Blog Archives
Ashes
This week’s Sunday Whirl words: prison, cloak, become, lens, goods, cash, pursuit, skirt, wild, Venus, beloved
~~ 1 ~~
Her skirt of ashes—
even the monks turn their heads,
amazed at the sight.
~~ 2 ~~
wild in the ruins—
children smearing their faces
with dust and ashes
~~ 3 ~~
sifting the ashes
of old sorrows at midnight—
her fruitless pursuit
~~ 4 ~~
Is the only bread
this crust made out of ashes?
Prison fare at best!
~~ 5 ~~
Ashes cloak the town
as the mountain blows its top—
Herculaneum.
~~ 6 ~~
only seven days
until the ashes become
the man she longs for
~~ 7 ~~
stories old men tell
about dry goods sold for cash
crumbling to ashes
~~ 8 ~~
beloved ashes
soon to be buried at sea
cradled by the waves
~~ 9 ~~
Are these flakes ashes
showering down from Venus
on the prophet’s head?
~~ 10 ~~
lens focused on ants
reduces them to ashes—
schoolboys’ whoops and caws
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem: “Ashes”
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 138
Tumultuous
Indigo Bush (Psorothamnus fremontii) at dawn, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
at the sun’s rising
wild women tossing their hair—
tumultuous joy
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem
More SkyWatch Friday
More Ein Stück Himmel
Deeper
Pedestrians on a riverine path near Cache la Poudre River, Fort Collins, Colorado
crossing the footbridge
a sound that comes unbidden …
my wild beating heart*
deeper into the shadows
lured by a lone raven’s call
*Opening gambit by Laura R. Williams of Look for a Lovely Thing
Final two lines and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga: “Crossing the Footbridge”
New Snow
Apache County, Arizona
You can’t step into the same river—or wilderness—twice. Something is always shifting. Something added today will be subtracted tomorrow.
Winds fray the grasses. Blowing sand burnishes the stone. A hungry hawk hovers overhead and the mouse runs for cover, leaving tiny tracks.
A midnight snowfall dusts tumbleweeds and junipers, cacti and spent wildflowers. I walk through a sparkling wonderland that yesterday was brown and barren.
In the desert, snow doesn’t last long: wonderland today, mud tomorrow, dust the day after that. Yet in all seasons, I love wild places.
Romancing a place, just as romancing a person, takes dedication. You set yourself to the task for better or worse; for richer or poorer; in sun or in snow, praying that indifference never tames the wild longings of your heart.
are singing in the washes
snowflakes kiss the notes
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Carpe Diem: “Garry Gay’s ‘New Snow'”
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