Category: Photography

Family Trees

One fall when leaves were gone the clearings came.  Those worth the haul were taken, but the rest would have to carry on.  As if a flame had come to burn this forest’s ancient best, the parent trees, the wisdom they possessed, the ground turned bare as youthful family trees preserved their hold on Earth tenaciously.

Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar with Bjorn hosting on the theme of silence. I formatted the Chaucerian stanza as prose to highlight where I would expect a reader to enjoy the silence.  I use line breaks to mark the completion of metrical patterns not to indicate silence although sometimes I run out of breath and need to pause before I carry on.

Photo: “Thinning” by the author.

 

 

 

Righteousness and Grace

It takes no time at all to choose
But more to justify
The choice I made so I won’t lose–
Lose what, to whom and why?

I build a wall of righteousness
That only grace can smash
And let forgiveness air the mess.
Rejoice. Enjoy the crash.

Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics. Paul is hosting with the theme “grace”. I am also linking this with Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.

Photo: “Bottle in the Light” by the author. I am linking this to Trablogger’s Mundane Monday with the theme of “bottles”. I am also linking it to Frank Jansen’s Tuesday Photo Challenge with the theme “recycle” which is what I should do with this bottle since I no longer use it.  Perhaps the idea of the light of grace shining through the bottle might link the photo to the poem?

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Winter wears a gloomy sky.
Yesterday came snow.
Today as well we’ll get some, too.
Tomorrow? I don’t know,
But if it dumps a load on us
I will wonder when
We’ll get to feel warm spring love leap
That brings back joy again.

Text: Linked to dVerse Quadrille where Grace is hosting using “leap” as the prompt word.

Photos: “Sun Through Overcast Sky”, above, and “Lake Michigan and Overcast Sky”, below, by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with theme “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

Lake Michigan and Overcast Winter Sky

Advent Darkness

This darkness isn’t such that I
Can brighten it by light I bring.
No laws of nature taint the sky.
No bonds bind it so it can’t sing.

The power failed, but should we wait
For what might not come speedily?
Some of us would hesitate,
But darkness helps our hearts to see.

We’re thankful for the light that’s near.
Praise sound, but not with our ears solely.
Our voices stir the darkness here
Repeating, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

Text: This was originally published in Ancient Paths Literary Magazine.

Photo: “Decorations” by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Blue Sky

Bare trees rising high.
Where did all those white clouds go?
Deep blue fills the sky.
Red lips, how their smiles flow.
Blue eyes sparkling, brighten so.

Text:  I’m using a modified form that William N. Porter used in his translation of Japanese tanka into English, “A Hundred Verses from Old Japan“.  This is part of my study of the Manyoshu, finding English forms similar to the tanka.

Photo: “Sun, Tree and Blue Sky”, above, and “Trees and Blue Sky”, below, by the author and linked to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge and Trablogger’s Mundane Monday.

News: The National Federation of State Poetry Societies in the United States (of which I’m a member through the Illinois State Poetry Society) announced its 2018 contests. There are fifty contests in all. Entries must be postmarked between January 1, 2018, and March 15, 2018. Some of the winners may be published in an anthology later in 2018. Check the details if you are interested in participating.

Also, yesterday Ancient Paths Literary Magazine published my poem “Advent Darkness“.

Trees and Blue Sky

Pleasantly Surprised

Conspiracy theories come in pairs. There’s the nutty theory I won’t believe in, because–well–it’s nutty, and there’s the opposite theory that, for some possibly nutty reason, I do. Motivated enough I could likely prove anything is true, which doesn’t imply that nothing is true.

Every time I take a stand I lock the front door, but I keep the back door open to offer protection to those good folk polarized in the same direction that I am. If there are monsters coming at me, this is a reasonable thing to do. Often I am pleasantly surprised by who comes through the back door seeking and offering protection. Sometimes it is the very people I thought would be storming the front door. Sometimes I look out the window on the front door after a major storm and see blue skies, pleasantly surprised at the absence of monsters.

FRESH SNOW BRIGHTENS PATHS
EVEN WINTER GRAYNESS SHINES
DOORS REMAIN UNLOCKED

Text: Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday with the theme “pleasantly surprised”. I am hosting today. The bar opens at 3 PM EST.

Photo: “Puzzle Pieces Prior to Polarization” by the author.

Seagulls in the Sun

Seagulls with their points of view
Sometimes don’t agree.
The Sun that warms them loves them, too,
Chanting by the sea.

Text: Linked to dVerse Meeting the Bar. Victoria is hosting with the theme symbolism. Hopefully these seagulls symbolize something besides seagulls which may not always be pleasant.  I see them as enchanters of earth, sea and sunny sky.

Photo: “Seagulls in the Sun” by the author.

Visit

The day turned cold and dark. We went to bed.
Our eyes closed on a starry, winter’s night.
Visitors appeared and we were led
Through lost, forgotten, ancient, truer light.
Their messages grew clear with inner sight.
When morning showed the brightness of fresh snow,
Those secrets we uncovered we let go.

Text: Linked to dVerse Poetics. Lillian is hosting with the prompt word “visit”.

Photo: “Covered” by the author taken last winter.