JELLIE N.WYCKELSMA

JELLIE N. WYCKELSMA

Fire

When fire storms ruthlessly ravage the innocent land,

Their fury sends sparks, raining down far ahead,

From their eerie glow the sky is blood red.

Man and beast have to flee for their lives,

Leaving homesteads, and guiding livestock to a safer ground,

Trusting by the ferocious fires they won’t be found.

When cities are shrouded in a thick smoky haze,

Ash clouds descend, choking life in its path.

Where people are gasping for air, carrying on as they must,

And praying for rain, which eventually will come they trust.

However, there are always brave man who fight back,

Ignoring their own safety to rescue others,

Attacking the fires with all that’s in their power,

From the land and from the air they try to extinguish

every nearly in-extinguishable flame,

Displaying true courage in this dangerous game.

We’ll always remember those heroes as God sent,

Selfishly saving our country, our precious land.

© Jellie N.Wyckelsma. Inverloch, Vic. Australia

08/01/2020

Lecture Hall

The last semester is over

Wise words cling to the ceiling of the lecture hall

Watching empty chairs

Waiting to descend on the next intake of green minds …

Students celebrate, drink, drink, … crash

Tomorrow a new challenge knocks

Finding a well-paid position

Yet today, their tomorrow is miles away …

At home the professor blocks the image of the Hall

Pours a cup of coffee and dreams of a long break

At a distant shore in a small cottage

Overlooking the ocean

Where he will watch waves roll onto the shore

Then the next waves come into view

Like the new wave of students, he will meet

At the end of this sejour …

©Jellie N.Wyckelsma. Inverloch,. Vic. 09/10/2019

Remembering You

I see you as the rock,

In a treacherous stream of life,

Where I can still find a safe haven,

Rest and re-energize.

Looking at the clear azure sky,

It’s your eyes keeping an eye on me,

Wanting to know if I’m doing everything right, 

Warning me when thunderous clouds are approaching.

.

When I hear a nightingale’s mid-day song,

It’s your voice teaching me the beauty of music,

The love of all forms of art,

To learn to participate and enjoy.

.

When I feel a cool evening breeze,

Touching my heated temper,

It is you calming me down,

Have a good night sleep first, you would say.

That’s how I’ll always be remembering you, Dad

© Jellie N.Wyckelsma Inverloch, Vic. Australia

13/12/2019

The Interviewer

 He needs a story for his readers,

to inform, enlighten, perhaps to entertain them.

His eyes penetrate deeply into the soul of the

Interviewee, a writer with a smile

that hides a little nervousness.

He fires a volley of questions.

His pen writes notes … endlessly.

His camera clicks and clicks …

Will the writer bare all,

revealing how her imagination

turns into stories and poems?

She smiles and thanks him,

because,

he needs that perfect story for his readers …

© Jellie N.Wyckelsma. Inverloch, Vic Australia

20/01/2020

Novice Poet

Try to write a poem for me, she asked.

But how?

It’s an area totally new to me.

I know all the letters of the alphabet,

and how to juggle these into words,

for a story, but you’ll agree,

“That’s a different cup of tea.”

Once more I will juggle the letters.

Oh look, they are beginning to move,

as in narcotic trance,

and the rhythm is a weird cadence.

Perhaps writing poems is not for me, as I now discover,

it’s not as easy as writing a letter to my lover.

© Jellie N.Wyckelsma. 23/01/2020

JELLIE N.WYCKELSMA

JELLIE N. WYCKELSMA, a retired teacher librarian, was born in The Netherlands in 1935 and came to Australia in 1958. Other works:

Co-author of three anthologies of poetry: She’s Apples (1996) and She ate a Bowl of Poetry (1997), Adrift … (2018). Poetry: Life’s a Bra Strap (2014), and Flowers of the Soul (2016), And the Poetess speaks … (2019) Novels: Crossing the Bridge at San Remo (2011). The Photograph and the Diary of the Ddaughter (2012). Novellas: Once upon … a Night (2013) Veering off course (2014). Life’s better with a Book (2014). Wild Waves (2015). The Dog Walker (2017). Short Stories: Diving in at the Deep End (2016). Non-Fiction: Probus Club of Anderson’s Inlet Inc.: 1995-2015; twenty years in a nutshell (2015) Other works, poems and short stories, have been published in various periodicals and anthologies in Australia, India and in The Netherlands.