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The 100 most recent posts
Kingly Slumber - Emptied fruit crates For a mattress Battered and broken stool For a pillow A bed unfit For the delicate senses And sensibilities Of a princess Ah But for a king? Ample slumber In deepest repose
Street Food Seller, Ketoprak Cart, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia Missed Opportunity ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #339 - Click a pic From a speeding taxi Crossing Jakarta Months later While editing Curiosity piqued Google "KETOPRAK" Now I wish we'd stopped And tried one A journey  Once begun Never ends Overlapping Those that follow With belated discovery But no regrets For just another Missed opportunity
Cowboy Snowman Christmas Ornament, Macro Photograph, Focus Bracketed A Matter of Focus - On a new day Of a new year I remind myself Do the work To stay focused  On what's important
Rice Flour on Sourdough Bread, Macro Photograph Macro ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #338 - Too close Lost in detail Context forfeit Insight dubious Caution advised
In the Silence Between Waves, Pacific Rim National Park, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada Surf ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #337 - I paddle out onto the calm sea Despite the listless surf Rather, no Because of it I love the thrill of catching a wave The feel of the board cutting through the water The acceleration as the curl builds And, yes Even the tumult When the sea punishes me For my errors But I love too The moments between waves The calm quiet introspection Gentle swells sway me An ocean hammock in the breeze Take a deep breath And another Feel my resting heart beat In a state of peace Here am I Rapt in my own presence In time with the rhythm Of nature Some days I prefer these long deep breaths Over the exhilaration Of a racing heart So I paddle out Sit with my being for a while Then paddle back in At peace with the world And myself
Reaching for the Light, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Gloom ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #336 - Reach for me, my friend From the gloom besetting you I have light to spare
Mussels in the Stream, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Eddies ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #335 - Such was her presence She left eddies in the world Long after she left
Morning Glory II, Moki Dugway, Utah, United States of America Glory ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #334 - Golden glory of sunrise Remind me Existence is a miracle thrice That there is something to observe at all That there is something to observe it all And that I am both those somethings
A Dusting of Rice Flour, Dry Hills, Nevada, United States of America Existential Pleasures - Snow dusts the hills Rice flour on sourdough crust Endless patterns In burnished bronze No subject No object No meaning The explorer's Essential pleasure Existential textures
Waiting, Vancouver International Airport, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Waiting ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #333 - I wait my turn Impatient For the opportunity To challenge The sky Leave the storm sodden Earth Rise into the promise Of light Breaking through the cloud But why? Why wait? Is not the sky Beckoning? Are these not wings To lift me? There is no control tower No queue for the runway My hand rests On the throttle All that's needed Is the will to engage The engines
Ascension, YVR -> PHX, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Ascension - You, dear one On your own stormy passage Astride God's wing These waning days Rising through your fall Into His grace Slowed in wit and voice Ever keener of spirit You ascend Passing through Deep featureless slumbers Parting clouds offer Fleeting glimpses of the love Gathered 'round you Then With swift finality Through the cloud Into heaven's azure There to witness God's full blaze And in His embrace The lesser stars Of those who'd passed This way before And there too The One True Love You'd lost so long ago Now with God He welcomes your return To Love's eternity
Earth Feels Small, Grandview Point, South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States of America Diminution - Even at this narrowest end The breadth and depth Of the canyon Makes Earth Feel small
Wonder in the Smallest Things, Bridger Bay, Antelope Island State Park, Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA Wonder in the Little Things - In the midst Of expansive glory She finds wonder In the smallest Little things It is that smallest Little thing About her I love Most
Three Friends, Horseshoe Bend, Colorado River, Page, Arizona, United States of America Friendship ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #332 - Celebrate the joy Shared with friends On an adventure Making a meal Out of life
A Trickle Where Sometimes A Flood, Emerald Pools, Zion National Park, Utah, United States of America Sometimes a Flood - A trickle Where sometimes a flood In a land grown thirsty While from the sun falls Torrents of heat And light In a valley  Deeper than shadow
A little girl ran through it, Kashi (Old Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh, India Serendipity Captured - She ran through the frame Dressed in all the right bright colours A child's exuberance Equal to the vibrance Of the setting Click click click Went the shutter Only one click Is perfect Ephemeral moment Eternally captured
Shadow Selfie, U.S. Highway 50, Lincoln Highway, Loneliest Road in America, East of Eureka, Nevada, USA Shadow Selfie - I have to admit there are an overabundance of road pics in my catalogue, photographs in which various streets, highways, byways and gravel tracks from my travels serve as the primary subject of a landscape. Mind you, I'm not apologizing for that.  We photograph and write about what we know and love, and I love few things more than being behind the wheel of a car (or pedaling a bicycle) through unknown country. Over 40+ years of driving and cycling I've amassed several hundreds of thousands of miles wheeling on just about every road surface imaginable. Safe to say, I know roads.
Smooth Gravel, Sparse Country, High Rock Road, Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, Nevada, United States of America Smooth ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #331 - Smooth gravel  Through sparse country Makes me happy
Rain Abated, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Stormy Solitude - Rain abated Dimpled sand dries in Rorschach patches Sky a mottled grey A single darkened cloud Mimics patterns in the sand Some might wish for the sun To feel the heat on their skin Or rising from the scalding sand Secure in the haven of a beach towel Beneath an umbrella in a sea of beachgoers But I prefer this solitude Shared only with the rumbling surf And the gull idling by  On the penetrating wind Which tousles my knotting hair Draw my windbreaker tight against the insistent chill Rub some warmth into my thighs through the denim All the while  engaging the impression That I have this spectacular planet All to myself
Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Surf Song - With gentle insistence The ocean rises up to greet me And I, pant legs rolled to my calves Welcome it's cool, frothy embrace Enjoy the caress of water over my ankles The sensation of sinking into the beach As the receding wave draws the sand From beneath my feet I stay there for an hour or so  Take a few steps back When the waves threaten my trousers A few steps forward When they fail to reach me My shoreline dance  In time with the surf song And its choir of gulls
The World Comes Apart, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Ashore - The world comes apart a little As I drag myself up onto the shore Desperate to make the high tide line Before exhaustion consumes my consciousness Which seems already sparsely rational The flood tide saved me Put land within my reach But while the Moon is a compassionate Goddess The Sea Lord is greedy And eagerly awaits Her waning influence To drag me back to His depths Hand over hand I crawl Wet sand beneath my nails Sodden clothes a sullen weight Every laboured breath sputters salt water Until my eyes roll back With a final thought I hope this is far enough
River to the Sea, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Overcast, Serene - On a cool, calm morning Overcast, serene The river and the people Flow out to the shore There to be lost In their own way To the surf and the sea
Carapace Overturned, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Carapace Overturned - Tides and surf Wash death's remnants Upon the shore Autumn's chill short days Fell colourful leaves To brown on forest floor Nature makes no time  For funerals or grieving In the cycle of life Love and loss and mourning Experiences of consciousness Which is to say When existence Becomes conscious of itself And learns to fear oblivion
Waiting, Taken from a moving taxi, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia Waiting ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #330 - In a moment of sizzle Humming fan blades And the thrum of traffic She waited For some tasty tidbit I couldn't make out from the taxi She thought about yesterday And tomorrow Last week and next month She thought about everything But this moment And the tasty thing sizzling Or the next moment When the tasty thing would mercilessly Burn her tongue oh so deliciously But... Who's to say any of this is true? I was just a photographer living in the frame Capturing serendipitous moments from a moving taxi And now I'm just a poet Listening to the words as they come Trying to give them their moment So all of it is fiction Or maybe some of it is the truth Though, hopefully I've created something Which at least Speaks truly Even if  It only speaks truly About the act of creation Or maybe, the story Is just saying something truthful About the creator
Little Northern Window, North Window Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, United States of America North Light - The little window In the northern wall Through which the lovely light falls When the drapes aren't closed
Tight on the Droplets, Rogue River Gorge Falls, Oregon, United States of America As Water Falls - As water falls In fractured cascade See trauma's pain Fragmented mesh Of memory and behavior Slim tenuous tendrils Strewn across twin darknesses Of dissociation and repression Shattered shards of self Unanchored and adrift
A Journey of a Thousand Miles, State Highway 50, Loneliest Road in America, Salt Wells, Nevada, USA Centre Line II - A journey of a thousand miles Begins with a centre line
Billowing Grasses, Gold Beach, Oregon, United States of America Billowing ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #329 - I cut a path through the long grass billowing Well off the trail the others had tread And composed there a scene Few travellers would see Footfalls through the dunes Skies grey as the sand And blackened monoliths Tossed about like stones From a small child's hand There, in the buffeting wind Amidst the storm-sodden grass Shielding the lens From the rain and debris I gathered dim light Small hope had I This photo could be... Worth soggy shoes And cold, wetted socks My pants would drip water Later When twisted in knots First, back to the car All shivering raw Engine now running My hands to the heater Hoping to thaw Now months and months later At home nice and warm Editing photos I took in a storm To my delight I discover They came out... alright
Confined, Rogue River Gorge Falls, Crater Lake Highway 62, Oregon, United States of America Confined - Emotion confined Invites a sundering flood Passion jumps the banks
Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint, Government Point, Depoe Bay, Oregon, United States of America Boiler Bay - Slate grey sky Slate green sea Ancient conifers Snuggle up to the rocky shore Recalling, perhaps Distant ancestors From a primordial ocean Even I can imagine With my scant sixty years From this perch over Boiler Bay
Beachcomber and Lover, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Beachcomber - Beachcombing You come with me The same way you come shopping Indulge me Shopping You come into the mall Find a comfortable place Then sit and read Or people watch Feign interest in the things I buy Then watch over the bags While I go to another shop At the beach You walk safely Beyond the longest waves While I splash about Getting soaked Finding sea stars and shells Sand dollars and seaweed Always feigning amazement At the wonders I bring But whether a crowded mall Or an empty beach You always come Often despite my protestations That you don't like to shop Or go beachcombing That you'll be bored And I'm sure your time Would be spent Doing something else "No" You say "I'm coming" And it always surprises me Takes my breath away When I notice that your feigned pleasure In a new scarf Or a hermit crab Is just a distraction Because you're not looking at the object I'm showing you You're looking at me With the sparkle of wonder in your eye And I'm reminded again That you come To be with me And there's no place You'd rather be And, my god I could not love you more For the way you take pleasure In indulging me
Life Brings Colour into the Grimmest Day, Gold Beach, Oregon, United States of America Colour in the Grim - Life And Love Bring colour To the grimmest day
Sullen, Sullied Sky, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, United States of America Beneath A Sullen Sky - The sky like the snow Sullen and sullied The latter a victim Of spring thaw The collected detritus Of winter storms Revealed beneath Retreating drifts While the clouds Speak with the voice Of ill wind and Malcontent climate But the lake Ahhhh The lake sparkles blue And even the worrying breeze Does little but kindle its glimmer A beautiful scene After the ranger's warning There would be naught But the clouds to see
Defiance ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #328 - Some burned old crag Half buried in soot grey sand Itself pitted with the heavy rain Of just moments ago The rocks Tossed on the shoreline Like shards of coal Still there is colour here Kelly grass and golden straw  Life defies the gloom
Perfect Beach Day, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Perfect Beach Day - Many will argue Or just stay home But there seems to me No finer day For a stroll on the shore Than one marked By a chill spring wind Under a deep grey sky Spitting rain and mist In the temperate rainforest That created the magnificent Oregon coast
Out of the Corner of my Eye, North Window Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, United States of America Out of the Corner of My Eye - Sometimes I feel a presence Out of the corner of my eye Some one Some thing Looking out for me and mine I turn to look But it's never there But there enough to know The universe is benevolent Even if not all its children are
Centre Line, State Highway 128, Cisco, Utah, United States of America Centre Line - Sometimes Even in the darkest times All I need  To keep me grounded Is a centre line Through open country
Himalaya Foothills Sunrise VII, Kunjapuri Devi Temple, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India Valleys and Passes - Layers deep To promising light From a ledge of darkness Valleys and passes Stand between Despair and possibility
Furious Nature, State Highway 40 West, Jensen, Utah, United States of America Furious Nature - This ominous sky This cataclysm of cloud Sinister storm Unleashed on a landscape Unapologetically lethal  The exquisite beauty Of furious nature And I Defiant Steadfast in the wind Rain pelting against flesh Breathe in all that might Make the power my own Become the desert And the storm Find the darkness In the light And the light In the darkness
Angry Sky, BLM 179, Agate, Utah, United States of America Angry Sky - Angry sky Above vacant land Allows a torrent That never satisfies For the land Is always thirsty
Brittle Sun, New Mexico, United States of America Brittle ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #327 - A brittle star breaks And within a few moments more The 4 billion year legacy of life That is my planet Will be rendered to vapour and dust As will I And all I love And all that loves me Pity, that But all I have in these final moments| Is love Which I endeavour to take with me Into eternity
Shadow Explorers, North Window Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, United States of America Shadow Explorers - We in our little windows Of shared wonders Bathed in common light While some seek the shadows To discover glories unknown Then bring them into the light for all
Solitude in the Shadows, North Window Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, United States of America Solitude in Shadow - I stand alone Solitude in shadow Cast by arcing stone Find peace in gentle breeze Wafting warmth from heated earth Find beauty in nature's chiseled landscape
Dreamy Sky, Panorama Point, Arches National Park, Utah, United States of America Moving Sky - Though the ground accepts my footfalls Offers bedrock for my foundations The moving sky Holds my fascination Source of dreamy possibility
Hours Before the Dawn, Bridger Bay, Antelope State Park, Utah, United States of America Hours Before the Dawn, the Sun Rises - Sky and lake Rippled with moonlight Clouds a veil Drawn over coy constellations On the shore  She stands In a susurrus of near silence But for the lap of wavelets  On salt crusted sand Intent on the texts Passed between friends "I am free" she writes "Good" comes the reply A pause, and then, "Be safe!" "I will" she taps out Adds "I don't know how long I'll be AWOL" A long wait before "Your leave is authorized" and "Take all the time you need" "I will" she repeats She smiles Throws the phone into the lake Where concentric ripples Interrupt the linear Gradually diminishing Until they disappear altogether She stands a good while longer Content Relieved If a little anxious About what the coming daylight will bring Then shrugs it off "Fuck him" Hours before the dawn The darkness has already ended
The Day Falls Away, Frary Peak Trail, Antelope State Park, Great Salt Lake, Utah, United States of America Hiking into the Quiet - A few steps beyond My car parked at the trailhead The day falls away
Tumult of Stone, Frary Peak Trail, Antelope State Park, Great Salt Lake, Utah, United States of America Ragged ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #326 - A tumult of stone Fallen amongst the grasses From ragged cliffs above Ancient diminished crags Once, perhaps, grand as snow capped horizon First to soil, then to life, feeding hungry bison
Salted Inner Sea, Egg Island Overlook, Antelope State Park, Great Salt Lake, Utah, United States of America Cradle - Salted inner sea Perturbed not at all By even a breeze Offers its peaceful cradle To the failing sun
Dead Lake Dying, Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Utah, United States of America Punishing - Great dead lake dying Beneath a punishing sun No relief in sight
A Day at the Beach, Bridger Bay, The Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America A Day at the Beach - The air Briny scent of death The water Still, thick with salt The sand Crusted, brittle, shards sharp underfoot  But the skies Azure brushed with cirrus wash And the sun A hot glitter off the ripples A beach day Nonetheless
Skittering, Bridger Bay, The Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America Skittering - Sunlight skitters Off the rippled lake As a flat stone thrown From a practiced hand
Diminution, Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America Diminution - I prefer the kind of spirituality Which harbours no intention To make me feel small Or subject to the judgment of others Not even gods Just as I have no desire To judge anyone Not even myself A condition  Which I am ever on the path Of unlearning
Expanses, Plymouth Road, Badger, Washington, United States of America The Expanse of Rural Life - An expanse of green And brown beyond Soon again to be green Above A sky Promising the gift of rain A smattering of structures For shelter, work and storage All to service the green Occupants come and go Seasons of family And movement Change The cycle of life In a rural field Far from city markets
Warped, Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America Warped ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #325 - I enter a cathedral As if into warped space Not warped as a physicist might think But as in how a mystic might think That is, a spiritual space or dimension Bent, folded and manipulated To conform to a specific configuration Long ago transcribed into books From collective memories Predating written language Aside from a certain wonder At the passion and dedication To the exquisite expression  Of humanity's greater achievements In art and architecture A cathedral reminds me  Of the power of group thinking For both good and ill How this can become a tight leash On an individual whose spirit Simply refuses to conform But it also reminds me Of the exultant satisfaction I experienced When I finally broke the leash Chose my own path And found my way to a spiritual space Which conformed to me Not that I am without  My own warped sense of spiritual dimension But the distortion is familiar to me Has meaning for me And brings me to a place of peace
God's House, Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America One of Many Paths to Goodness - Raised beneath Steeples and spires Kneeling Sitting Standing In pews row on row First Holy Communion Confirmation Confession Ash Wednesday Palm Sunday Incense and palm leaves Midnight Mass Now another confession: Never a believer Earliest memories Saying what was expected Doing what was expected Praying aloud the lie on my lips Though there were Pastors Two at least Who made as much A philosophy of sermon As theology Who bespoke love And compassion Forgiveness And kindness As if these were as important As believing in Father, Son and Holy Ghost I kept the compassionate love Discarded the trinity And for a long while Wanted nothing to do With religion Or the religious  Until I finally saw The strength faith gives my mother Courage, resilience, tenacity Powered by compassion, love and kindness All in God's name Now I understand Something about the nature of goodness And the many paths we may travel To bring ourselves to the love Which is its foundation
On Sunrise Gods and Sun Stars, Valley of the Gods from Moki Dugway, Utah, United States of America Always - Some scenes defy description Even  a photograph  Cannot capture them Sometimes you just have to be there In the moment No. Always be in the moment No words can describe a scene Or a moment No photograph  Can transport me to a place in time Or fill me with the grace of presence
Sunrise Over Valley of the Gods, From Moki Dugway, Cedar Mesa, Utah, United States of America Sunrise Sojourn - I wake Into darkness Scramble out of the tent Enough time to boil water Coffee Cereal Almond milk The breakfast of Car camping Photographers Pre-dawn On the horizon Time to go Camera bag Tripod Fresh brew in the travel mug On the way Not far from the campground Dawn demands a stop Unexpected glory In a few hurried frames Then to the switchbacks Moki Dugway Rising twelve hundred feet Straight up Cedar Mesa From the top With the wide zoom And the fisheye Expected glory As the sun gets high Back down  Just a couple switchbacks Until the sun's low again At a spot scouted On the way up Now a little telephoto Crumbling mesa in the foreground Golden Gods in the distance Deep sigh of success And anticipation For the work which takes A latent image of RAW bits To the finished photograph Here
Golden Gods, Valley of the Gods Sunrise, From Moki Dugway, Utah, United Staes of America Golden Gods - The golden hues of sunrise Seem always Somehow More precious Than the golden goodbye Of sunset
Starlight on Goosenecks, Goosenecks State Park, Utah, United States of America Half the Sky is Stars - As the day fails to black Half the sky is stars Half is clouds Which continue to roll in Soon enough so thick Even a half moon couldn't peek through Were there a moon at all But I'm grateful for the stars Too the clouds Behind which  Twinkling pinpricks in the blackness Play hide-and-seek With star gazers like me In the quiet heat of the night
Chasing Promise, Highway 316, Goosenecks State Park, Utah, United States of America Chasing Hope - The road takes me through  A deepening darkness Toward a near horizon Of fantastical colour Receding with the sun I depress the accelerator Hoping at least to keep pace But wishing to my core That someday I will catch up
Falling Away to Depth, Valley of the Gods, Cedar Mesa, Moki Dugway, State Road 21, Utah, United States of America Falling Away to Depth - The mesa falls away Into the depths of early evening Low sun illuminates Undulating canyons and buttes Sedimented sandstone Layers indicating a scale Powerfully daunting And exquisite And I Stopped halfway between Floor and ceiling Sense myself in the centre of aeons Epochs pass Every hundred steps or so Up the trail A hundred years A thousand A hundred thousand A million Unwinding time As species come And species go Great, fearsome lizards Ruled the known universe For 165 million years But only in the last tens of steps Before the top Do I walk in the footsteps Of my most ancient ancestors A paltry 6 or so million years ago I am reminded For all our accomplishments and cleverness We are but toddlers on this Earth Itself nothing more Than a pale blue dot Circling a minor star Spiraling in an outer arm Of one galaxy In a universe dotted With hundreds of billions Layer upon layer Of time and space Stretch out to scales Unimaginable A few steps more I stand atop the mesa Returned to the time and place That belongs to me now Deep, heavy breaths To gain my equilibrium While scanning across the vista Tallying a few hundred million years of strata A snippet In an existence billions of years in the making Layer upon layer of time and space To make this collection of sediments Which seems so very vast and ancient But is no more than a cosmic blip In all that was All that is And all that will be I feel small Fleeting Insignificant Yet Somehow And nonetheless Stupendously magnificent Because in all this immensity Stands me A self-aware collection of molecules Contemplating the inconceivable miracle That is my own consciousness Tucked away in some small backwater Of eternal infinity Just how fucking exquisite is that? And the view up here is awesome. The sun sets Light falls away to darkness But for the little beacon of light That is me
Broken Thirds, Moki Dugway, Cedar Mesa, Utah State Highway 261, Utah, United States of America Rules ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #324 - Rule of Thirds tells me Never place the horizon In the middle of the frame But I am often as enraptured With the sky as the land So break that rule without remorse
Embers, Alhambra Rock, Halchita, Utah, United States of America Embers - Embers burn beneath the grey From the fire an amber glow Mitten outlined on horizon black In the dying light of setting sun A simple scene made exquisite
Fabled Places, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Utah, United States of America Fabled Places - I return to fabled places Find there Always Something new A different light A new story History added Or revised Here mittens and buttes Formations once remembered For Spaghetti Westerns Now where Forrest Gump Just plain stopped runnin'
Barely a Trickle, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah, United States of America Barely a Trickle - Barely a trickle Below, broken evidence Here sometimes a fall
Late Afternoon Reds and Blues, Moki Dugway, Utah State Highway 261, United States of America The Changing Sky - From a high vantage Late in the afternoon Or is this early evening? An in-between of light and tone Like my mood I scan the roads Which took me here Now and in the past And again perhaps In some near or distant future Far below Moving slowly Or so it seems Scale and time Diminished by the distance Carloads of people And luggage Expectations And dreams to be Fulfilled or dashed Some approach Some recede All have, or will Round the curve below Before, or after Passing behind me On the switchback's final curve Some stop Unload their occupants Who join me and the gentle breeze On Cedar Mesa's rim To bask in changing sky With quiet wonder
The Truer Path, US Highway 50,93,6, The Loneliest Road, Ely, Nevada, United States of America The Truer Path - My fear is always More about the road Already travelled Than what is to come I carry the past As tragedies And failures Then project them ahead Like road signs Diverting me from a truer path I remind myself When checking the rearview Acknowledge the tragedies and failures Along the road once travelled But leave them in the past Then bring to mind The triumphs and successes Project these on every road ahead As billboards of encouragement
On the Brink of Immensity, Moran Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States of America On the Brink of Immensity - With my love I stand On the brink of immensity At once diminished to a speck And raised up with a presence I can only describe as divine As immense as the canyon below me My love takes my hand Rests her head on my shoulder Nothing is so grand as love
Deep Valley, Navajo Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Utah, United States of America Grand ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #323 - I stand upon this grandest rim Try to imagine unthinkable of time Relent before too long such fruitless task Instead I'll contemplate this lazy little rhyme Through the plateau  The Colorado like a pickaxe falls Reveals sedimental sandstone rings The eons marked on canyon walls Rock bottom finds the hardest rock Twelve hundred meters down below There an ancient granite shield No deeper can the river go But wider still The river's reach A force of will  The cliffs be breached Upstream the river Has not yet found The basement rock So burrows still into the ground
This Little Peal of Green, Horseshoe Bend, Page, Arizona, United States of America Horseshoe Bend - This little peal of green Winding through the desert red Cut its path through rising rock Stone once silt when waterborne  Now to the sea writhes its decay Perhaps again to stratify
The Depth of Time, Mukuntuweap, Zion National Park, Utah, United States of America Mother Nature: Earth’s Artist in Residence - Beauty sculpted With the softest tools The utmost patience Beheld by a mind For a fleeting moment Recorded for a moment more While the sculptor Chips away Her pieces ever Works in progress Not a one complete
The Ebb & Flow of Possibility - In between The dead And the not dead In between What is And what is not In between  The light And the  not light There find  The realm Of possibility Seen only By those who conceive A world without absolutes Where dreamers dream Between sleeping And waking While the world flows Between being And non-being In the wakening hours we dance Between self-remembering And self-forgetting This is the ebb and flood Between the conscious And the unconscious Like the darkness And the light In eternal conflict Only the master sees The dominance of either Is true darkness While the light burns brightest In those who come to know The balance of both
Hard Rock Cradle, Mukuntuweap, Zion Valley, Zion National Park, Utah, United States of America Hard Rock Cradle - Hard rock cradle of the canyon Fluffy down comforter in the sky Below, a river flows Brings all I see and need to life
Mukuntuweap, Zion Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah, United States of America Gentle Tenacity - I remind myself Even the gentlest creeks Carve canyons from bedrock With the aid of time and tenacity
Stoney Embrace, Zion National Park, Utah, United States of America Timeless Cycle - Embers spark of life renews within the valley Enveloped in the warm stone of canyon walls Emerging as if from the womb new life partum Embraced  by the Earth matron of time and being Evermore the cycle plays and plays again birth, life, death, rebirth
Landscape Undiminished by the Sky, U.S. Route 93, Great Basin National Park, Nevada, United States of America Landscape ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #322 - I love a landscape best Which is not so self-conscious As to fear the domination Of a cloud-illumined sky
Shadow Selfie, Ming Sha Shan, The Mountains of Singing Sands, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China Shadows - In the bright sun of day I am shadow A mask without a face A smile without a reason Laughter without glee A sign of existence Without presence So I breathe Bury my hand In the hot sand Shout out the pain Of heat and grief And emptiness Give voice To the being Which once cast The shadow Until the voice Becomes being A vessel For the light The pain and grief And emptiness Become the shadow
The Straight and Narrow, U.S. Route 50, Loneliest Road in America, Near Eureaka, Nevada, United States of America Beyond the Straight and Narrow - Where once the road  Went ever on and on The straight and narrow A path long fixed Now curves ahead Promise us adventure Through lands ahead unknown The future far beyond And I No more or less the merry For what is known and what is not All are part the journey
But for a Cloud, U.S. Route 50, Loneliest Road in America, Near Ely, Nevada, United States of America Little Rogue - Lingering  Above the peaks One little cloud Gone rogue amid The overcast She calls upon The fading sun Which does oblige With warming light Just before Advancing night
Great Basin National Park, U.S. Route 93, Great Basin Highway, Nevada, United States of America Daylight’s Final Sigh - The road takes me Toward the golden light Day fading into Indigo night The long desert drive Doesn't end 'Til well after dark So I stop before the dusk Share with the Earth Daylight's final sigh
Warped, U.S. Route 50, The Loneliest Road in America, Middlegate, Nevada, United States of America Desert Warp - Long days And excessive miles On desert highways Warp my mind But it's a good warp Ripe with strange insights As the desert strips away All but the essential
Vanishing Star, U.S. Route 93, Great Basin Highway, Near Ely, Nevada, United States of America Comet From the Vanishing - Dusky desert sky Offers not  A single star So look ahead To where the road Is vanishing A comet glows Slow to grow But soon enough Comes streaking by Whereupon The night sky falls So stars may Come alive
Sunset, U.S. Route 93, Great Basin Highway, Great Basin National Park, Nevada, United States of America Relief ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #321 - The rippled land In golden light Where shadows fall Before the night Such lush relief Did storms reveal Time's watercourse Shapes Earth's appeal
Horse Cart, Island of Gili Air, Gili Islands, Lombok, Indonesia Slow Ride into the Unknown - Sometimes I am reminded The best path Is not always direct The best place Is not always familiar The best means Is not always expedient Sometimes A leisurely pace Into the unknown  Offers the surest road To a cherished end As yet unidentified
When the Sun Shines on the Bay,Doha, Qatar to San Francisco, California, United States of America When the Sun Shines on the Bay - Some places draw me in With the embrace of a dear friend Not seen in far too long
Desert Fence, U.S. Route 50, The Loneliest Road in America, Lincoln Highway, Eureka, Nevada, United States of America Sea to Sky - In the valley An empty basin But for the lingering salt Where once a lake In the sky A saltless sea Atmospheric bounty Held aloft by the winds
Finite Track in Infinite Space and Time, U.S. Route 50, The Loneliest Road in America, Salt Wells, Nevada, United States of America Infinite Rhythms - Finite tracks traverse Infinite space and time Every passage a new road Every road a new story Played out in the rhythms Of dashed lines and power poles Where even the vanishing point Vanishes Into futures unexplored
Incoming, Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon, United States of America Haystack Rock - A seductive rock On ocean's edge Half the day Surrounded by the tide Attracting thousands Nature's iconic monument To a monumental coastline In time with the waves' ungentle caress They saunter near, then scramble back This flightless flock of sandpipers Photographs and selfies Arm-in-arm and hand-in-hand A deep breath in, a longer one out The calm that comes on any shore Where the surf rumbles and sighs Some may say it's the rock But the rock is a draw as any other draw A pier, a lighthouse, beach chairs and gazebos It is the sea which helps us remember ourselves
This Golden Touch, Buddha Dispelling Mara, Wat Shri Chum, Sukhothai, Thailand Enlightening Moments - Every now and again Quite often, to be honest It's important to just stop Interrupt the flow And touch Earth Literally and figuratively Grounding Being grounded Is of itself no map for the lost But if my feet aren't on the ground Then no map can guide me
Protection, Masks but no Helmets, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia Protection ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #320 - ATGATT All The Gear All The Time Helmet Face shield Gloves Ankle high boots Padded jacket And pants At home By law Helmet & eye protection Here too Helmet At least Eye protection If travelling Over 50km/hr Compliance In Jakarta Sketchier than home Even for children But not for masks Priorities Can be Confusing
Altercation, Street Photography, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia Confrontation & Consequences - Imaginary Lines crossed in the car's back seat Dad arm from the front
Bicyclist Taking a Break, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia Subject Unknowing - I wonder if I've ever been The subject of someone's Best photograph of the day But never found out Like this fellow here On the third shot of eleven Who never looked up So never saw the camera Pointed out the taxi window Capturing this delightful moment
Fabled Streets, California & Powell, San Francisco, California, United States of America The Streets of San Francisco - Fabled Streets Of San Francisco Car chases And cable cars In nineteen hundred and ninety six I take my 5th wheel down Powell Forty-five feet of feelin' cooler than McQueen, Cage and Connery Past the bottom The truck's brakes fail So I drive the city streets Using the trailer's brakes Impressing a parallel trucker "You're one of us," he shouts Eat your hearts out Movie stars
Splashes and Blur, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept - Colours and edges Splashes and blur Nothing to see But for the eyes A turn of a head And just enough detail This would be a discard X’d out on a contact sheet But for those eyes Because now I want to know What she sees
Princesses, Puppy Dogs and Ragdolls, Long Beach, Pacific Rim National Park, British Columbia, Canada Princesses, Puppy dogs, and Rag Dolls - Greater than the magic of fairytales Is a simpler More beautiful enchantment When once upon a time Comes with every sunrise Here's a realm Where every little girl Is a princess Holding court Over puppy dogs And rag dolls With her maids  And maidens Explores a wonderland Of salt spray Sea shells And hermit crabs While the ocean Stretches out Beyond the horizon Of imagination Beckoning
Long Beach Surfer, Pacific Rim National Park, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada The Exhilerating Colours of Grey - He'd always start the day In the ocean With a board And the waves The water was always cold Often too the air Grey skies the norm The sea like slate But every wave Was a band of colour In a rainbow That became his day
Light ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #319 - Given just a day We arrive With howling glory Our sun waxes Then wanes And in the end Extinguished Though in the final moments Perhaps an opportunity To reprise the beauty That was and is The magical light Of our manifestation
Moki Dugway, Utah State Highway 261, Utah, United States of America Dust Storm - Sometimes Life moves at a pace I cannot keep Or rather Life moves I simply do not And in my disastrous stillness The dust storm rolls in Without hesitation  To Roll Over Me Move or don't move Retreat or don't retreat Seek cover or... Let The dust Take me
Nature’s Dance - I like to imagine Mother Nature kicking back In her Adirondack Enjoying the majestic dance Of her creation Choreographed with geological rhythm The chuckles she must chortle As all her little creatures Scurry about the stage Like so many Keystone Kops In a silent era comedy None more ridiculous Than we
Beauty Rises from the Fog, Vancouver, Britsh Columbia, Canada Possibilities - A thought rises through the fog Beautiful, perhaps Or dangerous Maybe both As beauty and danger Often are Risk The blade of possibility  Honed to fine edge So that with a stroke  We may manifest the exquisite Or sunder it Whether through intent Fortune or folly