Chuang Tzu Quote

finrtrk

This is my attempt to make a little model of a birch bark canoe. Try as I might, I just couldn’t get it right, so I decided to go with the flow and started gluing pieces together without any plan. Maybe it’s because I drove truck for twenty years, I don’t know, but this is what came out of it.

Sometimes writing poetry is like that too; you have an idea, but if it morphs into something else, go with it. It reminds me of this Chuang Tzu quote:

Flow with whatever is happening.

Let your mind be free.

Stay centered by accepting

Whatever you are doing.

finptrk

–Photos by me

crane cinquain

fincrane1

crane

tall, red-crowned

calling, dancing, bowing

legs like broken sticks

sandhill

***

At first, I thought these were a couple of young deer behind the trees, as we don’t get many cranes in the wooded portion of the state. They are a very old bird, and have a peculiar walk. They remind me of some kind of dinosaur. With their sandy brown backs, it’s easy to see why they’re called sandhills.

fincrane2

–photos by me

 

Living on the Edge

finalpit

When the iron ore ran out,

The mine pit was abandoned,

And there it sat for years,

A gaping wound in the earth;

A world of rocks and dirt

And sheer cliffs of stone

Devoid of any sign of life–

Till Mother Nature moved in

And started redecorating.

She filled the great hole

With crystal clear water

And hung living wallpaper

Over the barren cliffs.

She turned it into a world

Of birds and rainbow trout;

Of beautiful, swaying trees

And plants of every kind.

She turned the dead pit

Into a living paradise.

–Photo by me