This close to heaven,
just below the timberline
pine trees climb and wait.
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs, Poems 2015
Tagged haiku, Lone Pine CA, photographs, poetry, weekly-photo-challenge
Nothing sudden, poor dry hills
like thin cows show too much bone,
I look away for a spot of green
in shadows of trees, on north slopes
to weigh our hopes: how many days left
before it rains? Bankrupt with years
of debt, of dirt exposed, of dust released,
the old oaks have given-up to start over—
to become earth again, and we
make plans to brand another bunch
like Kestrels courting spring, falling
in a flutter before me yesterday:
fourth of February, seventy-seven degrees.
Nothing sudden, we plod against the obvious
knowing nothing stays the same.
Following fifty tons
through light showers
across Nevada,
big alfalfa bales
towards our dry
California home,
we focus on raindrops
streaking reality
after a week of poetry
and song, to feel
our poor possibilities
grow by the truckload—
heavy with an endless
emptiness in our bellies
beneath the straps
of seat belts
before another wreck.
We hang on.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015, Ranch Journal
Tagged alfalfa hay, Drought, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Nevada, photographs, poetry, rain, weather
What comes of words planted
from a poor harvest
but strong seed to root between
the cracks of rocks gathering
every bit of rain to fruit
again and again. Listen
to the defiant sound they make:
a crop of clashing cymbals
before they die and blow away
to a better place.
An iffy eternity at best,
but let them go, anyway.
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Greasy Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, Purple Penstemon, wildflowers
Like scattered birds, they circle back
hovering, fragments of faces, bits
of song fluttering and floating before me,
moments searching for a place to roost
within memory. Some high and bold
on bare branches singing yet, singing
always, while others light behind
a rustling wall of leaves to build nests,
mate and incubate quietly within me.
Sometimes mindless creatures
of habit in bloom,
never sure who’s got whom.
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Bird's Eye Gilla, haiku, photographs, poetry, wildflowers
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Blow Wives, Dry Creek, haiku, photographs, poetry, wildflowers
Posted in Haiku 2015, Photographs
Tagged Dry Creek, haiku, Johnny Tuck, photographs, poetry, wildflowers
Not wind through willow limbs that sing of rooted past,
but our first tunes, drummed upon catgut strings, cast
beyond early stirrings searching words to fit a melody
of earthly work, we find a moment’s worth of immortality.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2015
Tagged Cowboy Celtic, Cowboy Poetry, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, photographs, poetry