Category Archives: beauty

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Perpetual Grin

chinstrap

(personal photo)
I had a two foot tall escort,
black and white on my left.
Dark cap strapped smartly
below his little chin.

We slipped and slid
along a snowy slope,
his steps mirrored mine.

A crunch,
a waddle,
a slide corrected,
we descended in time.

A perpetual grin
on his face
and now, also on mine.

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Vision

penguin

(photo credit: personal photo)
I saw with my own eyes
a humpback breach
on cool grey waters. An ice berg floating
in the distance.
I did not need a macro lens shutter burst
to know that I had witnessed
a beautiful spectacle.

I saw with my own eyes
elephant seals jostle and wrestle
like young males flexing their muscles
in a gym.
I did not need to check the angle of the sun
or composition of the image before me
in order to enjoy.

I saw with my own eyes
penguins on a black sand beach.
Fur seals and elephant seals lay in the sun.
I sat on a dirt mound, without a camera lens.
Curious chicks waddled close.
I did not need a view finder
to see herringbone feather patterns
an arm’s length away from me.

I saw with my own eyes
seals leap in the bow waves of our boat.
Somersaults and flips
brought a smile to my face.
I did not need video replay to witness
their fun living in the moment.

I saw with my own eyes.
I heard with my own ears.
I do not need technology to know
life is not meant to be
viewed through a narrow lens.
I want the panorama.

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Camaraderie

autumn leaf

(internet photo)

They come together two by two.
One arrives alone.
A pilgrimage to the mountains.

Hillside blazes yellow, orange and red,
leafy flames igniting trails high above the valley.
Footsteps crunch.
Laughter piggy backs on the wind.
Two ravens swoop in unison,
wing tips brushing conversations below.

Robust feasts surround
fermented offerings.
Drunk with stories, new and old,
words sway and wobble among the guests.

Log walls stand stone still.
Observing.
Mum to all.

In the morning
flowered china,
chipped and cracked,
holds warms muffins
and fresh fruit.

They depart, as they came,
in pairs, and one alone.
A simple reminder
that solitude does not have to mean
lonely.

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Buried Artifact

La-Venere-di-Milo_325x435

(La-Venere-di Milo: internet photo)

Silt shifts; like a silk dress in a breeze,
creamy folds expose buried artifacts of a restless spirit.
Nubile naked truths tease.
Glimpses of a white shoulder, a bare thigh,
peep through spongy mud.
Shallow water sculpts seductively
over hidden treasure.
Patient stream erodes murky riverbed.
Venus arises.
Her polished eyes gleam.