Up at 6

Grab some toast

And coffee.

Head for the river –

Line tangled

Set it right;

Keep at it.

A long cast

Catches a tree.

Cold, tired

Call it a morning.

Trudge by a field,

Mountains in the distance.

Has the river rejected me?

Wait.

Two birds fly by in tandem.

Is that a chevron I see on them?

I’ll be back.

May, 2018

Here’s two sweet ones from my friend Bob Carlson.

Canoeing the Border

It all comes into focus here –

lost bays and calling loons ,

tough cedars and soft ferns ,

ancient dappled granite ,

endless mystic islands ,

and clear blue waters dancing

As our rhythmic paddle strokes

Glide us to an evening camp

Near a waterfall that rushes

constant through the night ,

Under a sky changing colors ,

even as we sleep .

bc

 Diamondhead Peak, Wyoming

Sun like a diamond

cutting the pines ,

Wind like a river ,

moving my mind ,

Across time and space ,

the fabric of life –

backward and east

point of my birth,

forward and west

point of my death –

Cutting and moving

a mountain of gems ,

Cutting and moving

until this dream ends .

bc

Jan Wootten shared this statement:

Some books become part of you.

“A Hero of Our Time,”

By Russian novelist Mikhail Lermontov:

A handsome, engaging army officer

Specializes in seducing women,

Not always sexually.

When he is sure they want him,

He moves on.

What stays with me?

The irony.

How can someone

So obviously a scoundrel

Be a hero?

Look at the heroes of our time.

How quick we are to

Anoint one, and

How quick they are to disappoint

There is a hole

In our lives

That heroes cannot fill.

Intimacy,

Friendship,

Community.

These are the things that matter.

May, 2018