winter sea gray

haiku

winter sea gray, not

with malice but upheaval

renewing for spring

Oregon Coast, Lincoln City

January is always tremendous in white and gray.

super blue

 very early this morning

the moon near its zenith

was still brilliant white

and commanding

joyous for me pondering

the music of the spheres

it must hear even stooping

this close to earth

yellow jacket trap

yellow jacket trap

sick awe as i watch the yellow jacket

trap odor lure a dozen frenzied insects

joined soon by hundreds aggressively

swarming the plastic tube unable

for an hour and more to find entrance

i go on to church, praying

for insight into the confusion we call life

returning, i retch at the increased frenzy

of the swarm at my back porch

fifty, one hundred have found their way

in but cannot get out and are trampled

by crazed newcomers and more newly

trapped walking on their bodies

climbing the plastic walls only to fall

back onto the black mass, only some

of which is struggling

and still more come

and more

grateful, fascinated, i stare

sickened, i turn away

through august

gentle rain, hardly more than mist

but it may be enough to give hope

that the far-flung

 rhodies will make it through august

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momentary brilliance

although i hear no thunder, lightning rips

through night’s darkness everyseveral minutes

not as a slash, but lighting the sky

in momentary brilliance too fleeting to convey

to our measured minds the secrets of our world

i cannot fight them

i cannot fight them

there are too many

and they are angry

always aware

quick to explore my coming

aggressive in defining danger

to themselves, to their colony

we poor humans

believe we rule the world

but there are gazillion more

insects

some armed with stingers

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vehement

 tall, tall pines

side by side

their tops gesticulating

bending, twisting

arguing with the wind

wildfire evacuation

car packed to take oldest

to camp when notifie

of level 3 evacuation

“We need to go – now!”

the two smaller boys climbed in

and they drove off, coming

west to us without preparation

without clothes, without albums

or vital papers or anything

they would not have wanted

to leave behind

if climate change is a hoax

it is well devised to create

wilder, more uncontrollable

scenes of devastation

if it is, instead, the result of human

stupidity, arrogance and greed

perhaps we can use wisdom

humbleness and far-sightedness

to bring our world back toward balance

momentary

tall osprey fledglings now

two slender necks and shoulders

show above the rim of the bulky nest

stoic, stalwart male on the bar above

keeping watch, waiting

that momentous time is soon

when one or both young

will spread enormous wings

to swoop or fall as parents,

helpless to aid, look on

i can only wonder if in hope.

wing spread

fledgling osprey chick

rises to a stand in nest

high atop utility pole

shudders, then lifts out

impossibly long wings

far to the sides of its slender body

raises them to shoulder level

only slightly bent at each elbow

wanting something but barely

contemplating the thrill or demand

of flight

renewal of waves

renewal of the waves

one after another, after another

stretching up, cresting, breaking

in air-pale foam, pounding, spreading

reaching on shore

receding and gathering again

carrying elements of one world

to another, again and again

speaking an ageless language

of perseverance and near-imperceptible

change over time

reap far more

give bird seed daily

reap a harvest

of colorful flutter

and joyful song

by the Pacific

dozens of people on the sand

walking, standing looking out

pondering the expanse of ocean

each feeling alone

caught in time

an infinitesimal part

of a greatness no one

can comprehend

taste of abundance

drink the wind

swallow gulps of snow

test the grit of sunflower

marvel at the texture of honeycomb

stick out your tongue to catch rain

taste generous Nature

then revel, appreciate, cherish

work to protect

drizzle shower

gentle drops, arriving individually

one-by-one, welcome

dot-dot-dotting the windshield

until my car picked up speed

down our steep Ihrig Road

splats now, group onslaught

across the width of the window

warranting wipers turned on

at least on delay

Stringtown Road asphalt blackened

nursery plants perking

maple leaves less dusty

soil between vast rows richer brown

mama osprey straddling her chicks

in the nest to feed them

as though providing shelter

as well as sustenance

osprey chicks

scrubby osprey chicks

now tall enough to peer

over the edge of the nest

at the traffic on Ritchie Road

and the man with awe in his eyes

and a camera

but their gaze is not for mere humans

they are waiting for a parent

with food

tiny plea

tiny white butterfly flittered

near like an asterisk calling

attention to itself. ‘Here I am,”

it seemed to whisper, ‘perishing

in this early summer sun. I don’t

have dark blues or blacks

or large, wide-spread wings

that would help me cool myself.

Your global warming is killing me

and so many others. Please, please

tell your others to change

how you use our earth and air.’

dark of night

the ‘great white way’

was once the Milky Way

pondered by shepherds

their musings giving connection

to vastness above and beyond self

millennia before angels brought

‘tidings of great joy’

‘dark of night’

now conquered by fear-induced

electric lanterns that blind us

to that experience of belonging

to our universe and hasten

our separation from it

in our small fears

we conquer ourselves

not obliged

too much haze

too little flare

the northern lights

did not live up to predictions

or, rather, the predictions

were hopes and dreams

and gave the erupting sun

no sense of obligation

to fulfill them

turquoise at the NW horizon

turquoise at the northwest horizon

remained so long, i had hope

watched, dreaming up movement

slithering colors that were not there

simply sunset clinging

to the foothills and pines

rather than a night early for promised Aurora Borealis but still beauty

beyond all the watercolor and pastel

i have ever lovingly spread on paper