Lynda’s Journal – Poem Memories of a Red December

In this poem I am celebrating my joy of rural  life as I think  about the landscape and personal observations with the weather, an aging neighbor, and joy of my lifelong encounters  in the Village . My roots in this village go back many generations  in my family history.  I am inspired by the everyday activities, caring for my dogs and cats,  and pleasure of seasonal changes. 

I celebrate the unexpected  colors of  RED, as I view the gifts  of nature, people, fashion, dancing, and changing seasons, from my perspective in the Village of Wurtemburg, in western Pennsylvania.

Rural Life is good in my valley along the Connoquenessing Creek.

~Lynda McKinney Lambert

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The Poem:  Red December

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red December

 

New-fallen snow glimmers in ore-dawn darkness

slender red barberries dangle from thin bare branches

I shuffle my feet, dig in to feel solid ground

near the place where my Father’s red roses

are surrounded by pillows of snow

slumbering safe in dark red December.

 

My heavy suede boots part the snow

It’s too early for the red cardinals

“Where do they go at night?”

A sharp wind makes me huddle deeper into my bright

red boucle’ jacket

while my two dogs search random trails

follow the long marks, meander downhill.

 

 

On a crisp day in mid-December

I desire red raspberry jam on warm toast

Linger by the tall pampas grass

weighted down to the ground with icy snow

I think of strawberry Sundays with whipped cream

I recall wearing Neiman Marcus Red lipstick and

dancing all night in

hot red stilettos and tight blue jeans.

 

 

We turn around – for the return home

the dogs circle in the frozen pachysandra patches

stiff, brown-green  shrunken leaves.

In memories I see my neighbor walking to her car

she wears a cranberry red hat, worsted red wool coat, flat, scarlet red shoes

carries a true-red leather handbag like the one I bought last Sunday.

 

I watched her from the upstairs window.

In her 80s, she revealed how to live a gallant life.

 

No cars pass us on the country road  this morning in red December

Where it is perpetual winter.

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Date of writing: Red December (2016) free-form  poem

Published:

 

First Published _

Pro verse Hong Kong Poetry Prize for Single  Poem                                                          Verse

Accepted August 27, 2017 (Submittable)

Published: 2017, Anthology, Mingled Voices 2.(Page 61-2)

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Additional Publications of  Red December

_Lambert, Lynda McKinney. Star Signs, DLD Books, 2019

_Lambert, Lynda McKinney. first snow, chapbook, 30 Poems, Finishing Line Press, 2020- p16

_The Writer’s Grapevine, (Patty Fletcher) December 2020.

_Newsreel, Lynda recorded the poem, December issue, 2022.

_Poem From the Professor’s Journal, Walking by Inner Vision Blog, December 7, 2022.

_Voice Recording for ACB Christmas_2023.

_From Lynda’s Journal, my blog.

Wednesday, February 25,  2025.

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Do you know:

I have SIX published books:

Each Day Hold Some Small  Joy : Poems, DLD Books, 2024

Songs for the Pilgrimage, DLD Books, 2021.

first snow, Finishing Line Press, 2020. –See it here!

Star Signs: New & Selected Poems, DLD Books,  2019.

Walking by Inner Vision: Stories & Poems, DLD Books,  2017.

Concerti: Psalms for the Pilgrimage, Kota Press, 2003. (Out of print)

©Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2025.

Published:

first snow , a chapbook.

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MORE about Lynda –  Here!

My NEWEST  BOOK!

 

Thanks for your visit today!

You might like my chapbook,  first snow, Here.

©Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2025..