Ridden Hard, Put Up Wet
Worn down landscape
Ridden hard and put up wet over eons of time.
Buttes interspersed with ravines and wadis,
Vast irregular symmetry.
Clumps of purple blue green sage
To have been seen by the riders of olden times.
Clusters scattered randomly.
A patchwork without design
Covering endlessly to the horizon
Intermingled with beef and horse.
The buttes come in irregular waves of shapes and sizes.
Conical breasts sprung up in ridges,
Or sometimes alone at the sky line.
Isolated flat tops
Or long Capetown table mountains;
African ant hill shapes,
Crenulated with skirts of vertical old rivulet stripes.
The overstory of bare hard scrabble thin land
Draped to the side of the ravines
Exposing the layers of understory limestone below.
Sentinel wood line posts, strong with wire, guard the narrow highway
That rolls with the landscape.
Occasional cotton wood ribbons
Crosses the roadway over the sign ‘Dry Run Creek’ which still remains dry until the rain comes.
All this
Served under the banner of blue sky
Shredded with a mare’s tail wisp of clouds
7/13/2020
Categories:
crenulated, summer,
Form: Free verse
sad...the coming down, the letting go
the fall to damp chill soil
full are the woodlands now with barren boughs
frosted brittle are the gathered shards.
sad..dreary, crying out for bittersweet
to twine amongst the nudity of brazen bark
down, down, the fall of ruby holly
in crenulated grace its greenery shines
the letting go of sadness to replace.
Categories:
crenulated, allegory,
Form: Free verse
A damp musk fills the salty air
as gray dawn rises over the star field of night.
Unseen, crows hawk the glitter of light
upon the dunes of day,
calling out to man and feathered friend alike
to rise from within the bejeweled shades
of emerald and turquoise.
The scruff pines prickle an expansive horizon,
lifting from the dark onyx of night
scenting the still air.
Stalwart oaks finger the nubile rays of gold
morning edges their crenulated leaves
breezes lift limbs with a rustle liken to the
scratch of crinoline.
Topaz acorns cascade from the crowns of oaks,
homage to the placid play of summer’s end
at the beach at last.
Categories:
crenulated, holiday, nature,
Form: Verse