We know better than to claim
success when the grass is belly-high
and Dry Creek runs year-round.
We know the fickle temperament
of the wild gods and goddesses
who have few rules and no obligations
to monied interests, no crusades
to justify their integrity: certain
dominion over man’s campaigns
to domesticate their nature
for a dollar—that will, in time, undermine
humanity’s conceit for much less.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025
Tagged nature, photography, poetry, politics, power, weather
Dim light above the kitchen table,
wet wedding rings beneath ceramic coffee cups,
shod horses fidget in the aluminum gooseneck
outside before daylight.
“Are Bud and Monte comin’?”
“Nope, just you and me, Babe,” he grins
showing teeth beneath his moustache.
“Any stars?” she asks. “It’s s’posed to rain,
you know, sometime today.”
“A few holes in the clouds is all,”
as he looks up at the ceiling.
“With a little luck
we ought to make it up the hill
before it gets slick,
get the cattle down
and be home by the fire
before it gets too wet.”
After a pause and long swallow, she asks,
“You know what day it is?”
“Thursday, I think”
“Is that all?” she lets trail on her way to the sink.
“Oh, I’ll be goddamned:
Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2019, Ranch Journal
Tagged photography, poetry, rain, Valentine's Day, weather
1.
Crows circle,
coyotes skulk
and a Red Tail watches
on a bare oak branch
for a ground squirrel
to wake and warm
atop a rock at dawn.
Everybody’s hungry
in February.
2.
Cold marble ceiling,
precursor to another
stream of storms predicted
to test the levees,
erase the landscapes
of man’s mistakes,
but likely missing
a golden opportunity
for humanity.
3.
The imbalanced weight
of man’s achievements
and herded hostilities
wobbles the planet’s
tipsy equilibrium
between war and peace,
the struggle for power
over Nature
to right herself.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry
Tagged development, Humanity, nature, photography, poetry, politics, power, weather
Far from the advertised Atmospheric River forecast, we are grateful for the much needed moisture overnight. Just a sprinkle when Robbin took this photograph yesterday evening as sunshine leaked through the approaching clouds.
Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal
Tagged Atmospheric River, photographs, rain, water, weather
drycrikjournal 