Category Archives: Poems & Images

yap

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he was a awfully small dog
with an awfully large voice
we were already riding 
President Salazar's train
from Porto to Vesuvius
within earshot of
an Australian entrepreneur
so we hardly noticed
A small, scruffy terrier mix dog with its mouth open in mid-bark, paws on the window sill, looking out of a moving train. The window frames a lush, green valley in Portugal, with a river winding through rolling hills, capturing the dog's enthusiastic reaction to the scenery.

 

potocari rain

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A's eyes seemed filled with tears
    that do not fall
at Dutchbat he escaped the chaffing
    by bare weeks
13 is an unlucky number here too
when the March for Peace is mentioned
    they light up for a moment
the other time this happens
    I think I had asked a stupid question
and then they twinkled 
    part pity part indulgence
i’m sure it’s not because he’d seen
    anything new under the sun
A stylized, high-contrast, vertical photograph of the dark, pitted wall of the battery factory at Potocari, which bears the scars of the Srebrenica Massacre. The image serves as a powerful backdrop for a poem that tells the story of a survivor, a poignant detail that adds a layer of personal history to the post.

                                       @the battery factory, srebrenica-potocari memorial centre

Sarajevo Roses

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outside the tunnel museum
there are a few more than a pair 
i wonder if grandma kolar tends them still
as she did the souls through that conduit
with water and thorny resolve
A close-up photograph of a single, vibrant red rose in full bloom, surrounded by green leaves. The image's natural beauty stands in stark contrast to the historical tragedy and somber setting of the post.

A photograph of a circular mural of red paint splatters, forming a rose-like shape on a gray concrete ground outside the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum. The red of the 'rose' is a poignant symbol, reflecting the historical pain and hope of escapees during the Siege of Sarajevo.

Tide Pool #1

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while watching for weedy sea dragons
where reefy sea grass ought to flow
instead this one peeks
in proof of alien life?
A macro photograph of algae fronds almost like a living crab-like organism, resting on a wet, rocky surface in a tide pool on the Mornington Peninsula, Australia

Botswana Beauties: Light Fantastic

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black-winged stilts i’ve read 
are known to be
collaborative home-makers
and gregarious waders 
at the borehole we see them
daddy and mummy long legs
skipping skating skitters 
tilted silted trippers
A high-contrast photograph of silhouetted black-winged stilts in flight and wading through light-speckled water in Botswana.

Botswana Beauties: Baby

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too young yet to savage his own feed
before puberty promotes him to 
that other list of african fives
with the vulture the warthog 
the gnu and the marabou
perhaps it's not a face
that only a mother would love
A photograph of a young hyena pup partially obscured by tall, dry grass in Botswana. The pup is looking directly at the camera with a cautious yet curious expression. The image challenges the common perception of hyenas as ugly, visually representing the post's title, 'Botswana Beauties: Baby'.

Botswana Beauties: Gwyneth

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red-billed oxpeckers love their
gwyneths long-legged and graceful
she gets the daily exfoliation at five
they get some nesting overnight
but not before she slides in
a sundowner at the corner watering hole

A beautiful photograph of a tall giraffe standing gracefully in a sunlit field in Botswana. A small oxpecker is perched on its neck, a detail that visually represents the theme of 'daily exfoliation' mentioned in the post. The symbiotic relationship between giraffes and oxpeckers is a classic example of mutualism. Oxpeckers, small birds, feed on ticks and parasites found on the giraffe's skin, providing the giraffe with pest control. In return, the oxpeckers get a readily available food source. This relationship benefits both species.

A humorous and intimate photograph of a giraffe with its front legs splayed and neck bent low to drink from a waterhole. The giraffe's reflection is perfectly captured in the water, creating a symmetrical image that contrasts its usual graceful posture with a moment of comical awkwardness.

Bhutan Series: Karma/Paro

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A photograph of a multi-story Bhutanese temple built into the side of a steep, wooded cliff in Paro, Bhutan.

 

Karma is deprived the driver’s seat
when the engine stalls in the morning chill
we take a substitute car to faux Eagles Nest
where we must wait too long for a meal
he’s glimpsed only once more that day roadside
at cordyceps store where we do get a good deal

Bhutan Series: Ugyen/Gangtey

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Ugyen brings the blessings
in the monastery 
where a couple of hundred
bucks buys lunch for each monk 
I make a faux pas serving meat
to the proto vegetarian

Ugyen brings the blessings
in the morning
we wear travel braids 
for three days fortune
just past the pass we toss old apples
to a lucky langur family

A photograph of three young Buddhist novices in red robes, sitting on a wooden floor and eating from metal bowls inside Gangtey Gonpa monastery in Bhutan.

Bhutan Series: Ngawang/Thimpu

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A tranquil photograph of a wooded hillside in Thimphu, Bhutan, with hundreds of colorful Buddhist prayer flags strung between tall, slender trees.

Ngawang fast walks 20 clicks before breakfast
returns in time to guide a stroll of guests
he’s been a monk a soldier
an 8-times snowman trekker
these days chasing the tariffs
to send his 3 girls to school
working for milk toast money

past the peak he pulls away
giving me space to descend the valley alone
there in the flurry of prayer flags
an orange butterfly leads me down