DAILY PHOTO: Low Tide Tree

Taken on Havelock Island in December of 2018

Falling Leaf [Haibun]

A leaf falls, spinning as it drifts downward. Then, for an instant, it seems to pause in the air before continuing to drop, twist, and flutter. I question whether the leaf stopped, my mind stopped, or the universe stopped. Probably, nothing stopped -- a mere momentary balance of updraft and gravitational pull, an unstable and ephemeral equilibrium, like a spontaneous retention of breath -- usually missed before it can be noticed, but just this one time, I was witness.


a falling leaf
seems to pause in air,
and I am there 

Tumbling Petals [Haiku]

soft petals,
tumbling & swirling
in a light breeze

Seed of Ambition [Tanka]

over the river,
a seed pod twirls toward
the creeping waters,
and thus a lazy seed
will hitch a thousand miles

DAILY PHOTO: Forest Path

Taken in August of 2011 in Arabia Mountain Park

Bone Mountain [Haibun]

The landscape is strewn with boulders, its topography formed from piles of them, its flat fields dotted with them. These boulders are the remnants of a once mighty mountain -- an ancient mountain. 

People stand in awe of those rough, angular slabs of granite, standing a mile high. But those are the young whippersnappers. 

This mountain is so old that it's just a pile of bones, devoid of connective tissue or fleshy covering. It's a corpse of a mountain that has half buried itself.


the ancient mountain
is now bone-smooth boulders
its age unsung

The Perils of Watching One’s Step [Tanka]

looking down
from blue skies and sparse clouds 
my next look up
the ceiling has lowered
and rain is on its way

Desert Colors [Haiku]

in the desert,
color blooms in dense clumps
among scrubby sands

DAILY PHOTO: Macal River, Belize

Taken near San Ignacio, Belize around 2010 [From Hawkesworth Bridge]

DAILY PHOTO: Evergreens & Mountains, Karakol NP

Taken in Karakol National Park in 2019