Author Archives: John

WAITING FOR THE STORM

Posted on March 12, 2025 | 3 comments

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.

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Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal

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DAYLIGHT SAVINGS

Posted on March 9, 2025 | Leave a comment

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.

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Snow on Sulphur

Posted on March 7, 2025 | Leave a comment 






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.











							

	
			

				
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						Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal					

								
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SPILT PAINT


			

				Posted on March 4, 2025 | 2 comments
			


				

				











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.











							

	
			

				
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						Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry, Ranch Journal					

															

		


		
	


			

			
WE KNOW BETTER


			

				Posted on February 21, 2025 | 2 comments
			


				

				











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.











							

	
			

				
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						Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025					

								
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ADDENDUM


			

				Posted on February 14, 2025 | 3 comments
			


				

				











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!”











							

	
			

				
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						Posted in Photographs, Poems 2019, Ranch Journal					

								
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ON A GRAY DAY


			

				Posted on February 10, 2025 | 1 comment
			


				

				











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.











							

	
			

				
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						Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry					

								
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Half-Inch


			

				Posted on February 5, 2025 | 2 comments
			


				

				











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.

							

	
			

				
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						Posted in Photographs, Ranch Journal					

								
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LIKE A WINDOW


			

				Posted on January 25, 2025 | 3 comments
			


				

				






Mt. Tamalpais – L.E. Rea (1868-1927)







There are no windows on the south wall
to let the sun’s heat into a hot summer room, 
but a 3’ x 5’  L. E. Rea painting framed 
of Mt. Tam I thought was Montana 
when I was a boy in my grandfather’s house 
hanging above the mantle over the blazing, 
hairy arms of grapevines pruned, hauled 
and piled for the winter by the barn 
with the remains of corrals for draft 
horses and mules back in the day—that
my sister and I damned-near burned down
playing with matches. The fire trucks came
at dusk from town, sirens screaming closer
before I ever saw the flames.

Sunlight through mottled clouds
on the hillside near begs my eyes to stay. 
Its bare, steep peak drawing me 
from my desk to the south wall
like a window to a better place.














							

	
			

				
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						Posted in Photographs, Poems 2025, poetry					

								
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WORDPRESS


			

				Posted on January 9, 2025 | Leave a comment
			


				

				











My apologies to those who’ve been frustrated trying to comment on this site.  I’ve tried to address the problem with what’s available to me on this end from WordPress.  Some comments never make it, while others show up in batches, days and even weeks after they are made.  Your comments are very important to me and others who follow this site.





I’ve given up trying to address this online, it’s time for a phone call or some changes.






							

	
			

				
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