Click here for last weeks feature: Lorine Niedecker--Wisconsin Poet
WCWCW Feature of the Week
This page will display either a selected web site from our users or a photo or other graphic display from our area.
--to submit material click below--
or email
or send to WCWCW 21401 Krypton Rd., Kendall,WI 54638
Enjoy our Community!
Spring Leaves!
This weeks feature is something a little different. Loading below is an animated gif file of 5 photos of the same area of the forest of Wisconsin taken in the spring of 2002. Once loaded, this file should "loop" and allow further enjoyment of the changes of weeks of growth of spring foliage in just a few minutes of viewing time. The below file is rather large...586 kb, so those of us with slower connections will have to be patient. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait. For a smaller (388kb) "morphed" version, click here.
by Patricia A. Teckelt
Spring came early this year,
quietly passing through the cracks
in winter's worn and weakened armor
until her imposing presence could not be denied.
Waves of dandelions and violets frolic
on the lawn in a riot of color
and green is filling every imaginable space.
From my kitchen window I can see
the pear tree we planted together last year,
a fragile, barren stick
doomed, I thought, to an early demise.
I laughed when you brought it home.
Poor little thing, I said,
it will never survive the winter.
And with every assault of wind
and snow and hail, I held my breath
as I looked out the window
certain that the little tree
would no longer be standing.
But it did survive, proudly and defiantly
perhaps to show me
I still have much to learn about life.
I have underestimated the little tree,
mistaking its small size for weakness,
and I feel ashamed because I know better.
Today I marvel at leaves and blossoms peeking
shyly from delicate stems and slender branches,
as if to say, "Believe in me. I can make it,"
a testimony to its tenacity and faith in the future.
A single cardinal decorates a limb
like a ribbon on a package,
the vivid redness of its personality
glowing in the morning sun.
And I begin to think of you and me
and how our tenuous beginning
was also once a fragile life form,
a tender wisp of hope which we clutched tightly
as we drew closer together fighting adversity
with nothing more than our love for each other.
Against all odds we held on,
and in our own special springs
we too blossomed like that tree.
Remembering, I smile a smile of camaraderie.
I have bonded with the little pear tree
in ways only my heart can explain.
Contentment washes over me in warm waves.
I know now that this tree, like you and me,
will continue to flourish and grow.
It will join us in spirit to celebrate life
soaring upward to new heights.
And we will all bask in the sunshine
knowing that beyond each new tomorrow
lies the promise of another spring.
-Poem by Patricia A. Teckelt
