Nature's Awakened

 

morning fills the frame

of one's imagination...

blue sky and fluffy clouds

a rising sun and soaring birds

overlapping mountain ranges

light to darker in hues,

trees of all shapes and sizes

illuminating flowers creating

the perfect depth of field...

a dream of dreams

seemingly random in appearance

not the same without sun

perhaps a full moon will see,

nature's magnificence

seen everyday here abouts.

May 20, 2025

A Passing Reflection

a transparent mist covers all

except the chilly feeling

coursing through my veins as if

heated blood had been overlooked,

muted colors of yellows and reds

seen in the mirrored lake,

reflections of a few still standing

although most have gone bare.

uncertain is the vision...  that...

which side is the real reflection

and am I standing here like normal

or have somehow been flipped upside down?

a curious scene to say the least

if I do say so...  but even more so

regarding what is going on with me.

nature's glasses have been provided me

more than once - each time refused,

lots have been casted by those around

as to who is actually standing on whom.

all the same to me...  it is...  since nature

is the one creating this scene and we

are just passersby and only observing.

May 19, 2025

Golden Pond

layered mountains in the distance
faded colors of browns and greys
pines with vibrant greens layered
in the foreground of vision...
heavy fog weaves its way through
pocket valleys down in-between
what was... and, what is...
orange clouds meet a blue horizon
darker ones squeeze inside, letting
us know rain might be coming.
early morning or early evening
the view is always the same,
more or less locals presume,
casting doubts on northerners
thinking they know a thing or two.
atop a ridgeline, we sit, not with
a camera or a phone - this is our
home and has been that way pretty
much near all our lives, except
for the times not remembered,
relying on those to tell us so...
yonder we live, in the second
valley, just a few miles off the
two lane, where the road forks
twice and the willow guards the
entrance to the golden pond.

May 19, 2025

Fort Walton, Florida Series

Day 5 #2

restless waves approach

hard to track until close

forming white caps

not too tall - waist high perhaps

dark blue on the horizon

pale green up close

reflection of a different sort

always presumed...

gulf coast gulls sleep in

arriving late afternoon

still a nuisance here...

walking and begging for crumbs.

wind blows underneath umbrellas

cooling off squatters sitting

seldom leaving chairs except

to walk against the wind

and back again...   just to 

have something to do.

watch and observe, we do

mentally recording what's seen,

talking about it later

not really criticizing but

wondering why

they do what they do here.

May 16, 2025

Fort Walton, Florida Series

 
Day 5

first days - last days
are the best
they say - quotes researched
who's to say, except
those experiencing...
wonder this or
wonder that,
it is all the same
one way or another,
bring back the memories
those thoughts restrained
when days were long
nights were longer,
endless dreams and fantasies
accumulated by age
decades later emerge
too fit to notice
too naive not to,
learning who was who
who was not,
forming changing opinions
remembering all the same,
those first and last days,
returning and forgetting
wondering and determining
what life must have been like.

May 16, 2025

Fort Walton, Florida Series

 Day 4

consistently, it blows
nor 'easterly, it pushes
sweeping away humidity
vacating the heat,
white sands seldom shift
flapping umbrellas wave
rectangular shades billow
shadows reflect a gentle touch,
greyish blue surrounds
like a cap on a beach head,
ugly waters charge forward
as if on some kind of assault,
darken horizon line seen
tourists without shirts walk
endlessly up and down a 
seemingly endless shoreline,
broken chairs replaced as
futile observations continue,
spring in Florida gains traction
spirits of winter declined
eight-hour trips not uncommon
origins of sickness abandoned
salty pungent odors waffle
through a pleasant atmosphere
memories of last year no more.

May 15, 2025

Fort Walton, Florida Series

Day 3

umbrellas lined up like soldiers
waiting to be inspected,
strangers sitting next to strangers
from nine to five daily
without fussing or complaining,
man with binoculars looks
out at nothing except water,
hoping to see what?
renting umbrellas and chairs
saves time but not expense,
guards patrol east to west on
four wheelers with gear strapped
to the sides, they never use.
pillars of clouds float across
an imagined horizon as the belt
of division is no longer visible.
fishermen fish - diggers dig
walkers walk and sitters sit...
it is all part of it...  vacations...
narrow minds narrowly fit into
baseball caps worn to hide baldness
but strut nonetheless down the 
shoreline hoping to be noticed.
we watchers watch it all expecting
someone else is watching us.

May 14, 2025

Fort Walton, Florida Series

 Day 2

foaming waves beat
against the shoreline

in a vain attempt to

reach as far inland as

possible - sexual

implication of nature

being in charge...

dawn on the gulf coast

is brisk and somewhat

chilly - the horizon holds

the sun briefly...  still,

the pale sky contrasts

against the dark blue water,

seemingly flat aa a lake,

its distance appearance,

closer is sickly army green

predominates the same...

a sandy white beach extends

as far as the eyes can see

in both directions,

east and west like the sun,

tracing patterns to follow,

experience teaches perspectives

and depth of fields as our

perceptions change with age

but this morning we are just

content with a little relaxing.

May 13, 2025

Fort Walton, Florida Series

Day 1
green umbrellas complement the
brown seaweed strewn on white
sand from last night's high tides,
a precursor for today's light rains,
early morning before sunrise
winds along the gulf's coastline
moves with the land's curvatures
keeping it cool, even when sunny,
behind cumulous clouds raked
together like fallen fall leaves,
the sun pokes out occasionally
reminding us of seasonal changes,
northern tourists flock to white sands
as if they were bees to honey...
cats to catnip or mosquitos to pale skin,
and when the day unfolds to noon
into the rooms the oiled bodies flow
for nourishments and pit stops, breaking
from reality just a little while making
sure, ritualistic routines continue.

May 12, 2025

Travelers

through four states they came arriving
florida, alabama, Georgia, tennessee
cars, buses, trains, airplanes
luggage together in one tandem line
searching and reporting all they saw
keeping notes in journals frequently
clothes rolled and folded in bundles
tied with twine to lock in freshness
roping the moment with their thoughts
stepping across the line most often
saving their stamps in green cards
buying it all in bulk saving money
wandering nomads, they once were
carrying wooden chips on shoulders
not as narrow as their petty minds,
fugitives they once were, now are
favorite sons and captive daughters,
remembering little from the vision
save the memories taken with them.

May 11, 2025

Alpha Omega

from beginning to end we are
birth and death - to us all occurs
some lives better than others
as might be expected but not
all are the same, even when in
the same jurisdictions...
blessed are the lives of some
while others not so much,
we all experience doubts,
concerns and petty grievances
learning our accommodations.
we struggle with the one
as well as the other - nowhere
is there a record of beliefs that
we blindly follow except to 
breathe, eat, and defecate...
one people are we not, never
will be no matter how hard
we beg for assistance - leadership
is individual, never group owned,
as was originally intended...
from womb to tomb we live for
as long as we've been given,
hoping for long rather than brief,
wondering all along if there is
any kind of point to this madness.

May 10, 2025

Early Warning

a blueish green haze lays on me
each morning when I rise
casting spells and making
prognostications about the
future in front of me...
a blueish grey sky forecasted
around me, lets those who
would be in fear, gentle down,
for tomorrow will be sunny...
an orange red sun sinks down
behind the mountains, casting
doubts on the evening which
kindled so much of our fears,
a desperate eulogy is spoken
for the dead have reawakened,
roaming the streets of our youth
as if we were still around...
a brown haze has come to replace
the one I wear before the day
descends into chaos and I am
summoned by the courts to pay
all my outstanding warrants.

May 9, 2025

A Designated Mind

morning drizzles in 
not too far fetched
as the evening's forecast
of a doomsday scenario,
kidney beans and rice
is the staple by which
we mend our lives
and nourish the soul
to continue its struggles.
morning drizzles in
as was intended here
in the valley of surrender
and complacency...
living in the codes by
which we were raised,
morning drizzles in
replacing the night
whose darknesses kept
us separated from truth
and the realities around
which our lived have
been formatted - we are
creations of science and
those who manipulated
the rules to create us...
we are the life intended
for others who had yet
another destiny in mind.

May 9, 2025

The Light Within

lights shine in the eyes of every newborn

that decline as we grow older,

darkness replaces the light as we replace

ourselves in natural transitions...

a forgiving sun rises on the horizon

providing the way as best as it can

giving the circumstances of its inauguration,

and those who cast not their opinions...

rising tides along the coastlines give

warning to sailors who fail to heed the call,

soon finding themselves drowning

in pools of bureaucratic nonsense tossed

out for our relative but unnatural safety...

lights shine down on the unworthy and

those who know not who they are,

even after years of therapy reveal 

they are who they were meant to be.

May 8, 2025

Marked Days

days are marked with samples of

forgotten journeys, people we

never met and expectations

never realized since accountability

fluctuates with the weather...

days marked with confusion

replaced those days marked by

the reality of another's dreams

oftentimes filled with the pomp 

and ceremony of death...

days marked with joyful wisdom

came once or twice a year, are

now scheduled by decades if

and when numbered evenly and

and not the sodomizing odd ones...

days are now randomly occurring

offering consolation prizes to those

who stayed all week, regardless of

life's temptations and its alter ego

that seems to enjoy everything.

May 7, 2025

A Few Windows

green leaves through the window seen

waving at me surreptitiously

standing fast are trees in obeyance

tied down by the roots projected

learning and unlearning the useless

protocols of life guiding us...

wound and re-wound are our minds

save the parts already sold...

eyes, through the window glares

like birds of prey flying low

seeing with tunnel vision only that

which they are fixed upon,

nothing else matters,

nothing else is of concern...

drifting and grifting in flight,

are we that simple minded, say?

flights of life delayed without prey

resumed when faintly seen...

through the windows are too many

for one person to understand

the natural reason for families

dissipating into the wind like everything.

May 6, 2025

Season Change Us

we stood united but no more
no interlocking of arms
no sharing of the minds
we are independent
self-sufficient and alone
a surviving species without support
of our own kind...  a travesty
some might say, others not
opinions differ, so do tastes
we care not for one
yet do for another...
no longing trying - just accept
words fly by like birds
flying south in the winter,
leave behind - don't look back
you are no longer a part of me
nor I of you - go separately
young man or not - just go...
no longer welcome in this here land
moving on as best we can
a new season has come at last
and we be on it pretty damn fast.

May 4, 2025

This Here Dirt Road

this here dirt road leads to the hard surface road
the hard surface road takes you to the two lane
the two lane takes you to the four lane
the four lane take you anywhere you want to go
its all about roads and destinations
directions and time - stopping along the way
the freedom of mobility - the mobility of freedom
acting and reacting upon each other like jealous twins
trying to garner the attention of their creators
even roads east and west - odd roads north and south
we can travel anywhere with these roads
are we blessed or cursed, I wonder?
progress defines the road, the road defines the progress
we plan where to go, when to go, and how to get there
but not where to build the roads or how
manual labor and machines side by side
working together as if it were meant to be
if only it were that simple - progress or not
we never know until it is done
until we need to travel somewhere and must use roads
not there for our convenience but our responsibility
a responsibility to the future not to our past
roads don't care about the past
roads were intended to take us forward
we travel them as if we cannot wait to get there.

May 3, 2025

Sounds

We came into this world crying

a commonality for us all

regardless or wealth or faith,

we heard the voices of our parents

mother's words the first...

then encouragement and warnings

questions and answers

the language of teaching and learning

coaching us along if willing

lessons learned through pain or joy

built out personalities,

the lyrics of music and dancing

drinking and fornication

homes in the country or city, depending

the loneliness of nothing except

a refrigerator or fan or alarm clock

the monotonous routine of work

failed relationships and friendship

loss of trust and anxieties target the

darkness of feelings and emotions,

a pond in the country, we recall

crickets and frogs in harmony

bird feathers flocking together

swoop down to investigate 

we are too busy listening to notice.

May 3, 2025

Time Strings

down from the heavens it falls without gracefulness

sparsely at first, soon like a waterfall it pours down,

hiding ourselves in cabins and caves

huddling together against the chill

comforting those younger than us, 

teaching them the ways of the wheel

spinning the strings of time, it does,

testing the fate of the tellers whose prognostications

maybe result in nothing more than a false rumor,

a tale woven by fools, spun by those in doubt,

pushing forth a false narrative of power;

the wheel turns for everyone

all creatures great and small

only a few are fortunate to wear the weave

made of the truth of the correct foretelling,

many futures are woven - a few will unfold,

we have no knowledge of the source

who set all life into motion or began the

the first turn of the wheel - yet so it began...

and now the heavens drop water down on us

left to wonder if this omen be good or evil.

May 2, 2025

Not Just Darkness

flashes of light flow through the mind

lightning pierces the body

frozen rain falls on the graves of the dead

we bury and move one as this is

what our ancestors taught us to do,

we believed in their truth

we believed in their ways

even though they made no sense to us,

origins of life from the source it came

out of the skies like thunder

we obeyed the rules and the laws

until they too made no sense.

children of the light faced the

elders of the darkness, stealing their

justice and hiding their rules in the

cradles of the new dawn...

the beginning of new enlightenment

of our long-forsaken salvation,

promised but never delivered,

taken from them but never surrendered.

May 1, 2025

Outside Spring

KWA...  KWA...   KWA...  kwa...   kwa...  kwa...
sounds of some kind of bird and my sight
others try to imitate, longer but not the same
perched in a tree in front of me
other trees on either side
filled with noisy birds a well
silence broken - silence disturbed
new growth from a Crepe Mrytle
cut down last fall...
humming cars moving sides
distant barking, mixed with howls
pleasant morning exposures
for a country boy - formerly the city,
fours meters of grass in front of me
mowed two days again needs trimming
rain expected almost every day
too wet to mow this early...
neighbors hidden by leafy tree limbs
on my flanks and sixes seen...
no one knows the true meaning of Christmas
in the summertime,,,  does it matter?
hanging limbs need cutting
too high for the grab and pull,
coffee is getting cold but there is a cure;
too much to notice in one sitting
knowing it will not go away
humbled by it beauty, amazed by its persistence,
mornings outside before the sun brings humidity
are the days winter prepares us for
except in the city - the reason for leaving.

April 30, 2025

Under a Faded Red Umbrella

a hollow metal pole sits in front of me
a glass table around it on which my
laptop has been placed, along with
my pale red metal coffee cup...
cool breezes move the leaves of trees
whose limbs scurry silver squirrels,
a well fed brown rabbit jumps from
one side of the yard to the other,
passing my position without the
slightest apprehension as it does
every morning, I sit out here...
a large faded red umbrella is raised
to block out the sun, under which I sit,
since spring adorned us with its presence,
morning coffee better outside than in,
listening to the squawking of birds
and the passing of cars on the four lane,
my chair is comfortable for a while
about as long as my laptop's battery,
then inside I will go for a welcomed
breakfast of grits and honey and maybe
a vege sausage or two and a refill...
until then, I massage my arthritic knee
casting my eyes out into nature and
the over-abundance of pleasure she
provides me by being out here, a 
willing participant in her daily laughter.

April 29, 2025

Lost and Found

 

Black is the color of my mind

Red is the color of its thoughts

No longer are they separate

No longer are they divorced

Faces in the shadows seen

A nose and two eyes

Or a mouth and beard

Front legs of an animal

maybe the hind quarters of a deer,

Trees and limbs brushed up

against each other in a storm,

perhaps a wheel or time string

connecting what we hold dear,

mockingbirds taunt the living

as well as the dead - no respect

have they ever been given

nor have they offered either,

depths of despair filter through

our subconsciousness like the rain

falls through the skies

leaving nothing in it wake except

those who want to be found.

April 28, 2025

Daisey Lover

daisy's highlight the blue

or vice versa

no one really knows for sure,

those who like one or

prefer the other...

it matters not to some bot to

to others it is grounds

for deal breaking...

we know no other way this

day or another as we

are lovers of one but not

the other...  as was the case

for my birth mother...

she was a daisy lover from

the very beginning

from the getgo as we say...

there was no other way,

not today nor tomorrow,

daises engraved on her tombstone

and on her obituary

for all to read and see and

understand she was a daisy lover

no other flower ever for her.

April 27, 2025

The Unknown

 

everyday

    every hour

        every minute

we encounter that which 

is unknown to us,

that which has not been seen,

or witnessed

participated in or

observed...

we are not the enemy

but we are strangers 

to the unknown...

we understand not what

we cannot see...

yet, we experience throughout life

in unforgiving ways,

mannerism don't lie or betray

conflicting doubts

do not explain...

we fly into trees like birds

we have been there before,

seen and delivered

the promise given to us,

we are creatures our inner souls

beckoning to be saved

from constant turmoil and

so many misunderstandings.

April 26, 2025

Green Leaves Outside My Window

 

green leaves outside my window

brown branches peek through

a blue sky behind, more imagined than seen,

small forests of trees separate

separates house and homes

from mindless invasions by those

who understand not why we are here,

reporters scurry for their stories

the latest scoop to promote their careers,

no one cares for the victims since

they are always in the wrong place

and coincidences favor the prepared,

we undermine ourselves unknowingly

believing in our courage and determination

rarely ever giving rise to hindsight

forcing us to perhaps apologize...

we are the people of a creator whose

guidance is no longer present,

we have learned nothing from the past

except we have not yet been caught.

April 25, 2025

Loneliness Chills

misty mornings reflections

tears slide down the lenses

eyes narrowly focused

chills burn through the layers

kayaks pierce the pond silently,

pink skies bring more

a sailors tale come true,

solitude hides in the cold

in lands no one wants to 

venture into more than once,

we are shaken by its mysteries

enamored by its beauty

smothered by its loneliness,

photos do no justice.

April 24, 2025

Always Too Late

conspicuously,

we walk these lands

as did those before us,

boldly,

we built our fortunes

as if no one else 

around us mattered,

gradually,

we taught others what

had been taught to us,

unusually,

we blew smoke into the sky

to warn others of us,

ironically,

we shared our lands with

those who hated us,

tearfully,

we remembered all that

we needed to forget,

faithfully,

we lowered our bodies

in graves, made for us

by our children.

April 23, 2025

Sojourn

 

high goes the low

standing in its way,

low goes the high

too late to comply,

paths become the journey

journeys are destiny

without the need to

surrender the faith, it is

no one in particular...

blue sky lives on the

other side unnoticed,

in disarray - we become

the journey we were here

to take - one direction,

either it takes us there

or it does not...   we need

to follow anyway...

trees block the evil from

our interviews - we see casually

in that one direction, not 

knowing truth or the lie...

we go there anyway today.

April 22, 2025

Making Preparations

emptiness encapsulates the mind

a hollowness prevails

homeless and abandoned

have our thoughts become here,

a hopelessness guides our vision

what we see is darkness

both inside and outside as we

mark our time with reflections...

memories no longer seem real,

we are nowhere in space or time

caught in between the two like some

bizarre animal in a trap...

no longer free to doubt or imagine

the life taken away or the substitutes

forged in our minds no different

than cooking steaks on a grill.

April 21, 2025

The Omen

 

perfectly poised

light in darkness

cradled in the arms of

monument mountains,

fresh and firm

silky tenderness

an umbrella of love

underneath standing,

forever enthralled by its

divine beauty,

not given easily

in this environment

yet survives...

it is not for us to own

or possess or hide from the

sight of others,

it is to admire

and seen as grace.

April 20, 2025

Vagabond Seas

on the starboard side it lies

just opposite the port,

bow line between for reference

but has no jurisdiction,

it holds us down and captured

unable this way or that

can we move to see the sun

or the moon or the stars that we

so often have neglected.

its links are formidable, stronger

than our sacred souls that seem to

have perished in the sea,

an animal spine it can be for some

clever one whose poetic eyes

see another way, another tune...

when all alone we are and left to

mental fabrications of it all,

we sec security or imprisonment

nothing else fits or has the reason of

the rhyme that's been unleashed

upon our vagabond seas this day.

April 19, 2025

Through the Lense

 

we see the world cold and harsh

serene and gentle - it can be...

all that and more, we know,

it is cruel, fair, and revealing

for some of us - others take it

as it is offered, no changes,

what it was and nothing more is it?

we never know for sure...  trying 

to capture it as we do...   why we

ask ourselves and for what purpose?

messages are sent out to all the

wrong people - come see...  imagine,

together we share a laugh or two,

insincere in our commitments

yet always fully documented,

since we are gate keepers of truth,

and lies intermeshed with reality,

for those who argue thusly so.

April 18, 2025

Enchanted Green

 

between two trees the vision goes

greenery in all directions,

tall and thin - short and fat

we are obliged to count them all,

a grey background has no shadows

no streaks of sun rays here and there,

a blue grey sky sells the illusion

of a time before living creatures

roamed around disturbing silence,

beauty has never surrendered

to the likes of men and never will

as we see in all its simplicities,

darks and lights cast depth in the

visual emotions felt...  nowhere

is a virus seen brought by those

who trampled nearby - we are

the healthiest of them all...

by design it was - not by chance,

an innocence rest all around

the ground trembles in surprise

as it no longer is what it was

nor is it what we want it to be...

it is its own system of circulation

and growth unchecked as it will

replace all that it has lost some day.

April 17, 2025