Taken in August of 2016 on the Sonamarg – Naranag Trail.
DAILY PHOTO: Kashmiri Tarns
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Category Archives: nature
POEM: Orange Jelly Fungus
Its alien orange gleamed across a mid-winter forest.
The only thing — save shamrock green moss girding the base of trees — that begged attention in that silent, decaying woods.
Its globule nature desiccated into angularity,
adding to its alien claim,
and it shone with every orange a flame can throw.
The guide said you were edible,
but, seeing your flaming colors,
I could never convince myself that you wouldn’t taste of orange jelly enough to not spit you out on the ground.
Besides, I won’t say you’ve seen better days,
but you’ve seen less alien days.
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GREEN WINTER HAIKU
a crow caws
standing on a stout post
black eye watching
a child wonders,
beyond this rainy valley,
is it white?
nothing scurries
but mushrooms sprout
wet forest floor
lonely bus stop
one man waits for a nearly
empty bus
streaks of blue
viewed through cloudy skies
a bird hops
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WINTER FOREST HAIKU
no birds, nor boar
not even a squirrel,
yet poop abounds
quiet forest
bare trees and thick carpet
decay time
mushrooms grow
in dense clusters on stumps
ringed in moss
earthen hues
far as an eye can see
but for moss green
so short the day
slantwise sunshine from
dawn to dusk
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DAILY PHOTO: Moss & Mushrooms
Taken on December 17, 2019 at Pilisszentlászló, Hungary.
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FOGGY HAIKU
cloud fallen
resting on muddy ground
and limp dry grass
lulled to sleep
staring out a window
into the fog
faint edges
reality is swallowed
by the fog
foggy morn
black branch scribbles
in the gray
what shapes become,
edges softened and deformed,
fog monsters
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DAILY PHOTO: Tarsier
POEM: Strange Rivers
Lest you think you know rivers —
just water meandering mountain to sea;
there are strange rivers in this world.
There’s a river in Cambodia, the Tonlé Sap, that yearly switches its direction.
The Okavango can’t be bothered to get to a sea, an ocean, or even a lake. Instead, it becomes a desert swamp — obstinately creating a thing one might be forgiven for thinking impossible.
There are blood red rivers and licorice black rivers.
There are rivers that take a holiday, and rivers that only show up for the 100 year flood.
There are rivers that look like they’re barely moving that can sweep a man to his death.
Rivers with dolphins. Rivers with fish too fat to swim. Rivers with creatures, Mesozoic-ugly.
A river in India, the Sarasvati, up and disappeared.
There are rivers that aren’t even rivers, but metaphors for that which we think eternal but which vanishes each instant to be replaced by a look-alike.
There are strange rivers.
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DAILY PHOTO: Saigon Flowers
Forest Haiku
winter forest
light of the rising sun
passes straight through
needle litter
carpeting the forest floor
copper clean
straight trunks
standing tall and tidy
lack character
spring brings blossoms
but how can the trees trust
spring sometimes lies
the gnarled tree
stunted and deformed
stands post-storm
Tiger Riding for Beginners 