Best Chaparral Poems

The land sizzles.
Brittle grass
yellows the hills.
Live oak draw sparse circles
of shade.
Spiky shrubs
cling to the parched slopes:
red stemmed manzanita,
spiny scrub oak.
Hot wind rustles the leaves.
The chaparral...

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Santa Barbara, Summer 2017

Monday
I walked on the bluffs above the sea.
Orange poppies bloom in the dunes.
I discovered
the labyrinth:
smooth stones spell the path.
Peaceful pilgrimage.

Tuesday
Walked on the...

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Tarnished gray, as  the doves you have scattered away
you were yelping as if the moon were your prey
 
Eclipsed by the sage  you...

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Night spills over the day like India ink from a well
bleeding into the deep crevasses of hill and dell
running into clear cold streams once shimmering,...

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I’ll go a ridin’ no more through blue stem or chaparral,
Just lead my horse to pastures of green.
I’ll watch those rose ruby suns ease on...

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Many many moons ago
leaving the porch
of a south-facing canyon,
I hiked to a place 
where the foothills
narrowed,

Where the asphalt road
ran astride the reservoir lake
into which kingfishers
dived...

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When cowboys sprawl 'round the camp fire after the days work is done,
They strum guitars and tootle harmonicas and sing to have fun.
Real cowboys don't...

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Potato Mountain

I will arrive
an habitual escapee
from the rabbit warrens
of central planners

By ferreting north
in search of
breaks in the maze
rifts in the grid

I will follow
a stream beside
the...

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There was a day on TV
Where westerns were all the rage
You could take your pick
From your TV paper page

Together our masked hero the Lone Ranger
With...

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It had been a hot and dusty week chasin' them wily steers thro' the chaparral.
And, later, sweatin, cussin' and brandin' them wild critters in the...

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Brisk, northern winds blow across the heavy sand
The desert arena is chilly and bright

The summer animals are hiding
Not a lizard, tortoise or snake in sight

The...

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sweet pungent odor
fermented hay 
dark and warm
slithers of light spit
through the cracks of the
warped weathered wood
old pie tin lies in the dirt 
in its corner
where...

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Silent sage and chaparral
Gather ‘round the old corral,
Like the cowhands way back then
When the Old West did begin.

Too soon gone are all the days
Of the...

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Cookie, fire-up yer chuck wagon 'cause th' round-up is begun!
Us cowpokes is gonna cull th' herd frum dawn to th' settin' sun!
We is gonna supply...

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It Started Out With Roy Rogers
Then Moved On To John Wayne
My Family, Loved To Watch ‘Gun Smoke’,
‘The Rifleman’ and ‘Shane’ …

Mine, Were ‘The Big Valley’
‘Bonanza’...

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