Summer months in the dry, dust
stirred by tiny birds, by the invisible
kiss of a breeze’s caress—so far
to go for water. Cows will lie down
and die when its gone, trusting spirits
and disassembled bones left for years
near waterholes to remind of empty eyes
gathered to wait in the shade for a drink—
nightmares that lurk on the edge of sleep,
ever ready, July through September.
So far to go, a day and a night at a time,
they take no holiday until it rains.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, Greasy Creek, photographs, poetry, rain, water
Change comes slowly,
only the moss on the rock knows
how the trees have grown.
Bright among the oaks,
rare and far between up here,
moisture and a spring.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged cottonwood, Drought, haiku, photographs, poetry, Sulphur Peak, water, weather, weekly-photo-challenge
Grazing the haze between
the Great Divide—
over and over again.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Great Western Divide, haiku, Kaweah Peaks, photographs, poetry, Sawtooth, weekly-photo-challenge
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged dawn, Dry Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, weekly-photo-challenge
Native generations rise
at water, hoof and pad,
inhaled at dawn.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, dust, Greasy Creek, haiku, Indian Ground, Natives, photographs, poetry, water, Yokuts
To the flutter and whir
of learning how to drink
water from a trough.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, Dry Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, San Joaquin Valley Quail, water
May 9, 2014
We have culled the cows again,
dependable girls
raising good calves every year
let me walk within the crowd
of old hides in the corral—
we’ve known each other well.
It was artful, the long trail
of green alfalfa flakes
spaced on dry grassless ground,
last evening’s table set before
I called them from their shade tree—
before today’s auction ring.
It’s time.
They will never look
this good again.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged cull cows, Drought, Greasy Creek, photographs, poetry, weather
Early morning gather,
we occupy the foreground
close to corrals, the road,
a truck—short April grass.
Sort cows from calves—
weigh, wean and load
for fifty years since
they dammed the Kaweah
with another layer of man
we no longer notice
as we adapt like livestock
to the landscape.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, first-calf heifers, Kaweah River, photographs, poetry, shipping cattle, Terminus Dam, Wagyu X, weather
Railroad Spring
Frogs frozen in clay and plaster
fired with human expressions
rest on the outside railing,
on shelves, behind glass
like angels from the past
saved for this last moment
of goodbyes, each beckoning
a memory to come alive
that was—that is everlasting.
for Carol Donnell
1938-2014
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged bullfrogs, Carol Donnell, photographs, poetry
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