.

Many Forks Baptist Church Cemetery beautifully adorned with flowers on Decoration Day.

One of the groups that performed Gospel music on Decoration Day at Many Forks Church.

Mother's Day

 

                                                       Brenda and her Mama Blanche

GARDENING

I put on Mama's T-shirt,

donned her jade jacket

that she wore to garden.

Her sweet spirit remained,

I felt her loving  presence

planting my sunflower seeds.

She savored gardening,

she grew vegetables and flowers,

her favorite color was green.

The wind blew through

grass like waves on the sea,

a royal-blue tent watched

above the Cherry Mountain.

A rain crow resounded

and tranquility filled my soul.

                 --Brenda Kay Ledford

I wish all my blogger friends a very Happy Mother's Day.

Love,

Brenda 

Flower Chorus

 A canopy of poplar trees

line dancing in key-lime

garments as the songbirds give

a mountain spring concert.

Cody conducts "Lord of the Dance,"

as Nolan plays the flute,

a chorus of tulips bursts forth

from earth's dark tomb.

Dogwoods wash the hills

with snow as trillium

clog in pink slippers,

a doe and spotted fawn

drink from Hyatt-Mill Creek.

A soft breeze brushes my face,

robins hip-hop in verdant grass,

and the chords of nature resound.

                  --Brenda Kay Ledford

I wish all my blogger friends a beautiful and Happy Spring!

Brenda 

Brenda Kay Ledford's Book Released

 Brenda Kay Ledford's new book, "Leatherwood Falls, Blue Ridge Mountain Poems," has been released by Kelsay Books.

This book is a memoir of Ledford's brother, Harold Ledford, who passed away two years ago.  He was a US Army veteran of Vietnam and a law enforcement officer in Clay County, NC for 30 years until his retirement.

According to  Glenda C. Beall, North Carolina Writer's Network-West Program Coordinator, "Brenda Kay Ledford takes the reader on a mountain hike where she names the wildflowers, birds, through the eyes of her beloved brother.  She takes us to childhood days  and as he left for Vietnam.  We see an ordinary man who is not ordinary in the eyes  of his sister.  Ledford writes in various poetic forms staying true to  her task of honoring her brother.  Like most mountain families, they are close and death  will never end the love they share."

You may purchase this book at:  www.amazon.com

Brenda Kay Ledford' beloved, big brother, Harold Ledford.

Mountain Spring

 Mountain Spring

Nature pulled out all the stops:

the robins hopping

across the verdant grass,

the mourning dove cooing

in the greening woods,

the chatter of songbirds,

a cloud of blackbirds

soaring over the maples

bursting forth with rubies.

Hyatt-Mill Creek laughing,

the spring peppers croaking,

and the Blue Ridge Mountains

breaking out with new life.

The Bradford pear trees

blooming like ice-cream cones,

jonquils popping up as lemon drops.

The yellow bell bush ringing,

a choir of cardinals singing:

spring pulled out all the stops.

Listen.  Look.  Stop.

                 --Brenda Kay Ledford

Hopefully, spring is coming early here in western North Carolina.  I hope all my blogger friends will have a beautiful spring soon.

Spring Dreams

 

SPRING DREAMS

Today I dream of spring:

tulips burning like fire

in the majestic mountains.

I celebrate the promise

of spring in midwinter:

the robins singing and flocking 

across my lawn 

like orange blankets.

The purple tulips

will pop up as blackberries

from the hard, cold ground.

"Winter can't last forever,"

the bulbs seem to say.

Knockout roses are just

waiting to put on a show

across the countryside.

The jonquils wearing golden

garments won't be upstaged.

They will spread churned

butter among the verdant grass.

Hold on just a little longer.

Nature gives her promise

that she will breakdance

in bold colors sooner than later.

                    --Brenda Kay Ledford