WALK #14

When the cacti blossom, the story becomes about something other than their harsh circumstances (e.g. lack of water). Such observations are how metaphors can be created.

The featured cacti above are not "Starfish Cactus" but this particular species came to mind in writing a new poem—Starfish Cactus create the largest flowers among all cacti species.

On Naming

Starfish bloom to

birth a

name

for a species

previously ignored:

"Starfish

Cactus." Begin new

worlds by

giving

what everything deserves

simply by

existing:

Names—they open

doors for

you.

WALK #13

In a week of 100-plus degree temperatures in the Bay Area, I thought I’d remind you of what “snow in Napa Valley” means:

Attar

Snow

should be

flowers—they are

as fragile as

your bouquet's

roses

leaving me so

dramatically with 

falling

petals painting where

they drop

with

regret they were

not crushed

when

the peak of

their power

could

still be immortalized

into fragrance

for

where your lips

loved to

linger.

WALK #12

When I'm not walking, I'm writing/editing a novel. Seeing this image surfaced a line I want to insert in my novel-in-progress, for no other reason than that it moves me:

Sometimes I forget countries...

On this 12th day of walking, I also hit some sort of groove, as they say, with walking now integrated into my writing practice. I note the above line and I've written some of this blog's poems while walking. Most significantly to date, while walking this morning, I mentally resolved what had been a major structural conundrum in my novel-in-progress—I'm particularly pleased as the solution pushes the novel's structure further, and involves poetry. As regards the former, as a poet writing novels I want to contribute to widening the form of the novel's expanse. As regards the latter, Poetry: you want me out in the wider world but I always return to you. 

No title necessary

Walk the wide

world to

return

to what makes

you walk:

Poetry

 

WALK #11

I was paradoxically pleased to see the broken bottle littering my walking path. Because I'm aware most images from my wine country walks have been devoted to what gives wine country its reputation as a beautiful landscape. To see this bottle on a Sunday morning implies some unknown tragedy--a fight? a gesture of despair? a raging drunk?--that happened during Saturday night. Sure, it could have been tossed out from a passing car but that's not as pleasurably fanciful. Thus, I'm reminded: images can be more powerful for what they evoke rather than what they present--this, too, is a poetry lesson.

[untitled]

Sometimes, it becomes

impossible to

bottle

up what colors

our fragile

lives

WALK #10

I've been a jogger more than a walker, not that I've done either for years. So I'd assumed that after warming up with walks, I'd begin jogging again. But these walks have been revelatory about attention. Its pace facilitates a more intent attention on one's environment, and I think I'll thus stick to walking for a while. For example, I began these walks by paying attention to what's ahead or above me (vineyards, gates, sky, fences et al). But walking also allowed me to look down, and I suddenly see things I may not have noted while running. I see what I would consider, as a runner, to be weeds. But as a walker, I see them as flowers. Isn't that a gift? And, yes, the larger lesson relates to the advantages of slowness.

Kapwa Perspective

See

what your

feet may crush—

See

what your

feet have crushed

WALK #9

Three types of fencing in a small space (though the poem below focuses on the two in forefront). Anyway, this is a world where there exists too many ways to create borders.

When Two Fences Meet and They Don’t Match

Amused 
at fences
irritating each other

given the nature
of fences:
Irritants

WALK #8

Spotted a sight I never want to see: a book tossed to the side of the road. It's also an image that sets off the imagination—how'd the book get there? This was of a Spanish text entitled Calculos Quimicos: una introduccion aluso de los matematicos en la quimica (Chemical Calculations: An Introduction to the Use of Mathematics in Chemistry). I imagine that the book might have dropped out of a vehicle carrying some vineyard workers; the title implies someone educating hirself. This is all to say, and regardless of whether I imagined correctly, the book ends up reminding of the invisible lives behind the label "vineyard worker"—a necessary humanizing of the label. On my return back, I noticed that the book had been moved off the road closer to a nearby hedge so as to minimize its likelihood of being run over. I assume it was moved by a man I'd seen earlier trimming that hedge, and am reminded of how respect takes many forms, perhaps especially among minute gestures. I spent the rest of the walk home in inchoate gratitude.

ROI*

Respect

never calculates

"return on investment"

_________

* ROI

WALK #7

Saw a row of olive trees that reminded me of our first experience with an olive tree in Napa Valley. We'd moved here to a property that bore a huge olive tree by its entrance. Our kind neighbor said that if we harvested its olives, we could add ours to his olive harvest since he made olive oil as well as wine. "A good way to get a few bottles of your own 'estate olive oil'," he said.

So one morning my husband and I brought a ladder and crates to the olive tree and proceeded to pluck its olives. Trucks of vineyard workers sometimes drove by our entrance and we soon noticed that they all seemed to be laughing at us. Later, we noticed the traffic to be heavier than seemed usual and, yes, they were all laughing at us as we "harvested" our olives.

We later learned what we should have realized had we been using common sense--you can't harvest olives from trees by individually plucking them! (Think about it!) You harvest by placing a tarp under the olive trees and shaking them so that the olives fall on the tarp!

Oh, and we also later learned that we perhaps created half a bottle's worth with our olive "harvest," though our neighbor diplomatically gave us a few bottles...

Yet another story in our "City Slickers Chronicles."

A Lesson from Harvesting Olives

Sometimes, solutions arise

by shaking

things

rather than behaving

methodically and

carefully

WALK #6

New types of gardening occur in response to drought. Pre-drought, this may have been a lawn. In today’s water-starved environment, let the cacti bloom!

[untitled]

Adversity

as Beauty

when water ends

WALK #5

I try to go a bit longer with each walk. This morning’s reward for doing so is coming upon white roses over the proverbial white picket fence. That’s a delightful sight, especially against dark green foliage.

On the Question of Whether Black and White are Colors

White roses prove

white as

color—

a black rose

cannot be

seen

WALK #4

It was the silver glinting off the grape leaves that first struck me. Unusual in my experience. Then as I paused to consider them further, I realized something else—the vines had been trellised to evoke the top of hearts, or as the poet in me thought: heart cleavages. If I go further with that thought I’ll become obnoxious. So let me just say: Good morning.

Sweetheart Hay(na)ku

Heart-shaped trellises recall

a farmer's

desire—

a root blossoming

into lavish

wine

WALK #3

Vineyard views are my favorite, though freshly planted vineyards always evoke cemeteries. That’s because, per first image, young vines are often surrounded by milk cartons to protect the young stalks from bugs. Good morning!

[untitled]

Wildflowers blossom where

marble tombs

crack

WALK #2

Goal is daily walks to offset being a desk potato. From today’s walk, roses at the edge of vineyards. The practice originally was not aesthetically inclined. Grape farmers planted roses as early warning signals for poor health of or (bug) attacks on vines. Of course, the practice became popular because it truly is lovely to see rose bushes blooming at the end of each vineyard row. Good morning.

Rose-colored Hay(na)ku

Tourists see roses

instead of

history

WALK #1

The pictures are self-explanatory on the beauty of these gated entrances. I focus on one's signage of "Napa Green" which relates to a sustainable wine growing program globally to address climate action, farming that's carbon neutral or negative, and social equity (more info at napagreen.org). Traherne notes (my paraphrase), One should walk with thoughts and not (just) eyes, otherwise (per his poem "Walking") "...the silent feet, / Like logs of wood, / Move up and down, and see no good / Nor joy nor glory meet."

Blackened Crows Accompany Me

searching for devotion
through good
walks