Contemplating Slopes


Daunting
the looming
mountainside
or the oceanside
cliffs whose ascent
mocks my limitations

Fragile,
the glint of
spidery thread,
whose expanse, though
delicate, stretches without fear

The way our income curves
downward, while
our needs
mount

Life’s slopes
precarious, demanding
inevitable, and yet we find ourselves
ill-prepared when forced to navigate them.







A Bird’s Eye View

It’s a bird’s perspective I envy –
the ability to perch up high
balanced, no matter the weather
unaffected by the drama below –
I shall never know such calm,
being afraid of heights.

(For Bird Weekly Photo challenge: birds perched up. Not sure of featured image (a sparrow of somes sort), Bald Eagle, and Red-winged blackbird) A Bird’s Eye View first appeared here August 2019

Time for Liftoff

Ground beneath
shifting
once solid
now swirling
dissolving –
gritty eddies
of sand…

Would be
a desert storm
if not standing
at water’s edge;
nothing for it
but to leap
take a risk
and fly…


(This poem first appeared here as Flying Fish, in 2016. Now edited and retitled for Eugi’s Weekly prompt: swirling. Image my own.)

Photographer’s Dream

Examining the intricacies
of a spider’s weaving

Marvelling as a mother raccoon
carries her babies one by one
while a bobcat prowls the tree line

Delighting in the birth of a calf
anticipating the arrival of more

Wonder and trepidation
coinciding – and I, behind
lens, am child again
wide-eyed basking
in the glorious outdoors.

In 2021, I Woke Up

This year the plague came
and I blamed the wind
for carrying destruction
and I blamed the sun
for its ineptitude
and the rain,
no friend of mine,
only served to drown
my expectations.

Lockdown
and social distance
masks and antiseptics
how was a soul
to survive?

Pushing 2020
out the door
certain relief
would follow
but change is not
a date on the calendar
a release of circumstance

I turned inward
faced the gloom
and found a spark
forgave the weather
the virus, the news

In 2021, I woke up…

(For Reena’s Exploration challenge: I woke up in 2021… Image my ow