Jeannette U. Carter

Tampa, Florida

My place of birth was Chicago. After college, I married my wonderful husband and with our two sons and a daughter we gradually moved eastward in the United States until we made the great leap to the Middle East. We loved our fifteen years in fascinating Saudi Arabia. Now retired, we live in Florida where I was pleased to become acquainted with The National Library of Poetry. In a very private way, poetry has enriched my life for thirty years, painting for sixty. I have discovered a surprising number of similarities between the two even though one is verbal and the other visual.

Kingdom Asleep (Saudi Arabia before the discovery of oil)

Harsh - sweet land of contrast
not mine although you hold
me forever - pallid,
enchanting where time molds
tall sand mountains casting
welcome shadows - sharp - strong
drifting imperceptibly
they steadily inch along.
Leafless plants struggle to root,
flowing sands pattern - blend -
small gnarled shadeless trees twist
as relentless winds bend.
Brief rains unlock dormant
seeds-fragile blossoms burst
in vibrant fluttering waves
till withered by desert thirst.
Bedouin survive in their
uncompromising land -
still unaware - below,
imprisoned in sea of sand,
Allah's precious gift waits -
restlessly "black gold" lies,
while high above stalking,
a keen-eyed falcon flies.