From a distant sun,
some light finds another sun
and can shine again.
Glowing yellow like the sun,
spider waits for prey to come.
Like many juvenile birds, this male cardinal sat still and looked befuddled, then changed position a little, and then sat still and looked befuddled. With his face centered in the focus frame and a moderately fast shutter speed, he should have been in focus. My camera’s autofocus probably got distracted by the twigs all around him. While my camera has good manual overrides for most of its automatic choices, its manual focusing is a lame joke. So I made lemonade from lemons with the final line of my haiku.
Memories linger
tho nobody is still here
to remember them.
Visit Lingering to see the inspiration.
Redden, then blacken,
then become any color
in a bird’s feathers.
double or single
“Rose of Sharon” or “Althea”
sunny or cloudy
Stoneware bowl
imagines being …
balsa bird.
When they bloom,
each day is sunny.
Food’s good too.
I glanced down and broke stride just in time to avoid stepping on this snake, then took some photos. I was briefly puzzled that the snake seemed to have chosen dappled sun for basking when full sun was available, but the whole driveway may well have been in dappled sun when the snake chose a spot earlier in the morning. It’s more fun to imagine that the snake had to rethink choosing looks over practicality.
Lifeless? No, leafless.
They hold their breath all winter,
exhale leaves in spring.
No longer pretty,
potted tulips catch my eye
until petals fall.
Water in glassware
plays prism with morning light.
Serendipity.
Sunlight on the pine
caroms off lens surfaces
and shines from within.
Caw from unseen bird.
Crows are louder and shriller.
Could be a raven.
Overlay © John Cobb | Unsplash
While my own sightings are few and long ago, I believe ravens still inhabit the region where I live and am confident that I can distinguish the croaking caw of a raven from the canonical caw of a crow. (Don’t hike much any more; still big on alliteration.) I also have some of indigenous folklore’s admiration of ravens, so I celebrated hearing one with a haiku. That posed a problem.
An ordinary image of a raven would not work for my haiku about an unseen bird thought to be a raven. I considered posting the haiku by itself, but I like images. Hmmm. I can photograph the nondescript view toward where the call seemed to originate. Can I then find and tweak an image of a raven to make a ghostly overlay that fits the mood of the haiku? Yes!
Snow on lawn.
Tracks from last mowing,
seen again.
Gourds bask in sunlight;
shadows sing a silent song.
They both contribute.
Seen thru bare branches
that thrash in an angry wind,
Xmas lights shimmer.
Mellow Curmudgeon 