Monthly Archives: April 2015

OLD DAYS

Posted on April 9, 2015 by | 8 comments

 

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She could have stayed
longer, spent the night
pelting the roof,
roaring like a river

over boulders, flashing
foothill silhouettes
to cracks of thunder
like in the old days.

 

 

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015

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SHE

Posted on April 8, 2015 by | 8 comments

 

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It was good to see her,
visiting like a sister
forty days late
with much on her mind.

Never aging and beautiful,
she spent the afternoon
outside in the gray—
left a rainbow behind.

 

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JUST A THOUGHT

Posted on April 7, 2015 by | 6 comments

 

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Never really green with grass,
the south slopes tried to hide the clay,
standing naked in underwear

these past three years. Too late for rain,
precursor clouds let their shadows run
up canyon walls on gusts that stir

our dry flesh, that lift the hair—
each excited follicle reaching
to dance with the thought of rain.

 

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Wind Gust—Macro-Monday, Weekly-Photo-Challenge: “Blur”

Posted on April 6, 2015 by | 7 comments

 

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Easter on Dry Creek is normally green and verdant with skiffs of popcorn flowers and patches of poppies on the hillsides. A month ago, I hoped for a long spring and time to photograph this year’s wildflowers with an eye for their expression as life forms, the evolved complexities of each species’ pollination structure, background lines and colors, etc., etc., but Robbin and I have spent the last three days preparing and planting our summer garden instead. C’est la vie!

 

 

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WPC — Leavin’

Posted on April 4, 2015 by | 7 comments

 

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HOW MANY MOONS?

Posted on April 4, 2015 by | 5 comments

 
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If we measured life
in moons misused and wasted,
how many left full?

 

 

                              And as the moon rises he sits by his fire
                              Thinking about women and glasses of beer
                              And closing his eyes as the dogies retire
                              He sings out a song which is soft but it’s clear
                              As if maybe someone could hear…
                                        – James Taylor (“Sweet Baby James”)

 

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Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs, Poems 2015, Ranch Journal

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GOOD WORK HABITS

Posted on April 3, 2015 by | 7 comments

 

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I never see her leave
the loose nest of twigs
behind the cactus spines—

long tail feathers up,
eye to the outside perched
a week or more

near the water trough
while he patrols barn
and pasture, garden, yard.

The car’s shiny wheels
spend the night in the shop—
polished aluminum spokes

reflecting distortions
between each beak attack
gone from their spot

and he is confused and lost
without purpose,
without a job at dawn

searching in circles
for the foe
who drew no blood.

 

 

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APRIL 2, 2015

Posted on April 2, 2015 by | 3 comments

 

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Thirty days ago we hoped
for a better spring,
for clouds to rain us
back to normal
as we looked down
Ridenhour Canyon
to Dry Creek Road—
to the orchards
of Lemon Cove.

Hills now brittle and brown,
last year’s dead oak skeletons
have company, naked
as the Kaweahs—tilted
granite rock without snow.

Corporate Ag without water
drills wells to hell—
spending billions
into the Pleistocene
to hasten the conclusion
of farming the San Joaquin.

We had hoped for a better spring,
another month of rain and green,
creeks and rivers overflowing,
flooding Valley towns.

 

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WOOLY CANYON DAWN

Posted on April 1, 2015 by | 8 comments

 
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Blankets and leather
rest ready for the gather,
cowdogs in the shade.

 

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Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs

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