DAILY PHOTO: Uttari Betta

Photograph taken at Uttari Betta in Karnataka, India on a cloudy monsoon season day.
Photograph taken atop Uttari Betta in Karnataka, India with the farmland far below in the background.
Photograph of precariously positioned rocks atop Uttari Betta in Karnataka, India.

Stony Ground [Haiku]

Photograph of a tree on the granite hill named Uttari Betta in Karnataka, India.
roots grow down
through stony ground -- still,
Spring brings deep green.

DAILY PHOTO: River to Nowhere

Image

Photograph of the Chattahoochee River taken from a bridge such that it looks like the river just comes to an end.

Locus [Common Meter]

One clump of flowers has the power
To lure the eye’s focus.
The background blurs as mind infers
Which hue shall be the locus.

DAILY PHOTO: Lake, Low & Blue

Image

Photograph taken of Lake Hartwell in Georgia, under deep blue skies.

Naked Wisdom [Haiku]

Photograph of a barren tree taken on the Butch Kennedy Trail, near Lake Hartwell, in South Carolina.
one bare tree
knew not to bud or bloom
before the last freeze.

Skulking Deer [Senryū]

Photograph of a deer taken from Alpharetta's Big Creek Greenway Trail.
step: "Crunch - Crack!" --
skulking deer startles itself,
looks out: who noticed?

Cold Creek [Haiku]

Photograph taken near the start of the Mae Yen Waterfall trek at Pai, Thailand.
butterflies dance
beside a cold creek,
near sun-warmed leaves.

Gust [Haiku]

Photograph taken at Pai Canyon near Pai, Thailand.
Autumn gust
sends leaf fluttering --
cat paws at it.

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。