Bud and bloom, flower
for a day, then sigh—
a man needs many cacti.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Easter Lily Cactus, Echinopsis oxygona, garden, haiku, Mother's Day, photographs, poetry
Gods and goddesses tempt us,
pull mind and flesh to choose
between commercials
hawking sloth and greed,
or the new and improved
comforts that never last
as long as we do. Raining
cold in my face, she suggests
the woodstove waits
for coffee and company, that
old men can catch their deaths
looking up canyons for silhouettes
of cows and calves that grazed
early morning’s ridgeline.
Her running mate reminds
that I won’t rest easily by the fire
not knowing—and vows to come along
to make the wet ride fun.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Easter Lily Cactus, Echinopsis oxygona, flowers, garden, haiku, Mother's Day, photographs, poetry
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, Great Western Divide, haiku, photographs, poetry, weather
A pair in the shade
take a break—quail
on the rail of the gate—
we stop to inhale
with each prolonged
tick of time, knowing
it won’t last long enough
to photograph—to leave
for the house and good lens
to freeze gray detail
to store somewhere.
Instead, we stare
at a mirror
in our garden
we won’t forget.
Surprise me with color
that prolongs spring,
just add water to the wild.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged African Daisy, Drought, Gerber Daisy, Gerbera, haiku, photographs, poetry, weekly-photo-challenge
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged California Buckeye, Drought, haiku, photographs, poetry, weather, weekly-photo-challenge, wildflowers
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged Drought, Greasy Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, Pretty Face, Sierra Tidy Tips, Sulphur Peak, weather, wildflowers
The earth like a clean sheet waits
for dawn through cold, gray cumulous
stacked atop hillsides of bare, dark clay
after a thunderstorm’s harsh scouring—
each thin blade stimulated, invigorated
to meet tomorrow with alacrity,
reckless grins upon every face
and we, foolishly, have no choice
but to imitate the mob’s delight
and forget the dry for a moment
to consider the range of this miracle—
of our goddess-come-home-late
and gone-so-long we have forgotten
what she looks like—what we
have taken for granted, and why.
How comes it that he wrote a book
of five thousand words?
translated by Arthur Waley (“Po Chü-I on Lao-tzü”)
“Let them talk,” old Tom Davis said,
“to see what they don’t know.”
has worked well-enough for me—
yet I write incessantly: lay bare
my innocence and ignorance
on recyclable paper no cowmen
dare read. Out here, the approach
to good or bad speaks for itself,
and is remembered—but in between,
the indomitable art on the wing
is humbling and leaves us speechless.
Already, I have said too much.
Posted in Poems 2014
Tagged Chinese Poetry, Lao-tzü, Po Chü-I, Po Chü-I on Lao-tzü, poetry, Tom Davis