Moss

Moss covers tree trunk.
Tree gives it life, but does moss
keep the tree warmer?

December morning

Dawn-rose mountain tops
lacerate pale sky. Morning sun
glints off black ice.

Early Awakening

A ladybug woke up
today. It's January.
The sunshine fooled her

Christmas Day, 2010

Insects, worms, crawlies
know no Christmas; woodpeckers,
moles hunt regardless.

Solstice

Heavy rain, high tides
make floods lapping gravel dikes
standing stalwart, soaked.

Army of Crows

Indignant, raucous
army, crows on a mission
to hound hunting hawk.

Winter buds

I see you hiding
there, crouching in the leaf node,
buds waiting for spring.

Bracket fungus

Young bracket fungus
stepladders up a small tree
making squirrel stairs.

Starlings

Flurry of flocking
starlings. Among leaves flying
down, birds flying up.

Pine needles

Pine needles piled soft
underfoot. Yesterday, wind
blown, they pierced my face.

Bluebells

I've planted bluebells,
they remind me of my father
who died without me.

Autumn leaves (2)

Tattered leaves, yellow,
brown, torn, worn out with summer
await wind fall.

Earth energy pushed
to leaves. Sky energy blows
to ground. A cycle.

Leaves in the River

Armada of crisp
leaves floating off to conquer
Spain. Sunk by tug boat.

Garter snake

Garter snake zigzags
off my path silently to
blend with fallen leaves.

Poison!

Bella donna, red
succulent berries. Liar!
It's deadly nightshade.

After Chernobyl

We win! We win! Grass
grows, mice creep, birds sing "We're back!"
after Chernobyl.

Ground cover

Fallen leaves rustle,
rattle as field mice forage
beneath, hidden, safe.

Puddles (2)

Puddles, oddly shaped,
irregular, filled full of
round rippling raindrops.


------
Haphazard puddles,
pavement grimed. Raindrop filled in
imprecise circles.

Douglas fir

Craggy old tree, straight
trunked, home of scrabbling squirrels
Douglas fir, sky tall.

Tulip bulbs

Boring brown bulbs bear
life spark of beauty, blooming
vivid, pastel, bright.

Moon

Half moon, waxing cold.
Unfulfilled destiny and
promise of past eons.

Before my speech

Birdbrain, idiot
airhead. How could you forget
the text of your speech?

Moss

Moss glows greener than
emeralds, cushioning harsh
trunks with luxury

Leaf tips

Crisp, crinkled leaf tips
rusty brown on deep-veined green
presaging autumn.

Autumn Mist

Mist stretches along
valleys that await the sun,
damping early warmth.


Brash sunlight burns off
delicate wraiths of morning
mist leaving faint dew.

Leaves

Leaves fall in the river
innocent boatlets braving
current and tide.


The breeze freshens and
countless leaves keep appointments

 to rattle earthwards

The Game

Kitten chases light
Dog chases kitten - snarl,  hiss
swat, happy tail wagging.

Autumn 2

Warm, mellow autumn
aroma, damp richness of
leaves enriching soil.

Ripe poison

Bella donna, red,
succulent berries. Liar!
Deadly nightshade

Nuts

Heard but unseen the
squirrel scolds warning with mouth
full of autumn nuts.

Leaf fall

Thicker lie the leaves
crisp beneath our careless feet
catching fall sunlight.

Owl in daytime

Great grey owl, night shift
over, snoozes in his tree
mobbed by angry crows

Migration

Tiny traveller
resting woodland wingbeats then
feathering southwards

Fall rose bushes (2)

Grey green rose leaves fold
gently against the dew fall
waiting to sparkle.


Elegant rose hips
glowing, seed-swollen orange
in autumn sunshine

Leaf thread

Invisible thread
suspends a crumpled brown leaf
swaying weightlessly

Twisting, twirling seed
laden samara descends -
maple yet unborn.

Dandelions

Dandelions still live
vivid, hopefully yellow, bright
against dull fall leaves

Cedars

Cedars in the rain,
drooping, drizzling harmony
grey green dripping down.

Woodpecker

Prehistory jars
as pileated woodpecker
flits past my present.

Morning sun

Sunlight shafting sharp
through woodland. Tree trunks slicing
light to piercing shards.

Like spring

Warmth like spring today.
Eagle mews, finch warbles, even
the grass smells like grass.

Webs

Gossamer cloth laid
on dew drenched yew, kevlar strong,
fairy delicate.

Autumn rain

Soft rain mists my eyes
details disappear, lost in
gentle autumn haze.

Gulls

Grey, white gulls parade
pontifically across
limitless soft sand

Arching grass seed heads,
elegant slim wavecrests soar
above grassy sea.

Lazy wind

Lazy wind carries
promise of rain, rattling through
leaves waiting to fall.

Night rain

Rain pounds in the night,
never stops, never tires, no
slack just dominance.

High tide (2)

Swelling tide pushing
upriver, gently forcing
salmon to their fate.

-------
High slack; tides silent
stillness. Tipping point of time
awaiting destiny.

The Rose (2)

Cupped in my hand I
bore home a white rose found torn,
petal to concrete.


How can rose petals,
soft and powerless, push so
firmly in my hand?

Thunder clouds

Clouds churn, angry grey
'gainst menacing blue, roiling
into thunderstorms.

Grass

Grassy seed heads, soft
on my fingers, gentle me,
calm me, ease my pace.

4 pm

The sun beams around
the Douglas fir to my page
bringing brilliance

Allysum

Honey aroma
from white allysum creeping
beside my front door.

Lavender

Lavender, the scent
of purple palely borne on
autumn's early breeze.

Raccoons

Nightfall. Raccoon mom
and babies furtively find
food in dark shadows.

Spiders

Arachnid, busy
predator, waiting, hiding
behind gossamer.

--------

Venturesome spider
Beware cats! Beware cleaner!
Let's lift you outside.

Dying maple

Twining thin maple
trunks, twisting towards the light
bearers of scant leaves.

Sunset

Vast sky arc, empty,
shading blue gold to sunset
awaiting star shine.

Tree frog

Camouflage, streamside,
hidden in plain sight from birds
but not from my lens.

Flicker

Northern flicker, black
bibbed and speckled, haunting dark
woodland silently.

Hummingbird

Ruby hummingbird
sipping diamond water
drops arcing skyward.

The Seal

Watchful silent seal
water slick, riding the current
swiftly, salmonward.

Rainbow

The rainbow is mine.
Mine alone the prism, mine the

arc and pot of gold.

First rose

first rose of summer
is nature's experiment,
not quite perfection.

Starlings

Aerodynamics
Skewed, starlings fight for height
Bearing nesting material.

Apple blossom

Wild apple blossom
Delicately quinate
against cottonwood

The River

The endless river
takes land, gives land, takes life, gives
life, impersonal.

------

Irresistible
force, river builds silt island
now immovable.

Minnows

Darting threads, shadows
flashing through shallow water
shoals of tiny fish.

The others

Mountain stream cloudy
Mississippi clear, shallow-
deep. Their minds lose me.

Spring nesting

My skies are empty,
gone the soaring birds, hidden
in tree tops, hatching.

Invasive Plants

Dandelion, broom,
sharp-shining gold, pointing to
their own destruction.

A Weed

Solitary bloom
bird seeded in rough gravel
delicately tough.

Rabbits (2)

White-tail baby run
hide, wuffle-nosed, in tall grass
while taloned hawk soars.


Dandelion, borne
stogie-like in rabbits mouth.
Precious food for young.

Solitude

When I am alone
the gentle wind and soft mist
accompany me.

Eagles (3)

Standing beneath eagles
one wooing, raucous, questing
one brooding, silent.

 -------

Dappled immature
eagle surveys spring's brilliant wealth
above nesting mice.

------
Three eagles soaring.
One too many. Intruder
still young and hopeful.

Freshet

Muddy force of spring,
freshet bringing silt downwards -
life refreshing earth

Hope

Rough seas, jagged rocks.
To welcome the mariner home
a shaft of sunlight

Yukon trinkets

A pendant, creamy
grey schlock. My reminder that
a mastodon died.

September 1st

A tiny leaf falls
breathing "September", drifting
gently west, weightless.

Frigatebird

Beak grips neck, wings flail
Thief! Robber! Breath fails, fish falls
Frigate bird has food.

The frigate bird does not fish. He ambushes other birds who have fished and are heading home with their catch. He grips their neck and they cannot fly, carry and fight all at once. Unable to breathe, they drop the fish. The frigate bird dives and catches it, and has his lunch.

Old Snapshots

Photographs showing
a moment in time frozen
across old decades