DAILY PHOTO: Palms & Mountains, Vang Vieng

Photograph of a palm tree in the fore and karst mountains in the background. Taken outside Vang Vieng, Laos.
Photograph with Vang Vieng Village and a palm tree in the foreground, and karst mountains in the background.

Chinese Painting [Tanka]

Photograph taken at sundown in Vang Vieng, Laos.
sunlight washes out
the distant mountains;
they look like
an old Chinese painting --
ink faded with age.

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes From the North Laos Countryside

Photograph of creek, farmland, and mountains near Nam Dee, Luang Namtha, Laos.
Photograph of farmland and mountains near Nam Dee, Luang Namtha, Laos.
Photograph of creek, farmland, and mountains near Nam Dee, Luang Namtha, Laos.

DAILY PHOTO: Green Landscapes in Southern Armenia

Photograph of landscape with ruins taken in the Tatev region of Southern Armenia.
Photograph of green mountains in Southern Armenia near Tatev.
Photograph of fortification wall and landscape in Southern Armenia near Tatev.

DAILY PHOTO: Mountain Pasture

Photograph taken in the countryside near Sapa, Vietnam.
Photograph taken outside Sapa, Vietnam on the QL4D highway on the road to Lao Cai.

Chasing Grandeur [Free Verse]

Photograph of mountain looming over the city, taken at Sapa, Vietnam.
I saw the mountaintop, 
but by the time I climbed
the mountain,
I was in the clouds and
could not see back to
where I'd been.

Peach Blossoms [Lyric Poem]

Photograph of Peach Blossoms taken in early March in Atlanta's Piedmont Park.
I see the Peach Blossoms of Spring,
And think of old Li Bai’s answer.

In wordless replies, the world sings;
In unpeopled worlds, there’s a dancer.

The referenced poem by Li Bai [李白] is entitled Question and Answer in the Mountains [山中问答] and is crudely translated as:

I'm asked why I live in mountains.
I laugh while giving no reply.

Peach Blossoms flow from sight & mind;
Beyond men, another Earth & Sky.

Or, in Chinese:

问余何意栖碧山,
笑而不答心自闲。

桃花流水窅然去,
别有天地非人间。

Shadowlands [Haiku]

Photograph taken in the Toroko Gorge, Taiwan.
toward day's end,
the shadowlands creep
down the valley.

DAILY PHOTO: Mussoorie from the Mountaintop

Photograph taken in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India.
Photograph taken from Lal Tibba to Mussoorie, India.
Photograph taken in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India.

Smoke Rise [Haiku]

Photograph taken from a bridge over the Nam Song River in Vang Vieng, Laos.
white smoke rises downriver:
backdropped by black mountains.