• poems

    … and was a flower

    once a snowflake fell
    on my brow and i loved
    it so much and i kissed
    it and it was happy and called its cousins
    and brothers and a web
    of snow engulfed me then
    i reached to love them all
    and i squeezed them and they became
    a spring rain and i stood perfectly
    still and was a flower

    Winter Poem by Nikki Giovanni

    We have clear blue skies and sunshine this morning. I awoke at about 4:46 am and said ugh, I don’t wanna get up! And, I didn’t. Slept in till 5:45 am. I loved this simple poem and wanted to share it with you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

  • landscape,  poems,  river,  Yellowstone National Park

    A Simple Prayer

    I would love to live
    Like a river flows,
    Carried by the surprise
    Of its own unfolding.

    John O’Donohue

    This is a sunrise image taken on the Madison River from a road trip in August of 2022. It was my last day of the trip and I was heading home when I saw this scene. I had to stop. It really didn’t matter if I took a photo or not I just needed to experience the moment. This part of the river is calm while both up river and down river there are rapids and surprises. As a metaphor of life there are days when the flow of life is as calm as this river while there are times when it ain’t and we face surprises. I’m learning to be a part of its unfolding. So, this poem is my prayer for today!

  • Plants,  quotes

    New Life Emerging

    It began as a seedling
    in the darkness of the soil.
    And within that darkness
    was found everything needed
    to emerge as new life.

    mws

    I noticed this plant growing among the rocks and wood chips outside the coffee shop this morning. It seemed fitting for today. Also fitting in my life as it seems after some of the darkest times there has emerged new life. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

  • bicycling,  campus,  fall season,  sunrises

    makes them stop and look…

    CSU Oval

    The poet Mary Oliver suggests in one of her poems (A Lesson From James Wright) that when you sit very quietly in some lovely wild place and listen to silence, that is a poem. I really like that idea. So carrying that further and thinking of our life as a poem, a prayer, a blessing for ourselves and others, maybe adds some aromatic fragrance to who we are and can touch another life. For me this includes creatives such as poets, artists, mystics, photographers, authors, family, friends and others who have done that in my life. I like that idea, also.

    I took this image at the CSU Oval on my ride home this morning. In these later years of my life I am seeing and experiencing this beautiful world in a new way. Something inside me does not want to miss the chance of being a part of it, whether that is being an observer, a poem, a prayer, a blessing, a better loving human, or a silly photographer on a bicycle who stops for photos at the oddest times and makes people stop and look.

  • poems,  writing/reading

    …never the same

    A free afternoon found me
    lying in the grass at the park.
    Above me a canopy of leaves
    offering the gift of cool shade.

    I take deep breaths and stay present
    while leafhoppers jump around me.
    I inhale the scent of freshly cut grass
    and hear the unseen blue jay’s call.

    Clouds drift above me in a sea of blue sky
    as I take in the awe and wonder of nature,
    a sanctuary without walls, doors or windows.
    I close my eyes in reverence, gratitude, prayer

    … and I’m never the same!

    mws
  • Dewdrops,  leaves,  Plants,  poems,  quotes

    Exploring..

    Hemp dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) covered in dew

    We shall not cease from exploration,
    and the end of all our exploring
    will be to arrive where we started
    and know the place for the first time.

    T.S. Eliot

    It was a cool bicycle ride on this August morning. The temperature was at 56 degrees and the humidity was over 90% when I mounted the red steed and headed for the coffee shop. I could see the fog lazily drifting along the eastern horizon but we had none here. I had never thought of my bicycling as a form of exploration but I am coming to see that it is. It is not much different than walking the trails, at least at the meandering speed I pedal. I needed to stop on the way home and photograph these (Apocynum cannabinum) leaves covered in dew along Spring Creek Trail. The leaves and stems are quite lovely but probably not something to put in your salad ( see the link). I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!