THUNDER AND LIGHTNING FROM THE PORCH

NaPoWriMo--DAY TWENTY SIX

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: For this prompt, you will need to fill out, in five minutes or less, the following “Almanac Questionnaire.” Then, use your responses as to basis for a poem.

The Wendigo

Whiteout

Snowing. No, a blizzard 

Five days of blizzard. 

Earl has been gone for three. 

Went off through the evergreens 

Leaving me in this reeking cabin 

With a barrel of pinto beans, 

A hind quarter of frozen moose, 

A bag of dog food, 

And two sled dogs. 

My dreams of 

Being eaten alive by wolves 

Have returned. 

Seeing those huge tracks 

By the junk cars in town 

Didn’t help. 

I’m supposed to be 

Guarding our stash of beaver pelts. 

What a joke. 

The newspaper left by 

Crazy Harlan 

Was full of conspiracies 

About poison snow. 

And an escaped llama 

That shut down the Juneau Airport. 

After he took off for Fairbanks 

I saw he’d written “I wish I was Banksy” 

On our barn wall. 

Maybe he will send me a letter. 

"The weather is fine in Cancun." 

I’ll send him a postcard of a moose. 

So I sit here dressed in layers 

Of wool sweaters and fleece 

Listening to the howling wind 

Or howling wolves 

I can’t tell. 

It’s grim. 

I cheer myself up by remembering 

Playing in the river 

When I was a kid. 

Then I think about 

The Kraken. 

And then The Wendigo, 

The cannibal monster 

That lives in the north woods. 

And what if this whole world 

Is really just a snow globe. 

And the sky is a glass dome 

And someone is getting ready 

To drop and break it?

NaPoWriMo--DAY NINETEEN

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: write a poem based on a “walking archive.” What’s that? Well, it’s when you go on a walk and gather up interesting thing – a flower, a strange piece of bark, a rock. This then becomes your “walking archive” – the physical instantiation of your walk.

Shooting Birds--19 April 2020 

All winter long 

The usual birds 

Who never make the long trip south. 

When summer ends, when cold winds blow 

When rivers freeze

 Magpie 

Pigeon

Sparrow 

Crow

 And don’t forget the chickadees. 

They endure the months of snow. 

In March 

When winter starts to go 

We hear the doves 

Then

 Flickers 

Blackbirds 

And we know 

It’s spring when

 There are

 Robins.

 Robins overflow. 

Today 

Out on the lake

 I saw loons

 The hawks are back.

 Kingfishers too. 

Osprey 

Swallows

 Duck

 Duck

 Goose.

(all my photos--most taken today--19 March 2020)

NaPoWriMo--DAY EIGHTEEN

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: Write an ode to life’s small pleasures. Perhaps it’s finding some money in the pocket of an old jacket , or just looking up at the sky and watching the clouds go by.

Six Months Later 

Some day last October, the weather getting colder 

There was extreme exposure, my sandal days were over. 

My toes cried, my soul died, the snow flyed. 

Six months of boots, fuzzy hats, snow suits, 

Thinking of warm sand, umbrella drinks in the hand, 

Falling in love to the rhythm of a steel drum band. 

Now smiling-- morning sun, worst of winter almost done 

Three little birds by my door say the blizzards ain’t no more. 

Singing melodies, sing of fun, sandal days have begun! 

Don’t worry about a thing. Now’s a day to laugh and sing. 

Toes are out, soft and pink, sandal time don’t you think? 

Sky is blue, lawn is grassy. 

Don’t worry be happy.

NaPoWriMo--DAY NINE

NaPoWriMo PROMPT: Write a “concrete” poem – a poem in which the lines and words are organized to take a shape that reflects in some way the theme of the poem.

SNOW MOBILE

 

Slowly

        Sailing

 

                    Feathers

Falling

     Drifting              

              Downward 

 

           Softly     

 Sliding         

 

                     Moistly                 

                 Melting

 

           In

 

          My

      Mouth

NaPoWriMo --Early Bird

NaPoWriMo PROMPT:  And now, in the spirit of an early-bird prompt, I’d like to invite you to write a poem about your favorite bird.

Trumpeter Swans

Wedging their way

Across an ice blue sky,

Silvery trumpeters

Announce
 Approaching spring

With their clarion call.

April is National Poetry Month

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

I've done this challenge before in 2015 and 2017. I published a few of my 2015 efforts and the whole 30 that I wrote with illustrations in 2017. Creating and publishing every day was time consuming and I decided I was too busy to try in 2020. At least I thought I was too busy a few weeks ago. But things change (sarcastic laugh). So come back in April and see what happens. I'll publish the prompts and my efforts but don't look for pictures every day.  Until then, here is one of my poems from March 2010.

MARCH

Rotten snow rusts.

Gardens and forests still sleep.

Wind’s iron fingers smear shadows.

We ache inside

Homesick for spring.

Hope you are all well and staying safe. Best wishes to you and your families.

National Poetry Writing Month website

GRAND TETON PHOTOGRAPHY

DH and I decided to go to Grand Teton National Park the first Saturday in October to find out if we could hear the bull elk bugle.

The autumn weather had deteriorated into winter very early.  So there was snow on the highway as we went up Teton Pass.  It wasn’t deep or icy but a wakeup to what we would see at lower elevations in a few weeks.  We got into the park so early there wasn’t even a ranger at the entrance booth to check us in.  It was just very dark.

So dark we almost ran over a pronghorn who was out looking for some early breakfast.

 Sunrise was just beginning when we reached String Lake parking lot.  We weren’t alone.  There were others with cameras and tripods probably there for the same reason we were.

   Daylight let us see that new snow had frosted the mountains and trees.  The sunrise turned the snow lavender and then pink.  We listened for elk and heard almost nothing.  Finally we heard some bugling far away from the lake.  The big bulls were cold and not in the mood for love.

But that was okay since the scenery was outstanding.  The air was so still the water in the lake was a mirror for the forest and the grand peaks.  The high fog lifted just enough for us to see the mountain tops and the reflected sunlight.

We took the trail to Leigh Lake far enough we could see Mount Moran and its quiet reflection in the water.  The beauty was mind-boggling.

I shot photo after photo as the morning slowly burned off the mist on the peaks.

The changing angle of the sunrise and the moving clouds enhanced every view.

We went back to Jenny Lake where the sights were just as scenic and amazing.

It was very much worth the early rising and the dark drive to see such magnificence.

Even leaves on the path were picturesque.

So we didn’t see or hear much from the elk but we did see a few birds like this Clark's nutcracker trying to catch a few warm rays of sunshine.

On our way back to Jackson for breakfast at The Bunnery we got a good look at a big bull moose.  What you can’t see in this photo is the crowd of paparazzi with their big cameras and zoom lenses taking the same photos I was.

TOTALITY

I finally put together the story of The 2017 Eclipse from our house.  Thanks to Cindy and Ann for sharing photos.

There were twenty people in our back yard -- give or take five or six – on the morning of August 21, 2017.

Gordon had a Dutch oven full of riblets he was barbecuing for lunch.

Bob had his smoker ready for another rack of ribs.

I was working on getting a once-in-a-lifetime photo or two.

And everybody had their stare-at-the-sun glasses.

EVERYBODY. Some even had more than one pair.

Then at around ten a.m. we could see the shadow of the moon cut a notch out of the sun.

It was super exciting.

The neighbors brought over a shamrock plant to see if it would fold up like it does when evening comes.

Time passed.

And the moon and sun moved more.

We continued to watch.

However, it was difficult to tell if everyone was truly focused on the event.

We put paper down on the grass so we could watch for the eclipse shadow bands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_bands

and also use it to show up the effect of our pinhole cameras.

We began to notice a weird darkness and there was a marked cooling of temperature.

The light shining through openings such as tree leaves turned from round to crescent.

Bob and Gordon kept one eye on the sky and the other on the barbecue.

Some tried looking through Gordon’s welder helmet to see what that was like.

Most were glad to pose for a “look amazed” photograph. Some, not so much.

The sky got darker and the air got cooler.

Almost totality!

Darker, colder. The shamrock started to fold up. The street light came on.

Cindy yelled, “shadow bands!” and then,

The Diamond Ring! We could see stars!

I was so excited I took two photos of total darkness before I remembered to take off the filter.

Corona

Solar flares

And in less than two minutes the sun began to reappear.

Then the sun and moon began to part ways.

The ribs were ready and so was the Dutch oven cobbler.

Warm sunshine returned.

The table was spread.

Everyone helped themselves to the picnic.

Nobody went hungry.

John and his friend stopped by. They’d chosen the rim of the Menan Butte to see the show. They’d also seen the shadow rushing across the land toward them.

After totality most out-of-towners hurried to leave hoping to beat the crowds so the highways turned into parking lots.

John, and Ann and her family tried to get to Utah but traffic south was bottle-necked into a crawl. The Simiskeys gave up and went back to stay overnight with Cindy in Idaho Falls. They made the trip to Logan the next morning just fine. 

John and his friend hung in for the duration and didn’t get to Salt Lake City until after midnight.