Category Archives: California
Empty
An empty campsite, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
Little cactus wren,
the table that looks empty
still holds ants for you.
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Advertisements
Sign
A sign beside the road in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
Bright day, long road, short shadows…
Photo and text © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Six-Word Saturday
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
Blue Monday: Shoe
Lost shoe, somewhere in California
A runner slipped out of her shoe—
A pity, because it is blue.
Her foot is now bare,
She’s nothing to wear
Until she buys footwear anew.
Photo and limerick © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #366 at Poets United
Freedom
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California
“Freedom isn’t free,” they said,
“You have to pay a price.”
Then they sent us off to war,
Fighting nits and lice,
Fighting other people too,
Who bleed like you and me.
“Did I have to die,” I ask,
“Just so you’d be free?”
Poem © 2017 and photo © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Independence”
From the ashes
Ocotillo blossoms during the spring 2017 “super bloom,” Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
Although these blooms are lovely,
They will not come again;
Blasted by the desert heat,
They vanished with the wind.
Yet I believe the promise
That beauty will arise
From the ashes of these blooms
To grace the desert skies.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Flowers”
Take a word or two
Beavertail cactus blossom, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
Take a word or two—
mingle, calendar, or burning will do.
Splash them on a page,
or hang them with rope
from a branch
like lumps of suet
to feed the hungry jays.
All words woven by your hands
become poems, my daughter,
and yours will be the first weaving
to awaken daffodils
from their winter sleep.
Even the jays
will be amazed.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #109
More Poetry Pantry #351 at Poets United
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #109
More Poetry Pantry #351 at Poets United
Countless
Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, Southern California
Countless grains of desert sand
Shifted in the wind last night.
More grains than you or I could tell
Shifted left, and shifted right.
Another windstorm’s coming,
Promising to blow and blow
Until those countless grains of sand
Find another place to go!
Poem © 2017 and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “A Grain of Sand”
Bees
Bee visiting a poppy in bloom at Mission San Juan Capistrano, Southern California
From bees of either gender
I tend to run and hide.
I fear that they will harm me
The longer I’m outside.
Indoors, away from stingers,
I find a book or two
To while away the daylight,
Until the bees are through.
Poem © 2017 and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Gender”
Glimpses
Strawberry cactus, (Mammillaria dioica), Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California, February 2017
~~ 1 ~~
naked figurines
their alabaster bellies
shining in the light
~~ 2 ~~
somewhere in the ’hood—
poems kicked to the gutter
begging for mercy
~~ 3 ~~
at the hoarder’s house—
lockets stuffed with old photos
too many to count
~~ 4 ~~
a bloated old man
bathed by his daughter at noon
then tucked into bed
~~ 5 ~~
ambling down the street
with a basket on her arm—
market day again
~~ 6 ~~
The way the moon leans
into the battered dumpster,
you’d think it was drunk.
Haiku © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #100
More Poetry Pantry #342 at Poets United
Broken
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
In broken shadows, many secrets lie.
Text and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Six-Word Saturday
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Sunday Scribblings 2: “Broken”
