Buffeted [Free Verse]

Wind buffets the hilltop;
I lean into each step,
Bracing against the blasts.

My jacket snaps like a flag
That waves in the wind
On a tall pole.

At times, I feel light on my feet --
Disconcertingly so --
As if a few more miles per hour
Of windspeed and I'll be airborne.

I curl my toes in a futile attempt
To grab the lining of my shoes,
Shoes that aren't solidly affixed
To the ground in the first place.

The boulders on the hilltop
Channel the wind:
Speeding it up,
Swirling it in eddies, unseen,
But which attempt to swing me
About - square dance style.

I will be sore tomorrow or the next day --
Sore in my core and in my feet,
And I'll wonder why...

PROMPT: Excited

Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.

Going for a walk this morning. (I’m like a dog that way…. except I don’t pee during my walks… usually.)

“Beginning My Studies” by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]

Beginning my studies, the first step pleas'd me so much,
The mere fact, consciousness -- these forms -- the power of motion,
The least insect or animal -- the senses -- eyesight -- love;
The first step, I say, aw'd me and pleas'd me so much,
I have hardly gone, and hardly wish'd to go, any further,
But stop and loiter all the time, to sing it in ecstatic songs.

Jolt [Senryū]

on a narrow ridge,
covered with fine dust,
my foot slips. I’m awake!

Pebble Walks [Haiku]

crude tracks weave, merge,
 & part on the pebble beach:
  sober drunkards' walk. 

Elephantine March [Free Verse]

The herd is on the march.

They lumber with slow
      determination. 

The young achieve   
       playful swagger,
        but aren't allowed
         too wide of the line. 

I wonder whether they're
       going someplace good?

Summer Sky [Haiku]

watching the sky,
 as i walk up the hill,
  i trip on a rock.

The Scrublands [Haiku]

dust rises,
 in little eddies,
  with each footfall.

Winter Walking [Lyric Poem]

Out into a winter night,
 with snow and silence and fright.
  What's beyond the torch's light?

Rubber boots on crunching snow.
 Oh, how far we have to go.
  An hour's trudge until sun glow
 gathers on the horizon.

  Then walk 'til the day is done --
   again abandoned by the sun. 

We'll set up camp in the dark,
 try to get flame from a spark,
  and dread when next we embark...

a few hours down the line.

Bliss Step [Haiku]

i kick a pebble
 from my sandal,
  and take a bliss step.