political angst the gop has given elephants a bad name*

*referencing flak I got for something I wrote because it referenced Elephant Rocks State Park and democracy. It was interpreted as a pro-Trump message instead of a message of hope that is found in nature. Rocks that have been around for billions of years are still with us today and that is my hope for democracy and freedom, however naive that hope may be. 

I thought about taking the post in question down but decided against it. Words can be interpreted in many different ways regardless of what I intended. People will see what they want to see. It also gave me perspective on what people who are conservative and labeled "far right" go through on a regular basis. I just got those same slings and arrows.

mourning dove feathers puffed out in a battle with the frost

driftwood anchor an otter surveying the icy water

pintail duck in midair I could use a wingful of energy

may apple on the forest floor the sun finally reaching your bones

bewick's wren the lilacs can't be far away

a bullfrog's swim through the fallen leaves of the last storm

abandoned field fireflies creating their own path of light

years' past the pink columbine from Colorado here, too

allred lake the cypress older than our republic

wild geranium bloom I, too, have life lines

castor river the granite forms of resistance

rest stop the monarch shielded by a sunflower

orange sky the stained glass of sugar maples

gnarled cedar how many revolutions have you seen

cardinal bright morning the red notes of someone else's song

a ring-billed gull its wings tilting towards the new year

Inspired by 2013's Natural Events Calendar

pickle springs winter the rocks become snow-capped mountains

tufted titmouse the first hints of dawn in a gray sky

with eagle intensity a pilot before landing

woodland splash the coyote sees me first

lamps of mushrooms across the forest*

a defiant stare the sparrow holds onto the ice

independence day miles above the pink granite the milky way

green heron almost missing him under the tupelo

nature's fireworks the sensitive briar lights its own fuse

valentines in august the prairie roses

cathedral dasher with spindly legs and crystal wings

the post oaks next to the diamond scores of dead ash

a cypress swamp the fog settles in for the night

blue clusters mapping out the small world of cedar berries

hooded merganser you've taken my morning hair to a new level

the december hurry starts with flurries

*bonnet mushrooms

Inspired by the 2014 Natural Events Calendar

new year old year the mobster-in-chief inciting a mob

snowstorm no one expecting the bluebird

morning hike a cottontail standing in the snow

ice crystal tethered to the briefness of winter

swift current the sycamores tinged with rust

hughes mountain a fog drifts into our silence

trail guide each black-eyed susan

snowy owl how many miles did I walk to get here

a white tail negotiating the riffles

female cardinal red enough to be a beacon in the cedar

spotting a gray fox every color in the crayon box

lunch time a butterfly in a field of thistle

a scraggly wildness in the milkweed blooms

no one knows how they got here gooseberries part of the fence

sunny umbrellas the gray headed coneflowers

it's not spring until the redbuds open

sleepy hollow the sudden gold of witches' butter

the purpleness of a prairie in september

rain clouds on our last walk together

Inspired by 2020's Natural Events Calendar

snowmelt not even coffee can clear the morning fog

frozen facebook page unfriended by winter

insomnia what do sheep count

years of neglect in the barn's collapse 

black ice a skid turns serious

doctored documentary this is not what happened

subtle changes in the gray to grey clouds

the spaces of loneliness, the senseless clutter

repurposed keys and the doors they went to forgotten

christmas dinner we peel the green off the red potatoes

december rain the landscape of depression and its unfinished work 

odometer 80,000 miles I feel like I've walked every one of them