WALK #104

Each poet’s death is a cut. There’ve been so many lately that even the skies are becoming scarred.

[untitled]

Each poet's death

scars the

sky

WALK #103

Certain things can't be seen or noticed unless their embodiment is facilitated by others. Like frost. It's like a boldface that gives emphasis to the images of what it covers. What boldfaces--emboldens--(y)our lives?

Frost and its Remembered Reality

Before evaporating, it

makes you

see

to what it

attached: your

world.

Evaporation only heightens

reality through

absence...

WALK #102

When vineyards become repositories of winter's dry and brittle leaves, a different mythology surfaces: the other face of Persephone, the goddess of seasons and vegetations who was kidnapped to be the queen of the underworld. Walking the vineyards this wintry morning, I see someone slurping a snake down its throat. A beak cawed at me. I turned to it with a furious face because some demons only have a one-word vocabulary: "fury." Three of them then flew up into the sky--my fury scared them. "Hah!" I thought as I waved them away. "I didn't become a poet by being harmless. Leave, demons, or I shall annihilate you all." Then, quite cheerfully, I continued my walk as the sun giggled with me. 

This could be a prose poem entitled "So to speak..."

A Secret Poetics

Poets don't become

by being

harmless

NO WALK (A)

Tarzan: “Le Sigh. This is the first time in 102 days that Eileen didn’t go for a daily walk. The day ran out of time. Not only did she have to put up the Christmas tree but she had to finish editing a novel to send to a 3rd-party editor. So instead of sky, vineyards, birds, flowers, and palm trees, here’s my mug as a placeholder. That’s not a compromise, though, for you viewers? After all, I’m rather handsome… if I do say so myself, and I do."

WALK #101

 Big bird on utility wire looks over its empire.

Bird on Utility Wire Strung Through A Dysfunctional World

Look down at

empire not

looking

so well from

an aerial

perspective

WALK #100

It seems fitting for my hundredth walk to show the change of a season. May we all enjoy the Holidays—it was a rough year. Here are photos of my redhead trees losing their hair.

Humanity is Small, Nature Big

Even red can't

defend color

against

seasons changing without

considering people's

readiness

WALK #99

 Palm Trees. Because California.

What Makes the Sky Nervous

Palm trees claw 

at sky—

everything 

contains an underbrush 

threatening to

rise

WALK #98

 Wineries begin to deck out for the Holiday Season!

On the Hubcap Decorated For Christmas

Trucks looking for

holiday bedazzlement

provide

new uses for

Christmas tree

lights--

holiday lights should

shine generously

everywhere

WALK #97

I was delighted to stumble across but not touch this patch of cacti. Some things are meant to be admired, but not touched. They are their own virtual reality.

[untitled]

Some are real

but exist

virtually

WALK #96

Brown or browning vineyards are not visually appetizing. Fortunately, the sky comes through for visual redemption.

[untitled]

Sky can redeem

anything with

blue

WALK #95

It’s a moment—when leaves begin to fall before winter’s knocks. I feel poignant without knowing about what I feel poignant. I could find out by writing a poem. But it’s enough to know I could find out by writing a poem. For now, I don’t feel like wallowing in sadness or regret—I’ll leave that technique behind to my younger poet self. I write also to leave things unsaid.

[The Hues of Silence]

I've always thought

Color is

Narrative

But nature taught

Color as

Silence

WALK #94

This was a day with insufficient hours, making me collapse my walk into a birthday lunch for a friend. Thus, I walked about the venue. Perhaps it’s cheating to do it with apple pannecotta in one hand and chocolate pudding with Graham cracker crust on the other. But life is simply replete with compromises.

Belaboring the Obvious

It's important to

walk since

you

are going to

eat chocolate

pudding

with Graham cracker

crust and

apple 

pannecotta with white

and red

wines

WALK #93

 Christmas colors!

Red Berries

Red berries may

be inedible

but

a feast when

they bring

Christmas

WALK #92

Some vines have begun transitioning to Winter through drying and curling up its leaves. Grapes that avoided the harvest now shrivel on the vines. Soon, both dried leaves and grapes will fall to leave Winter's vines into stem sculptures. Thank you for your seasonal service.

Yet Another Poetics

When seasons change,

loss and

desire

must combine into 

the ineffable.

Maintaining 

desire despite loss 

inevitably creates

poetry.

WALK #91

Hereon is heron (grin). With geese on irrigation pond.

HEREON, HERON

You don't fool

me: you're

not

posing for my

camera, though

you

look elegant, even

magnificent. Still

you

don't fool me:

when you

become

a statue, you're

waiting for

prey.

[only a first draft; text needs improvement]