Posted in Winter, tagged brush strokes, canvas, cold dawn, contemplation, crisp winter day, harsh texture, natural work of art, photography, writing on February 29, 2012| 2 Comments »
At dawn on a crisp winter’s day, even the light is cold.
It paints the land a steely, frigid blue; the stain sets quickly and deeply
so that all it covers is held absolutely still.
The brush strokes are rough, uneven, prickly,
giving a harsh texture to this arresting canvas.
This natural work of art is powerful enough
to hold any viewer frozen in its grasp.
Posted in Winter, tagged awoke from a dream, beauty, carefree days, contemplation, imagination, photography, play, winter storm, writing on February 27, 2012| 1 Comment »
A winter storm has left its mess and gone off to play elsewhere.
There is a beauty, though, in the remnants of play;
it is a reminder of our own carefree days of introspective abandonment,
when we were able to be engulfed in the process of some activity
that claimed our attention for whatever length of time the attraction held.
We came, we played, we conquered boredom
and let our imaginations run amok.
And then we awoke as if from a dream.
Posted in Winter, tagged contemplation, life out there?, mystery of universe, night sky, photography, writing on February 24, 2012| 2 Comments »
The universe has perplexed us for as long as we have
looked above at the night sky.
How did it come to be, is there other life out there, how far does it extend?
But we might also wonder how the sprawling,
incomprehensible scope of the universe can be found
on the surface of a frozen pond.
Posted in Winter, tagged breaches in the bark, contemplation, moss, photography, towering birch, tree collapses, writing on February 22, 2012| 2 Comments »
The moss at the base of this towering birch tree is
incrementally and methodically working its way up the trunk.
It will never reach the top, but it won’t have to.
As the moss spiders into breaches in the bark and feeds deeper and deeper
into the tree, it will weaken the trunk until the tree collapses.
The moss will then complete its mission of returning the tree to the earth.
And then the cycle will begin again.
Posted in Winter, tagged contemplation, exploration, lyrical line of ice, meandering, no direction, photography, reflection, slow-moving stream, writing on February 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »
A lyrical line of ice borders a slow-moving stream.
It offers no direction for the water,
only a decoration with indentations for exploration
and a reason to meander and reflect.
Posted in Winter, tagged cloud pictures, contemplation, photography, scudding clouds, summer sky, winter months, writing on February 17, 2012| 5 Comments »
While it is common to lie on one’s back and look for imagery
in clouds scudding across a summer sky,
it can be just as profound to search on puddles for pictures
in the winter months. See here how a hand reaches in from the right
to pet a long-eared dog cradled under an arm;
its eyes are looking directly at you.
Posted in Winter, tagged artists, beauty, contemplation, creativity, First Peoples, inspiration, natural muse, photography, proficient at survival, writing on February 15, 2012| 4 Comments »
As First Peoples grew more proficient at survival, how could they not
become artists when nature offered inspiration all around them?
How could people feel the pull of such beauty and not be compelled to
create it themselves? And even now, how can an artist not respond
to the creative beauty that continues to be naturally produced?
Posted in Winter, tagged black linen, contemplation, cystal dinner plate, elegant table, fettuccine, fine dining, photography, writing on February 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »
A dinner plate of the finest crystal,
dressed with a serving of marsh grass fettuccine,
sits on an elegant water table adorned with black ice linen.
What fine dining awaits the observant patron in nature’s best restaurants.
Posted in Winter, tagged contemplation, from a larger collective, photography, relevance of time, transformation, writing on February 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »
What was once part of a cliff and then a boulder is now a stand of rocks
poised like dominoes ready to tumble. It is also a reminder
that everything changes. The shards of ice surrounding the rock
have also undergone a similar transformation from a larger collective
to smaller and smaller components. Only time, really, separates the two.
And given that the transformations never cease, is time even relevant?
Posted in Winter, tagged contemplation, forces of nature, laws of physics, otherworldly, pause in wonder, photography, psychedelic, surreal, writing on February 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
The surreal can occur quite naturally.
The elements of nature in combination with the forces of nature
produce otherworldly, psychedelic effects that can make us pause in wonder.
And while there are rudimentary laws of physics to explain these
manifestations, there are no words to convey their appearance.
Try to describe the ice to a friend.
m1nute 