I make photographs and poems to please myself (and share them to please you).
Backlit Glory what was a leaf but glorious in afternoon sunshine deep in october take off your hat bow down a little if only in your mind thing of beauty maybe only a cold leaf chilled in october sunshine brightly lit but nearly (frozen) we looked at the gravesite kicked last year's leaves off black granite names her sister found it said she remembered almost where it was now what remains will rest beside her beloved mother
Bark ragged and rugged chaotic randomness bunch of red and orange making quite a mess or is that what we see tree bark of arbutus growing wild on rock you might well think nothing would grow (life pushes through) arbutus trees will grow where nothing's safe that's the way life is i have heard some say clinging on where it might as if in frantic desperation thriving in places beyond imagination sometimes past hope as even love may do
Things we Remember there's things that we remember there's things that we forget sometimes we need to know we have seen nothing yet my girl has gone before me i hope that she's okay i look around and see her things and see them every day i want to fling them really far but friends tell me to wait in a few years i'll want them all to keep my memories awake remember now how quick her mind remember too how kind her heart she was there beside me day by day her loss has left a mark there's things that we remember there's things that we forget sometimes we need to know we have seen nothing yet
forty five years hand in hand turning life into adventure making anything better than it might have been without the right attitude we wandered (never lost) without panic (adventures don't include panic) only joy that we walked together many never find that recipe i tripped (and almost fell over it) when we travelled i decided that everything new was a wonder (rather than a challenge) that it was all fun so we continued when we came home to freezing weather (it didn't matter) because we had learned it was all an adventure that we shared together
deep in the night (at 2 am) i wander looking for my dear she'll never come again sobbing tears my throat because she can't return shoulder by shoulder all those years together a heart attack so sad valentine's day spoiled for me forever it won't be the same adventures on the globe we walked on volcanoes hand in hand across calderas cool to touch exploding into lava flows when we were safely by forty five years we loved she dreaded that day i tried to encourage her an operation should make her life easier and we'd have fun next summer when she'd be healed her body couldn't do it doctors and machines kept her body running (in a way) two weeks in a kind of purgatory she couldn't last when the machines went quiet when we knew at last no hope of life remained water from my eyes for all those years deep in the night (at 2 am) i wander
The Yellow and the Red where do you go when you won't show your bitter sorrow your love above has gone to silence he cannot weep where still when still his tears will never flow revealing little sorrow and he cannot show numbness that he feels yellow seems cheerful red is for love or blood he can never say when sorrow stole his words away sometimes that old man cannot rest his loved one's buried deep beyond his dusty days (he feels a need) a need to weep because she is (she is asleep)
Spotted Wonderful we had a little wonderful i called her spotty which she seemed to love white fur and brown spots she was a farm girl in another life (havester of vegetable gardens) sometimes a little help is much appreciated that little dog could dig and here's a spotted lily another spotted wonderful a spotty lily in its element a gorgeous summer flower while cold blasts our days never knew if it was those spots that were wonderful or if these little spotty things are just wonderful in spots
Start to Open as they start to slowly open true colours begin to show i watch with hope these things will eventually turn out as good nature wishes them some day to be pleasing no one isn't easy but we do it all the time things do somehow open as they should processes can be so messy all the experts gather round try please try to save her i'm dropping right down kneeling on the bloody ground we don't see around hard corners life comes at us just like that orange tulips slowly open as we gather up our songs (are they orange flowers) maybe yellow showing off their powers all open to interpretation
The Edge of Things
looking out over
everything we can see
that totally amazes me
its all about the edges
---
my neighbor's daughters
six years old
went climbing on a wall
they went right up
like spiderlings
and weren't afraid to fall
---
my girl is in a coma
its worrisome you know
she can't see or hear me
please don't go
Focussing on Spring
freezing has been common
for as long as they remember
this freezing time of year
temperatures slowly rise
until the ice retreats
slowly slowly slowly
but not this year
daffodils are difficult
to keep in focus
when you get so close
because the bell is long
so you can focus near
or focus far
we cannot see that well
a normal lens does better
a daffodil does not have
intelligence like ours
but does everything right
with embarrassment
i consider some ways
i fail (embarrassing
because am i not
in some way superior)
Murray Robertson (photography & poems) 