flint river's stream low
dry, rocky outcroppings show....
tropical storm, hurricane
Granite outcroppings sparkle like gems
Leading the eye to a neatly-hidden village
In the shadow of distant purple mountains,
And beyond to higher peaks snow-capped.
Over all the pastoral scene grayish clouds
Suggest winter is riding on a white mount
The slightest hint of a dying sun rests atop
Sharpest peaks daring darkness to fall.
She will not surrender until her shadows
Move across the bleak brown barrenness
And across the thatched homes lighting
Candles in the dusk of a family suppertime.
Notice now the tiny fence posts separating
The far pasture where no sheep now graze
Until spring bids them visit for a season
To forage among sparkling gems of granite.
written October 18, 2021
[This piece describes a breath-taking
screen saver, courtesy of Windstream.]
We are aesthetic in our congregation-
promotionally enthusiastic to see the next outing,
our outcroppings stupendously aligned to the demotion of the great race's need for participating eloquence,
Einstinien men and women we are...
Holding key facts at stake for the live's of those who cannot agree with us,
sending the signals,
eluding the cops, and of course...
never forgetting the fallen.
They are speaking wildly,
we have their farce continued,
they are breaking at the rims of the galaxies,
we are just catching them!
So adorn to adorn-
recalculate, and so go home to be born,
extrapolate every digitization before ending the alimony and diving to your depths-
because what's first came next.
Sty all your bodied waters
And libelous pretensions.
Hang leather headed juries
Beside some tethered eddies.
Drown me down
In new baptismal rivers.
Spread eagle me upon
Some granite black outcroppings.
And let my liver ribbon
From beaks of shadowed ravens.
Let my thigh bones
Fossil on the rocks.
Should I be buried under
When cliffs calf shuddered thunders,
No words of prayer be spoken
Just leave and let me be.
Paying no tribute to the craggy outcroppings
of its lofty aerie,
this sentinel of freedom takes its leave.
Soaring with the courage of a Feudal Warrior,
proud of his nobility, secure in his repute.
Floating effortlessly on
Zephyrus winds sweeping wave,
as if he were its only passenger.
His keen vision sees mortality
and dispenses it out of necessity
with irreproachable honesty and no regrets.
Fiercely challenging the bounds of earth and heavens,
he knows no foe, save one.
One whose frailty of condition
can't perceive of this natural independence,
and knows not of its integrity.
In spite,do prevail great raptor,
and with you carry hope
that will nourish us all,
your nest bound hatchlings.
Some days are almost crystalline in the memory: they shine like diamonds in the blue perspective of the distant past.
winter wind
a broken branch
lit by gray-green lichens
New Year's day,1981, was like that. I spent the day with my future wife, Joyce, wandering around the Eno River in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The weather was perfect for January in the South— clear with a pale, yellow sun and temperatures in the mid-50s. Chilly but pleasant.
We explored the oak and maple forests bordering the river, admiring its stark, wintry beauty, and happy with each others' middle-aged company. We pointed out birds' nests and the occasional larger, leafy squirrel's homes in the bare boughs. Always, the river was a strong background presence, winding through stone outcroppings and sandy shores.
winter evening
at home
with stars
First published in Contemporary Haibun Online
The mica-flecked granite outcroppings loom,
releasing bits of themselves randomly
sparkling, as they fall, in felted-light they bloom.
Blasted cliffs, yet brazen, they rise without decree,
unconcerned with the maples, and the birch,
releasing bits of themselves randomly.
An ashen, sulking, sky hides the eagle's perch
and softens all the jagged edges of the scene
unconcerned with the maples, and the birch.
A collage of layers blends all color in between
each angle decomposing in the rain,
and softens all the jagged edges of the scene.
Within the fog the distant mountain's strain
bruised in shades of lavender and forest green,
each angle decomposing in the rain.
A watercolor tableau where, unforeseen,
the mica-flecked granite outcroppings loom,
bruised in shades of lavender and forest green
sparkling as they fall, in felted-light they bloom.
1/4/15
The mica-flecked granite outcroppings loom,
releasing bits of themselves randomly
sparkling as they fall in felted-light they bloom.
Blasted cliffs, yet brazen, they rise without decree,
unconcerned with the maples, and the birch,
releasing bits of themselves randomly.
An ashen, sulking, sky hides the eagle's perch,
and, softens all the jagged edges of the scene
unconcerned with the maples, and the birch,
a collage of layers blends all color in between,
each angle decomposing in the rain.
And, softens all the jagged edges of the scene.
Within the fog the distant mountains strain,
bruised in shades of lavender and forest green
each angle decomposing in the rain.
A watercolor tableau where, unforeseen,
the mica-flecked granite outcroppings loom,
bruised in shades of lavender and forest green
sparkling as they fall in felted-light they bloom.
First Appeared in The Autumn Sound 10/13
A froth of snow crusts the ground,
fixing in place the remaining blades of green grass
and outlining the metal edges of stop signs.
The road weaves wearily through the
freshly white washed landscape
with its distant, dusted, granite outcroppings.
Fellow travelers in blanketed cars whoosh passed
chunks of icy snow fly, lambasting the negligent bumper hugger.
Warmed by the wheels spin the asphalt seizes its shivering.
Weighted wires laden and humming unburden themselves
upon frosted windshields with undignified plops
and so the momentary beauty of a winter morn passes.
The gray granite outcroppings loom
masticated mountains blasted yet brazen.
Their jagged ledges and softer heights
topped with rust brown and burnt orange maples.
Fog distances them
softens them
as they seem to overlap
Recede ..into semi transparent wash
like the edges of a tissue paper collage.
Each layer seeming to de compose
into the next each symmetrically
more exquisite than the next…
Torrents fixed by natures’ breath
glisten in the Winter suns mirage.
Aquamarine copper infusions, opaque as opal,
descend with abandon granite cliffs.
scared by man’s iron tools.
Stop action terrors frighten
passing denizens of day.
Tangling brush and briar.
Frost glazing quartz outcroppings.
The ground below
shows silver shards
snapped ice tentacles.
Unfed forms
heart breaking
Ice.
Concealed awaiting prepared for prey
Stalking me in frosted undergrowth
Camouflaged mire spread all around
His baying battle cry seeps and saturates
My blood fermenting anticipated challenge
Of his judging eyes still and steady
Blades of winter winds surgically slash
My hands holding aim fast and true
The percussive flash bursts
Concentration lost in fleeing stains
About the cracking prints on ground cover
My ears blocking out primordial howling
A warning and cry I set off pursuing
Behind the sounds of labored steps
Forward heaving within dark tunnels
Closing about the range of sight
Hindered by the steaming breath
Echoing in ears off tree and outcroppings
Thrown in pathways confusing game
Of quarry between wolf and men.