Spring’s gentle beauty haiku: HPC

on arduous treks
take time to pause and notice
spring’s gentle beauty

Spring;s gentle beauty

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Pause & Trek

When misty fog surrounds haiku: HPC

seek a firm anchor
when misty fog surrounds you
dawn will show the way

When misty fog

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Seek and Fog

The power of red blossoms: SS & Sijo poem

The power of red blossoms radiating in the garden.
Crimson petals briefly unfold, reaching towards a cloudless sky
And the memory of their fire burns deep within your soul.

Sunday Stills (SS) Monthly Color Challenge – Red

Through my pocket lens: LAPC & WPWC

Peering through my pocket lens
Vivid reflections shine
where the river bends

through my pocket lens in Bend

The colors soar high into the blue
pausing in rainclouds
falling as dew

High desert sunrise

Droplets of pigment splatter parched plants
cling to pale petals
interweave and dance

Alstromeria vignette

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) # 233 – A one lens walk

Weekly Prompts Writing Challenge (WPWC) – Bend

Fable of the fox haiku: Haiku Prompt Challenge

fable of the fox
who crept too close to a fire
enlightened and singed

fable of the fox

Haiku Prompt Challenge – Fable & fire

Morning on a fall day cinquain poem: SoCS

Morning
On a fall day
Brilliant colors appear
Merging into luminous wings
Soaring

Morning on a fall day

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Morning

The blur of autumn: Weekly Haiku & Sunday Stills

The blur of fall

the blur of autumn
catcher of fading colors
thoughts of winter’s chill

Autumn leaves

Weekly haiku prompt challenge – Catcher & thought

Sunday Stills – Paths & trails take you to happy places

Geese flying high quinzaine poem: OWS & SM

Geese flying high over Bend
Searching for good brews?
Soaring songs?

Geese flying high

One Word Sunday (OWS) – High

Saturday Mix (SM) – Quinzaine

Avian sentry poem: WWP

Avian sentry blackbird

Avian sentry alert at daybreak
Perched on cattails near High Desert lake
Dangerous clouds move in
Surrounding him
Lightning flashes
Thunder crashes
Blackbird sounds alarm
Protecting marshes from harm

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Weekend Writing Prompt – Avian (29 Words)

Wind-sculpted poem: Haiku & MM

Beach scene in Oregon

wind-sculpted mountains
emerge from sandy shorelines
embrace life, vanish

wind-sculpted mountains

Note: These sand “mountains” near Waldport, Oregon are about 1/2 inch tall.

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Sand and Life

Macro Monday

Primrose painting, photo, & Poem: First Friday Art

Today I’m sharing a primrose painting, photo, and poem I created. When I was on a field trip in early June, we saw a “field” of this plant in bloom near Crack in the Ground. Tufted evening-primrose, Oenothera caespitosa, usually only bloom at night but on that day, dark clouds filled the skies.

Here’s a watercolor I painted of the flowers.

Tufted evening primrose

And here’s the work in progress in my little studio space.

Studio space

This is the close up photograph I took of these beautiful flowers near Crack in Ground. I’m growing evening-primrose in my landscaping and, so far, the always hungry resident mule deer have not discovered them. 🤞

Tufted evening primrose

Here is a Sijo poem about these remarkable flowers.

Awakened when the moon rises over the silent desert
Flowers in sandy soil open, shining like pale lanterns
Enchanting the world with intoxicating scent, until dawn breaks

Do you have artwork you would like to share? Be sure to include the First Friday Art tag.

First Friday Art

Guided by shadows haiku: FFC & WHPPC

guided by shadows
emerald meadows slumber
slip into summer

Guided by shadows

Friendly Friday Challenge – Green

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Guide and Slip

High Desert voices of the many and the few: LAPC

High Desert voices can be heard throughout Central Oregon if you just pause and listen.

Bold shouts of the many

High desert voices Abert Rim
Lichen-covered boulders at Abert Rim

Quiet whispers of the few

Painted By The Earth Summer Lake, Oregon 30March2018
Stones layered with calcite at Summer Lake

Raucous calls of the many

High desert voices Summer Lake
Waterbird colony at Summer Lake
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The path meanders haiku: Haiku poetry challenge

the path meanders
up a rocky desert butte
embraced by spring clouds

the path meanders Fischer Canyon
Fischer Canyon, Oregon

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge #407 – Path & Desert

Thermophile color – Nonet poem: LAPC

Thermophile color blooms near Earth’s core
In bouquets of startling brilliance
Fertilized by extreme heat
In caldera water
Where few dare to tread
The Archaea
Find a home,
Warm and
Safe

thermophile color at Yellowstone
Close ups at Yellowstone
Artemis geyser
Thermophile color
Hot spring colors
Grand Prismatic

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Colorful Expressions

Driving around the bend-Sijo poem: LAPC, TTC, SWPC

Driving around the bend, visions of new worlds come into view.
Splashes of warm color, framed in cool blue, catch our attention.
Images pass by fast and vanish, remembered as a dream.

Driving around the bend near Sisters, OR
Sunset near Sisters, Oregon
Painted Hills Oregon
Approaching the Painted Hills, Oregon
Fall color McKenzie Pass
Fall color on McKenzie Pass, Oregon

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) #191- Curves

Three Things Challenge (TTC) #862- Color & fast

Sijo Wednesday Poetry Challenge (SWPC) – Blue

Delicate feather haiku: Weekly Haiku Challenge

delicate feather
propelled by whispers of wind
settles on snow drifts

Delicate feather

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Feather & whisper

Dragons breathing fire – haiku: Haiku Challenge & MWM

dragons breathing fire
over magical snowscapes
on the edge of spring

Dragons  breathing fire

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Dragon and Magic

Mid-Week Monochrome #77

Diaphanous strands haiku: OLWG, LAPC, WS

diaphanous strands
a colorful serape
muffles winter’s chill

Diaphanous strands of clouds

Online Writers Guild (OLWG) – #242 – A colorful serape

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) #181 – Double Dipping

Weekend Sky (WS) #51

Blue worlds Haiku poem: Haiku Prompt Challenge

blue worlds drift away
scattered by the winds of change
winter’s eve draws near

Blue worlds sculpture
Display at Guinness Storehouse, Ireland

Haiku Prompt Challenge – Blue & World

Dusk and dawn desert sky – Essence poem: WS & SM

Dusk and dawn desert sky

Dusk and dawn desert sky,
Clouds move on, catch my eye

Sunrise at Pine Nursery Park,

Weekend Sky (WS) #50

Saturday Mix (SM) – Lucky Dip – Essence Poem

The wisest ones wait – 2 haiku: SS & Haiku Challenge

the wisest ones wait
impatient trembles of green
longing for fall’s kiss

The wisest ones wait for fall

scarlet embraces
gold whispers, orange laughter
autumn’s fleeting love

Autumn leaves in Oregon

Sunday Stills (SS) – Leaves and Trees

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Wait and Wise

Green leaves fluttering poem: Haiku Challenge

green leaves fluttering
ever alert for dawn’s frost
blushes of autumn

green leaves fluttering poem

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge – Ever & Green

Splashes of Autumn – Tanka: LAPC & SSC

Splashes of autumn

Splashes of autumn
Along verdant waterways
Beside winding roads
Within ancient lava beds
The glorious frocks of fall

Splashes of autumn
Fall leaves
Fall leaves in lava rock

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Colors of Autumn

Sunday Stills Challenge (SSC) – Signs of Autumn or Spring

Bison jump sculpture, painting, & poem: SS & LAPC

Bison sculpture

Bison jump sculpture in Cody

I saw this impressive bison jump sculpture at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Free Fall, created by T.D. Kelsey in 2001, depicts a hunting method in use for hundreds of years. Hunters herded bison toward a steep cliff, where they fell to their death. As I’ve mentioned before, bison are dangerous and this is a safer alternative for harvesting them. At the base of this sculpture, piles of bones appear in a recreated archaeological dig.

Sculpture in Cody

T.D. Kelsey was born and raised on a ranch near Bozeman, Montana. T.D. Kelsey: Realist, Romantic, and Inspired Sculptor describes his background, including time spent as a rodeo cowboy, pre-med student, rancher, and airline pilot. With encouragement from his wife, Sidni, Kelsey eventually began working full time as an artist. His love for animals shows in this piece and other sculptures and paintings he created over the years.

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Do you wonder when you wander?: LAPC

Do you wonder when you wander
Where the path will lead?

Up to mountains,
Where scattering clouds reveal the peaks of possibility?

Mt Shuksan, Washington

Down to deserts,
Where sandstorms expose the color of earth’s soul?

Blue Basin Trail, Oregon

Over to ocean shores,
Where waves create cryptic messages in the sand?

Do you wonder? Near Dingle, Ireland

Through dense forests,
Where trees of different character stand together as one?

Do you wonder - near Republic,  WA

Do you wonder when you wander
Where the path will lead?

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Keep Walking

Pushed by hot magma haiku: Haiku Prompt Challenge

pushed by hot magma
through ancient layers of rock
the pull of dawn’s light

pushed by hot magma
Grand Prismatic Spring from overlook, Yellowstone National Park

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge # 371 – Pull and push

Smiles of summer sun haiku: WHPPC

smiles of summer sun photo

souls from the past send
wispy notes in azure skies
smiles of summer sun

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge (WHPPC)- Note and Send

Creatures of the mist – haiku: LAPC

creatures of the mist
graze in meadowlands of steam
whisperers of warmth

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Black & white

Rise swallow the wind: Haiku Prompt Challenge

rise swallow the wind
rapid plunge trailed by bubbles
joyful rays of sun

Haiku Prompt Challenge – Plunge & Rapid

Within a small seed – 4 haiku: LAPC

Within a small seed blanket flowers
Blanket flower seed heads

within a small seed
a tiny new life slumbers
awakened by sun

Hops and chives
Hops & chives

emerald limbs stretch
stems lengthen and reach skyward
embraced by springtime

Flower border May 2020
Mixed flower border
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Wildflowers in the Desert – Nonet poem: LAPC & SS

Wildflowers in the desert sunshine
Emerging in harsh conditions
Shining with an inner light
Colorful expressions
Jewels in the sand
Ephemeral
Presences
Fleeting
Views

Wildflowers in the desert photographs taken at Gray Butte, Oregon in the springtime.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Colorful April

Sunday Stills – Emerging

Water falling acrostic poem: LAPC

Water falling
And
Tumbling
Entering a
Rogue river
Finding
A course
Lyrical and
Littoral

Water falling Latourell Falls
Latourell Falls
Multnomah Falls, Oregon
Multnomah Falls
Horsetail Falls in Oregon October 201
Horsetail Falls
Water falling at Wahkeena Falls, Oregon
Wahkeena Falls

Photographs of water falling were taken along Oregon’s Historic Columbia River Highway. For more information, and a map, see Waterfall Tour Loop.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – You pick it!

Softness in the skies haiku: LAPC & SS

softness in the skies
adrift over layered tuff ring,
white veils eclipse sun

Skyscapes from Fort Rock, Oregon.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Soft

Sunday Stills – Things that are white

Old one’s last winter haiku: Haiku Prompt Challenge

Old ones last winter

bound by ancient roots
branches sway in desert winds
old one’s last winter

Ronovan Writes Haiku Prompt Challenge – Bound and sway

Walking with Winter in B & W: LAPC

Walking with Winter along a River of Falls

Where snow softens hard edges of steel

Walking with winter - Matched pair sculpture

And creates ephemeral works of whimsey

A whimsical snowman

Where snow and ice form furrowed bridges

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Juniper caught misty moon poem: Monochrome Monday

Juniper caught misty moon on a chill winter night
Struggling to escape, moon gave up on the fight

Juniper caught the misty moon

Scrub jays gathered atop the great tree
Pecking and prodding until moon was set free

scrub jays infrared

Monochrome Monday in infrared

Frost spikes haiku: Haiku Challenge

Frost spikes on a fence

Captured by frost spikes
Struggle against winter’s grip
Glints of sun, released

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge #341 — Frost and Glint

On a distant shore: Pull Up a Seat & Haiku Challenge

On a distant shore
Rushing away from the flow
Resting in the ebb

On a distant shore in Northern Ireland
Ballintoy Harbour, Northern Ireland

Pull Up a Seat Challenge #47

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompts Challenge # 332 Ebb, Flow