Hilltop to Hilltop

looking across a timescape
we see into a distant past

where great lumbering
creatures walked a beach


after they died (huge
piles of rotting meat)

bones were revealed
(sand washed in)
covered deep for eons

minerals leached in
replacing calcium
(bones became stone)

covering sand became stone 
(long millions of years)
and buried deep the bones

volcanoes erupted
spewing ash which became
thick silent layers

ice ages came and went
continents drifted while
land rose and subsided


looking across a timescape
we see into a distant past

Morning Dream

Morning Dream

when this
sad mess
is over,
we’ll be
singing,
dancing
in the
sunlight
all day long.
dreaming
can be
such a
precious
moment,
even when
the dream
has it
all wrong

life isn’t
just a
child’s party,
sometimes
we work
through an
awful mess.
we’ll try our
best though,
we can
make it
better,
at least
we’ll try,
and do it
more or less

cloudy days
come sometimes
and they
cool us,
overheated
as we
sometimes are,
we can
dream it big
and maybe
one day,
we’ll dream
of home
from some quite
distant star

Frozen Path

Frozen Path

a frozen path,
a winter way
winds up
the hill,
through ice
and snow,
there are
those days
when we
don’t want
to go

small birds,
with their
fantastic songs
are months away,
we’d like to
hear them,
but our ears
are frozen

a frozen path,
a winter way
winds up
the hill,
through ice
and snow,
there are
those days
when we
don’t want
to go

our hearts
want springtime,
winter
we’ve seen
before,
we’d banish cold
(please take us
back to
springtime)

a frozen path,
a winter way
winds up
the hill,
through ice
and snow,
there are
those days
when we
don’t want
to go

Clouds Over Kalamalka

Dramatic skies,
I can enjoy
so much.

A constant
light show,
as we watch
storms blow up
the lake.

Beautiful clouds
inspire passion.
Amazing things
to see.

I cannot say
I’m always right.
There are
so many things
to learn.

I cannot
touch her,
as she is
not mine.

These days
get longer.
Spring must
be here soon.

Winter Sunset

From our window,
we might watch
the world.
Weather blows up
from the south.
We see
it coming.

It is not
surprising.
The sun rises,
a beautiful thing,
in the east
and cruises past,
low in the
winter sky
until sunset.
We know
its metaphor.

Through Mountain Passes

Through Mountain Passes

Climbing through
mountain passes,
watching snowfall
on passing peaks.
Icy storms in
inaccessible places.
So near but
far enough away.
Even in good weather,
our senses tell us,
though climbing monkeys,
that challenge
is too great
for all we’d gain.

Another day,
another place,
we watch
for dinosaurs
and still more
recent dangers.
Time carves
huge gullies
in a sandstone
panorama.
So many
creatures died,
surprised
by drowning.
Panicked thrashing,
desperate last gasps,
acceptance
and surrender.

Another day,
another place,
we find their
massive bones.
Displayed as if
so recent,
but those bones
had turned
to stone,
they can not
whistle, stamp
or roar.
Those days
are past.
We are the
roaring
monsters now,
destroying
careless of
the world
we’ll leave
behind.

Climbing through
time’s passing,
watching the
world burn
like a barbeque.
We wonder
why we
let it be,
as snow falls
on the passing
peaks,
as it has
for oh-so-long.
We wonder
how much longer
it will be:
snow falling
silently
around us.

Dusty Desert Edges

 

Dusty Desert Edges

Such feeble creatures
with grandiose
delusions!
Beyond dusty
desert edges,
sometimes opportunities.
Not counting
deferred costs,
it seems
there may be
profits.

Think of
the children,
victims of old
crimes against nature,
so many messes,
grim inheritance,
for them
to clean up.
We have seen
plague and pestilence,
disasters.
And we may be another.

We do persist,
covering the planet,
like some
fast growing
slime mold, growing,
out of control,
until all food
is gone,
and we run out
of space and time.

Wonder

How can we help but wonder
how we got such egos,
how such misplaced
admiration
ever got so far.

We fall into holes
of our own digging
and
dig deeper.

Ugly, clever
monkeys,
we run our
dubious enterprises
with leaders
known to
be foolish
or evil,
and then
congratulate
ourselves for
our wisdom.

How can we help but wonder
how we got such egos,
how such misplaced
admiration
ever got so far.

Broad View

Summer brings beauty,
green tones
like a special heaven.

Afternoon heat
bakes tired eyes.
Its easy
to forget.
Breathe. Breathe.

Doze only
in safety.
Predatory creatures
may appear.
Some of them
could be human…

Treetops provide
refuge
from predators.
When time
becomes non-linear,
a secret story
can not be told.

Two wide photographs
make a panoramic scene.
Houses on a hillside,
hundreds of years after
el Greco’s Toledo.

 

The way we live,
these days.
Separated by fences,
each in our own
private space.

 

Summer brings beauty,
green tones
like a special heaven.

Black and White Edge of Someplace

Black and White Edge of Someplace

Here is the black
and white
edge of someplace,
so bleak it is!
So hard to describe.
The snow came
white and
sucked up
all the colour.
Falling in bunches,
as we watched
it come.

There is
the black and white
edge of human,
lies and cheats
and cruelty besides.
Look how
we treat
the poor and weak
ones, those
who need our help.
What are we then?