Epaulets on his shoulders,
I remember the cocky strut
of the redwing blackbird
beneath the grain bucket
mornings when we saddled horses,
back when we had a pond,
wild ducks and nested cattails,
but not enough water
to watch it evaporate—
and I miss them, miss the
mallards come the gloaming
on whistling feathers
with bellyflop landings
to safely spend the night.
It’s all about water.
Posted in Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal
Tagged cattails, poetry, pond, redwing blackbird, water
On top of the world
the fat calves are curious—
nothing else to do.
Posted in Haiku 2025, Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry
Tagged Calves, haiku, photography, poetry
What has happened to the world,
the people, the planet,
now that we can measure
parts per billion,
the distance in light years
to the nearest black hole.
Crowded in corrals,
we are bent beneath the weight
of useless information
shouldering our way
to the EXIT gate
to shed the burdens
of mind and flesh—
lifetimes spent
trying to escape?
What has happened to the world,
this magic planet,
its Mother Goose,
her golden eggs
the rogues are after
mining the moon?
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry
Tagged golden eggs, moon, Mother Goose, photography, poetry
When the rains come right
and knee-deep green feed hides
beneath Fiddleneck in the flats,
we forget the bare, baked slopes
cut by dusty cow trails plunging
to the murmur of the diesel truck
spilling alfalfa flakes the length
of undressed pastures—lost bawling
calves and slow thin cows.
So blessed to have disremembered
the lean dry times, we believe
the miracle is normal, that Hera
and her daughters will set-up camp
and stay a fruitful future for man
and beast, creeks in the canyons—
a tangible fantasy for the thriving
when the rains come right
to change our way of thinking.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal
Tagged Drought, Dry Creek, miracles, photography, poetry, rain, spring, weather
Early spring garnish
before a mid-March rain,
wild colors claiming
lush shades of green
that cattle finish grazing
by eight o’clock.
Everybody feels
what’s coming,
despite the sunshine—
despite the rattling
of sabers
from would-be kings.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal
Tagged rain, storms, wildflowers, would-be kings
Dad claimed it was the politicians
far away from farming
that saved day’s end for golf,
adding another hour in the field
to get the harvest in
as summer days grew longer.
Just like a bank,
sunlight loaned for how to spend it,
work or play?
Now no matter which
we still change hands
on his vintage clock.
Snow comes off the mountain
on the backs of trucks,
white caps on compacts
like trophies
to melt on roads
into town—
cold hands
shoveled dirt driveways
steer downhill.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal
Tagged Dry Creek Road, snow, Sulphur Peak, weather
Our canyon gleams
with sunlit shades
of rejuvenated green,
dirt tracks damp
after rain, white skiffs
of popcorn flowers
primed to usurp the flats
and gentle slopes
to divvy up with gilded
fiddleneck before the blue
lupine and golden poppies
display the sloppy guise
of springtime’s spilt paint
for photographs, daydreams
and April showers.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal
drycrikjournal 