Rhonda Bronte Brown is a National Board-Certified Teacher and retired teacher/counselor whose work has appeared in Better Than Starbucks, The Trouvaille Review, Meat for Tea, The Orchards Poetry Journal and The Best Haiku 2025 international anthology and several online journals. She holds both a BS and a Master’s degree and writes children’s literature and poetry exploring nature, SEL, and STEM.
Coffee (or tea) can mean something different to each person. For some people, it is the aroma that wakens the morning senses; for others, it is downing the first cup that kick starts the day. For others, coffee is the elixir necessary for clarity of vision. without it, the newspaper would be useless. With all its sensual clues, one still has to acclimate to coffee’s bitter taste. But once you find the right blend, coffee is your friend.
Morning coffee is a bit like life with all the sweet, savory, bitter, sour bits, and yet when blended with the perfect pairing, satisfying. (Coffee and a donut)
Time to tie that morning coffee with awakening to God. Life is full of flavor, emotion, sight, sound, and meaning. Walking with God in the light of His Word brings a perfect pairing to healing old wounds, finding a grateful attitude, a sense of worth, and blessings during trials. Bitterness, saucy tongues, doubt, and more will be a part of this life but God’s Word is the perfect pairing to counter life’s bitterness.
Spring sings, “Birds, sing your morning song. Praising Him to whom we belong. Wind, blow the seeds. Loam, provide their needs. Clouds water the flowers. It’s time for God’s showers.”
We sing the Singer’s gospel message, praising the one who saved us. Holy Spirit is our guide to plant the gospel message in another’s heart. God waters and causes the seed to grow. Spring calls us to sing His gospel message.
I moved my younger brother into a nursing home. He is my brother, but the burden was heavy. It made my heart sad. Yet, he had a remarkable recovery from the time he entered till I left.
The word the last week was easy. It was not easy to pack up his belongings, clean out his home, essentially his life, and store them. Yet, it reminded me not to put store in the things of this world.
We let temporal things measure the sum of our lives. Yet, the sum of how we live has an eternal value.
Spring Fling Contest 2022/ revised for another submission
Winter howls at Spring like a middle schooler's biological clock clanks. "It's too early," Winter yawns. "Autumn has arrived in the southern hemisphere," says Spring. "Not yet." Winter flops back, adding another blanket of snow. "The Cold Moon will be full soon," says Spring, offering Winter an enticement. Spring knows Winter loves to hang out with Cold Moon on the longest night of the inverted season. "Okay, I'm up." Winter sits very still, blowing another chilly breeze. "Come along," says Blizzard. Winter stands and stretches. "I see you've been at work. It's a resplendent day in pastel hues," Winter says to Spring. "Thank you, Winter." Winter bows, whispering, "See you next year." Spring smiles, turning to the Sun, "It's time to melt the crusty earth and direct your rays to tickle the fertile dirt." "As you wish," replies Sun.
Zephyr carries the seeds. Loam provides for their needs. Clouds water fertile dirt. Bouquets rise from the Earth.
Trouvaille Review, March 23, 2022 PublicationThe Hummingbird
Swiftest things that run the world,
Hums and beats, their wings unfurled.
Hummingbirds need constant fuel.
Brilliant blooms attract this jewel.
Forward, backward, upside down.
These dashing (feisty) fliers zip around.
Golden flowers brilliant blooms
Entice birds with shiny plumes.
Blazing Star to Geranium,
Coral Bells to Delphinium.
Flower meadows, patchwork plots,
Scattered seeds in local lots.
Hopscotch with seas shells and whirlybirds in the air, singing weeee and swinging high swing high, flying free, landing barfoot in the grass
Cousins taking turns Counting to one hundred hands in sync, switching without missing a beat the ice cream maker's hand-crank keeps churing.
Walking with cousins Playing with friends, hoping summer will never end.
No school, outside and free, it is time just to be me. Gliding on the porch swing, a bowl in my lap shelling peas with purple fingers- I prefer to snap green beans, please.
Straight from the garden, a summer snack. Chores done, potatoes stored in the shack. Childhood summers make me wish for more, tree climbing, river-side camping on a sandy shore and so much more.
The pulse is weak, a vanishing vapor, Thanatos grins when breathing ceased. Death's grim triumph- of the Afghan thirteen, fallen, betrayed, left behind.
A country's demise by the hands of a few won't be forgotten. America's heart bleeds.
Hope hurts and hope heals, shattering the grip of hate- past and present repeat. (1776)
Tears flow deep,
watered by roots of despair.
Let them grow no more.
Breathe the sunlit air.
Uproot weeds watered by tears.
Heart stirs, plant anew.
(Senryu)
We plant roots deep in His Word,
our faith in Jesus, and
hearts atuned to the Holy Spirit
then let God carry our burdens.
Tears flow deep within
nourished by roots of despair.
Breathe the sunlit air
uproots weeds watered by tears
As your soul stirs, plant anew.
(Tanka)
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not [a]fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
*Zephyr* The Best Haiku 2025 international anthology. Zephyr @haikugenius.ai/adbeia8aa
Meat for Tea/ The Valley Review Volume 19 Issue 1 pg. 46
Fairytale Fishin’
No buckets, no boats,
And no carrying large totes,
Just Grandpa and me.
A pole in each hand
Grasshoppers by the pond bank.
Gramps catches our bait.
A nibble, a tug.
Feel the line, ignore the bug-
Wait-then jerk the hook-
A flip-flopping, splash,
reeling in a big fat bass
(Excerpt from a Kid’s Tale
by RL Brown)
Congratulations! Your poem "Fairytale Fishin'"was selected to be a part of the 2022/23 Conway Public Poetry Project installations.
In the coming months, we will be working with the City of Conway to install these poems in various locations around the community.
We are also working on a booklet that will contain the poems, their locations, and information about each poet
Sponsored by Blackbird Art Collective, Conway AR
A Pastoral Cacophony
As morning’s first blush slips through the mizzling mist, dawn’s chorus begins. The woodland world wakes, nestlings fluff their feathers, squish together and listen to their twitter song.
Blackbirds sing a low mellow tone blending choral notes to a day-spring chant. Red-breasted robins' antiphonal tweets twitter back and forth. A cool zephyr breezes through the budding trees, and a hermit thrush adds a rhythmic woodwind harmony.
Chee-pippety-chee-chee, Jenny wren joins in with a light peppy lilt, stepping up the beat. Colorful warblers echo a descant as tiny rainbows shimmer in twilight’s dew. A Capella chorus in one voice sings a spring aria.
A blue jay’s catcall signals a tail twitching taunt, kitty in the weeds.
My inspiration for this poem came one spring morning while listening to bird songs at dawn's light. The slow build of antiphonal tweets and the sudden end, orchestrated by my cat reminded me of Bolero by Ravel.
Better Than Starbucks Poetry and Fiction Journal November 2022 Vol VII No IV
Rhonda Bronte Brown is a retired counselor/teacher who lives in Arkansas. She was published in Better Than Starbucks, the Trouvaille Review, and Haiku Seed Journal in February and March 2022. She also writes children’s books. Find her online at https://brontebrown2.com.
Better Than Starbucks Poetry and Fiction Journal November 2022 Vol VII No IV
Haiku: by R Bronte Brown
Winter folds a tree- into a counterfeit death gray, boney, lifeless.Better than Starbucks, February 2022 Publication p. 41
Editor's comment: Stark, powerful and tied to the four seasons.
Haiku Seed Journal @HaikuSeed_ Featuring these wonderful #haiku for the #HaikuSeed "winter"
spring buds pop their heads, february trickery, winter snaps, not yet!
#HaikuSeed / 24 Feb, 2022 winter
All I can think of is an adult snapping at their children who were sneakily playing video games under their blankets instead of sleeping. Loved the playfulness of the writer and the haiku, there is a wholesome nature to it that brings out a smile.
— Sankara Jayanth
Editor, Haiku Seed Journal
@coffeeandhaiku
Trouvaille Review, February 15, 2022 PublicationThe Dignity of Winter by R Bronte Brown
Wind rustles the leaves.
Trees shimmer yawning deeply,
Anticipation.
Autumn equinox,
the balance of light and dark,
time juncture converts.
Turn your face eastward.
Fall moon on the horizon
blazing golden hues.
Extravagant colors!
A migratory bird's last song.
Light wanes for evening.
Winter grants Fall's wish
for an encore flower dance,
frost procrastinates.
Nature splendor yields
a harvest of abundance,
Thankfulness expressed.
Inner autumn calls,
time to embrace season’s change.
The wind howls for rest.
Winter winds whistling
Indian Summer's last stance
Bowing gracefully
Winter’s dignity
Lifeless trees quiet strength
Autumn seeds nestled deep-
Sheltered.
From Bronte Brown:morning’s blush
slips through
the mizzling mist
The Haiku Pond 🍃
@TheHaikuPond
Aug 13,2022
You can listen on your favorite podcast app or here: http://anthonynanfito.com/2022/08/14/a-waterfalls-purpose/
Trouvaille Review, March 23, 2022 PublicationThe Hummingbird
Swiftest things that run the world,
Hums and beats, their wings unfurled.
Hummingbirds need constant fuel.
Brilliant blooms attract this jewel.
Forward, backward, upside down.
These dashing fliers zip around.
Golden flowers brilliant blooms
Entice birds with shiny plumes.
Blazing Star to Geranium,
Coral Bells to Delphinium.
Flower meadows, patchwork plots,
Scattered seeds in local lots.
Kentucky’s 101st Airborne on their way to Ukraine. Prayers for all We need to wrap them in our prayers! Prayers for all of our men and women going! I didn’t hear this on the news but on Facebook. Update: I heard they were in Poland helping the Ukraine army.
I read a NET in Time post this morning, and she voiced a teenager’s concerns. “What if a mistake happens?”
Whether you believe it or not the 2020 election was stolen by media hook or crooked servers. The western hemisphere is now in a fog of dementia.
Whether biblical timing or a lost populous or the constant bombardment of fake news, the truth is lost in this demented fog. We face so many enemies entrenched in our gov’t and the world in our time. (How can you have a card-carrying communist head of the CIA? Pay for play head of the CDC?)
King Jehoshaphat faced a battle that he could not win. He drew back–to the LORD. His weapon was a heart of praise. When we voice a heart of praise, we are showing God our reliance on HIM. God took care of Jehoshaphat’s battle.
It is time to rely on the most potent weapon of all a heart of praise.
brontebrown2 
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