Category Archives: California
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
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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
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More Sunday Scribblings 2: “Broken”
No One
Some of the first blossoms of 2017: sand verbena in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
No one’s looking back with longing
For the chilly winter day,
When no flowers graced the hillsides,
And the sky was only grey.
No one thinks with fond remembrance
Of the barren hills and slopes
Now that spring has come with blossoms
To renew our dreams and hopes.
Poem and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Nostalgia”
Guide
Mid-December rainbow, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
last autumn rainbow
guiding my stumbling steps home—
wind shifts to the east
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
The Sane Thing to Do
Wait!
This is not the season to rejoice.
Shame and scorn draw near to touch—
perhaps to torch—
the edges of your life.
There is no one to shield you
from unseemly words,
words tarnished by layers of grime,
words that will not mesh together now
or ever.
You steer an unsteady course;
seaweed tangles your rudder.
The sane thing to do?
Abandon this enterprise
of being an unwed mother!
Poem © 2016 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #89
More Poetry Pantry #332 at Poets United
More Twelve Days of Mary at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Sunday’s Whirligig #89
More Poetry Pantry #332 at Poets United
More Twelve Days of Mary at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Drink
November morning glory, Riverside County, California
on my daybreak walk
a drink of wayside color—
these morning glories
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Haiku Horizons: “Drink”
