Black-necked stilts parade tanka: LAPC & BOTW

black-necked stilts parade

black-necked stilts parade
on pink legs, slender yet strong,
in search of magic
hidden beneath the marshlands
in iridescent ripples

stilts

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Delicate

Bird of the Week (BOTW) LXV

Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!

Hope may be… : LAPC & WPWC

Hope may be bright spots in the darkness

curving tunnel

Or at the end of a twisted and turning path

hope may be trail

Hope may be something we wish and pray for

otter praying

Continue reading

Seeing the softness of nature: LAPC & WPWC

Seeing the softness of nature

Walking behind a wall of water of a woodland waterfall

Seeing the softness of nature

Regarding a heron ruminating over rippling reflections

great blue heron

Spotting the strength of steel softened by a spring snow

snowy fence

Continue reading

Painted Hills trail Rispetto poem: JMW

A rough Painted Hills trail meanders ahead
Curving towards colorful hills of mystery
Cutting through foliage, shriveled and dead
Through an ancient landscape filled with history
Covered with ash spewed by Cascade volcanoes
Compacted, sculpted into hillside rainbows
Layered with varied stripes of red, green, and gold
Reminders of climates, hot, humid, and cold

Painted Hills trail

Jo’s Monday Walk (JMW)

In the moments before dawn poem: WWP & WIL

In the moments before dawn,
Light from a single star
Awakens the spirit
Hidden within
Slumbering winter trees

in the moments before dawn

Weekend Writing Prompt (WWP) – Spirit (18 words)

Whatsoever is Lovely

Sounds of wild creatures: LAPC

Sounds of wild creatures, the large and the small,
Pulling our attention, leaving us enthralled

Small Black-throated Sparrows pause and perch high
Singing unforgettable melodies to deep azure skies

Black-throated Sparrow song

sounds of wild creatures
Black-throated Sparrow at Arches National Park, UT

Large Wild Turkeys graze and promenade
Chortling calls rise, then fall in cascades

Wild Turkey call

wild turkeys
Wild Turkeys at Capitol Reef National Park, UT
Continue reading

Beneath the Clouds in B & W: LAPC & WS

Paddling beneath the clouds
Floating lacelike
Over lakes of lifegiving water

Beneath the clouds

Puffs of pale exhalations
Follow meandering rivers

Flaming Gorge clouds
Continue reading

Cat seeking comfort poem: Haiku Challenge

cat seeking comfort
tolerant dog shares her bed
warmth on a fall day

cat seeking comfort

Haiku Prompt Challenge – Cat and Dog

Moments of Magic in Oregon: LAPC, WWP

Remembering moments of magic in Oregon

Rambling past remnants of history with curious children in tow

Moments of magic
Wreck of the Peter Iredale, Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon

Watching bird broods on windswept islands stretch their wings to flutter and fly

Seabird colony
Seabird colony, Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Oregon
Continue reading

Northern winds haiku: WHPPC

northern winds swirl, sting
snowflakes dance, drift, and alight
kisses of winter

northern winds

Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge (WHPPC) – Sting & Kiss

Time accelerates haiku: SS, HPC, FOL, NPC

time accelerates
color flies through restless leaves
the end of autumn

time accelerates

Sunday Stills (SS) – Leaves, Autumn or Spring; Monthly Color Challenge – Brown

Haiku Prompt Challenge (HPC) – Time & flies

Festival of Leaves (FOL) 2023

Nature Photo Challenge (NPC)- Autumn colours

Treasures of the Old West: LAPC & MM

Here are some treasures of the Old West at the Museum of the American West, in Lander, Wyoming, shown in both color and black and white. Click on the arrows to see monochrome versions highlighting their symmetry.

Wheels may carry you forward, towards new horizons

  • Carriage wheels
  • Carriage wheels

Or back, to a final resting place

  • treasures of the Old West
  • 1880 hearse

You may choose to wander in another’s shoes

  • treasures of the Old West
  • moccasins
Continue reading

Whispers of autumn poem: WWP

Whispers of autumn
Blown in on
Northern winds
Cool and crisp
Leaves turn
From verdant to
Golden, orange,
Crimson
Rustles
Drifting gently
To Earth

Whispers of Autumn

Weekend Writing Prompt (WWP) – Whisper (24 words)

Ripples of summer haiku: WHC, SS, CWWC

lamplit paths tremble
a bridge arises from green
ripples of summer

ripples of summer

Weekly Haiku Challenge (WHC) – Lamp & path

Sunday Stills (SS) – Bridges to everywhere

Cee’s Which Way Challenge (CWWC) – Any kind of bridge

Beneath a cloudy Wyoming sky Nonet poem: WS

Beneath a cloudy Wyoming sky

Bunchgrass buffeted by the wind

Wave a welcome to pronghorn

Sage embraces the herd

Distant thunder booms

A doe trembles

Giving birth

Beloved

Fawn

Beneath a cloudy Wyoming sky
Pronghorn herd near Farson, Wyoming

Weekend Sky (WS)

Fluttering into a wild iris meadow: WWP

Fluttering into a wild iris meadow
White-faced Ibis alight
Curved bills preen and probe
Iridescent feathers catch fading light
Casting rainbows over dusty hills
Awakening dormant wildflowers
Yearning for an opportunity
To shine

fluttering into a wild iris meadow

Weekend Writing Prompt (WWP) #322- Flutter (34 words)

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
Continue reading

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