Shaking hands with my former self
in these chaotic times
may not be progress. The clock
ticks backwards to dust clouds
and loud hurrahs, to whoops of youth
and muscles flexed to hold
the heroic buck and run
of someone else’s dreams—
a reckless swagger into smaller light.
I could have died several times
and learned nothing—my grip
to meet myself eye-to-eye.
On the other side,
all the current dangers rage
unseen that words cannot
assuage. Isolated here,
hands busy with simple
tasks, we cannot breathe.
On the other side,
an unknown future waits
to reshape us to survive.
Fifty years ago,
I was afraid
I would become proficient—
integrate guilt and hate
into my young soul
to become the best
at squeezing death
before a soldier’s
impromptu grave.
On the other side,
we pray for clarity—
for humble purpose.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2020, Ranch Journal
Tagged Covid-19, Dry Creek, election year, Fire, poetry, politics, Sulphur Peak
Age & Source Verification: Cow 6151, September 14, 2020
The Source & Age Verification program is a USDA approved, non-biased, third-party audit that verifies the source and age of your calves. The source verification will enable you to meet COOL requirements, the age verification will make your cattle eligible for export to countries with age requirements on imported beef products.
Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal
Tagged Age & Source Verification, Calves, cows, First Wagyu X Calf 2020, photography
From out of the smoke
raining with ash, white egret
at standing water.
Posted in Haiku 2020, Photographs
Tagged California wildfires, Great Egret, haiku, photography, poetry, SQF Fire Complex
Age & Source Verification: Cow 3005, September 8, 2020
The Source & Age Verification program is a USDA approved, non-biased, third-party audit that verifies the source and age of your calves. The source verification will enable you to meet COOL requirements, the age verification will make your cattle eligible for export to countries with age requirements on imported beef products.
The sun cleared the smoke at 8:00 a.m., ash as big as silver dollars everywhere with visibility less than 1/2 mile on Dry Creek. You can taste the wood smoke, but nothing compared to those like Robbin’s brother and my friend Peter Clarke, with evacuation warnings, frantically clearing brush and watering down roofs in the Oakhurst/Coarsegold areas of Madera County less than 100 miles away. Please be safe.
Posted in Photographs
No social distancing, evening conversation
centers on introductions as sorrel horses
welcome first-calf heifers coming to water:
no politics, no economic woes, just
domesticated souls touching nose-to-nose
before shadows crawl across the canyon.
We are enveloped for prolonged minutes
within their quiet reverie, forgetting
all the bad news they’ll never know.
(click)
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