Evidence [Haiku]

two shucked nuts
sit on a stone pillar --
no squirrel in sight

Winter Cardinal [Haiku]

swollen cardinal
looks like it's been gorging,
but it's winter puffed

Bat Hang [Haiku]

a flying fox hangs
from lush vegetation,
reaching monkey-like

DAILY PHOTO: Leopard, Darjeeling Zoo

Taken in December of 2021 at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoo in Darjeeling

DAILY PHOTO: Elephant Calf

Taken in Amboseli National Park [Kenya] in May of 2017

Spines Aglow [Haiku]

the frilly spines
of an iguana catch light,
marring camo

No Egret [Haiku]

the egret walks
away from a lone cow that's
too still to stir bugs

Squirrel Grind [Common Meter]

The squirrel's life 's an acorn hunt:
forage and hide the nut.
But a feeble mind requires that
it hide them by the glut.

Squirrel happiness is fragile
no cache is big enough
to be certain it'll make it through
should the winter get rough. 

Oh, give me the tardigrade life,
not a doubt it'll survive.
No food, no water, vacuum of space
and the thing 's still [bleeping] alive.

Rather than gathering plenty,
I'd rather need much less,
or, at least, not be so mindless
to hoard in great excess.

DAILY PHOTO: Seeing Eye to Eye with a Giraffe

Taken in June of 2017 at the Giraffe Center on the outskirts of Nairobi

Rock Agama [Tanka]

a Rock Agama
peeks over a rock, stops,
and tries to be
inconspicuously
bright orange