Tag: mortality

Poetry by Patrick JenningsFeb 16, 202011:07 pm

Pistol River Middle, Gold Beach, Oregon Coast Highway, Oregon, United States of America

Shoreline ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #220

Sooner or later
We all come to the shoreline
Beyond which lies a great unknown
A deep, unfathomable darkness

Most of us are allowed a choice there
To dive right in with more or less grace
Or cling to the land against the inexorable tides

No matter the choice, whether or no we have one
We are all, inevitably, drawn down into that great depth

I rather like to think a beautiful light awaits us there

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJan 9, 20187:00 am

Proximity to Mortality, Blackrock Resort, Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Clinging to Inhospitable

The grit
And determination
With which life clings
To even the most
Inhospitable places
Astounds me

The iciest cold
The rockiest coastline
The hottest desert

And when I say life
Of course I mean
Homo sapiens

Poetry by Patrick JenningsAug 27, 20171:22 pm

Rocky Mountain Starburst, Athabasca Glacier, From Wilcox Pass Trail, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Landscape by Patrick JenningsAug 13, 201711:49 am

Cairns, Athabasca Glacier, Icefields Parkway, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Mortality ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #100

Grey.

Smoky.

The smell of a campfire.

But the nearest fire set a hundred thousand trees alight, a hundred or more kilometers away. I wonder, was that one lightning? A cigarette? A carelessly managed fire?

Poetry by Patrick JenningsOct 20, 20157:59 am

Judge not…

Judge not this race by empty remains
Do you judge God by his creatures when they are dead?

~ Genesis, Watcher of the Skies

We create spaces
Walk away from them
Return, re-visit, renovate

We take what was
And make of it
Something else
Whether for utility
Or a statement

Poetry by Patrick JenningsOct 4, 20159:21 pm

A beach without umbrellas

There are thousands of miles of beach
Where no parasols are erected
To shade blankets
Coolers
And the sunburned

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 28, 20158:00 am

Climbing

I climb and climb
And climb some mo’
And still I climb
There’s more to go

From time to time
When I look back
And see the road
That twisted track

I know the way
Ahead ain’t straight
Yet still I climb
And bear the freight

What can I do?
I can’t turn back
The thought of it
My heart goes slack

So on I climb
I’m none too weak
I flee a life
That’s grown too bleak

Now as I climb
And look ahead
Is the next bend
The turn I dread?

For if I make
The high plateau
What if it ain’t
The place to go?

And all this work
A waste of time
I could’ve stayed
Instead of climb

Still, this I know
The only way
Is move along
And live each day

It’s really not
About the top
Life is a climb
Which does not stop

For if it does
Then I will die
There’s nothing else
These words don’t lie

I climb and climb
And climb some mo’
And still I climb
There’s more to go

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 23, 20158:00 am

The dead who made the shore

Blinded by the rain and fog
Tossed by the wind, adrift

With her sails all torn
The great tall ship
Her tiller shorn

She broke her back
Upon the stone

Olympus OM-2 by Patrick JenningsSep 19, 201510:13 am

The China Shop

On Saturdays, I like to stop in at the china shop on my morning walk. It’s best first thing, just after they’ve opened, when it’s quiet and I have the place to myself. Betty, the owner, always has a pot of tea on the go and lets me choose any tea cup from her inventory to sip it from.

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 13, 20154:04 pm

Revering the dead

In many ways
We give more reverence
To the dead
Than the living