Thank you 123rf.com
Now and again I like to showcase the wonderful writings of my Upper Napa Valley writing workshop attendees. The following poem is by Theresa Cordova Ortez, a member of our Napa Valley College class, Autobiographical Writing, held at Rianda House, St. Helena’s Senior Center. Theresa writes Flash Memoir, scenes of her life and family. This is her first poem and it captures the beauty I’m blessed to experience every day as I drive to work. I hope Theresa’s poem inspires you to visit the Napa Valley this spring.
The Cycle
Blue skies
Sunny days
Yellow mustard swaying in the fields
Grassy green hills
Beautiful grape vines stripped of their fruit
Standing tall in tidy rows, waiting for their time
When once again they will bear grapes
The color of deep purple and gold
the color of sun
This world-renowned jewel that sparkles like a diamond
This beautiful Napa Valley, which we are so fortunate to have
To visit, to work, and for me
To call home
Thanks Abe K. via Flickr
Building a Better Story 
When Will We Ever Learn?
Novelist Nathaniel Robert Winters shares a poem today. Find his work at Amazon.
Thanks to the Gallerii
Custer Died For Our Sins
Western train throws a loud whistle
but bison won’t be moved
car screeches to a whiplash halt
Buffalo hunters emerge
bringing down great beasts
too many to count
a hole appears
showing the endless tracks beyond
Locomotive belches black cloud
starts slowly, picking up speed
white way west
Lakota Nation weeps
One hundred fifty years later
it is not tracks that scar Dakota land
but a pipeline
oil way south
Lakota Nation still weeps
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Filed under Commentary, Poetry, Students
Tagged as Nathaniel Robert Winters, Poetry, Standing Rock