POEM: Volcanic Tanka

the cone looms
as the city's backdrop,
drawing the eye --
some things are prettier
in death than in action

DAILY PHOTO: Green Hills of Devaramane

Taken at Devaramane Hills in October of 2020

POEM: Clifftop Flowers

Saffron-hued flowers huddle on a wind-whipped clifftop.

Sea breezes toss and twirl pollen,
eddies send some back down to the beach.
Land breezes feed pollen to the dark waters far below.

The flowers are ever-tousled by the wind’s rough hand.

What must they love, in their sightless stance,
that matches my sighted stare at sea and sky?

Four Tenacious Leaf Haiku

I
the last leaves
on a barren tree,
doggedly hang

 

II
green to red,
the leaves grow, stop,
then fall off

 

III
the rain tree
limbs spiral skyward
all leaves out

 

IV
a tree shape
stands atop a mountain
cactus ruse

POEM: In Focus

A sight enflames my consciousness,
and the world blurs away.
And nothing vibrant or golden
can hold my mind in sway.

A simple beauty does the trick —
no gemstones are needed —
to ensure the cosmos beyond
lies wholly unheeded.

I never know what simple sight
will capture my focus —
perhaps, a cloud, or just a curve,
a creature, or a crocus.

Quiet Morning Haiku

I
at the pass,
fog stands guardian,
then moves on

 

II
the chipmunk
freezes at a crack,
sniffing the air

 

III
a burble rolls
off the paddle as
the boat glides

Three Rolling Hill Tanka

I
granite domes
bubble from the flat lands,
earthly zit, or
beauty marks written
in topography

 

II
the foothills
spread from the mountains
like ripples,
echoing from
the cordillera

 

III
four horses,
standing on the hilltop,
as if meeting,
but with no common
vision or purpose

POEM: The Dangers of Going too Deep

I watched a bee —
a rotund & buzzy carpenter bee
scoot its way into the deep cup
of a cornflower blue sky vine blossom,
nestling itself within.

When it had penetrated to maximum depth —
only the hind tip of abdomen protruding —
the blossom fell away,
plummeting leisurely — as light things do,
in a lazy spiral toward the earth.

And as the blossom and its captive bee
passed out of sight below my window,
I could only wonder about the bee’s fate.

It did not zoom up past my window
at the last possible second
with a pronounced doppler shift
in the manner of stalled aircraft
pulling out of a dive in a Hollywood movie,
but that doesn’t mean the bee didn’t escape

If it didn’t escape,
what would that crash be like?

A light-weight creature trapped in the soft folds
of flower petals, with a combined lightness
such that air-resistance cannot be ignored
the way one does in Physics problems involving bowling balls.

What would that crash be like?

DAILY PHOTO: Lake Lanier in Autumn

Taken at Lake Lanier in October of 2011.

DAILY PHOTO: Tall Grass & Trees

Taken on the South River Trail in Georgia [US] in December of 2010