A Book I Found in the Woods:
A series of poems written from a visit to Hagerman Wildlife Refuge. It was a very pivotal experience as shortly after I found out I had multiple blockages in my heart and had to undergo Quadruple Bypass.
The Spirit Animal is a Timber Rattlesnake-I heard his deep sigh as I almost froze on a path but we both danced for a moment together. He was in an S shape beneath my feet and I walked right over him, both of us in motion. With the heart condition I didn’t know I had, it might have been a fatal bite. We both did what we needed to do and I appreciated that we had an encounter that was mutually beneficial-I share my story so people know snakes aren’t our enemies and he decided not to share his venom with me-see mutual.
The whole ordeal changed me, there was something magical about that day-the light, the intensity of the colors and beauty of abundant flowers-this is a written account. There are two series- A Book I Found in the Woods and A Book I brought Back to the Woods. This is just a short excerpt.
Spirit Animal
I looked for you again, You were’t there, I could remember your gaping mouth and your deep breath-how your scales were pale and blue-I sat down nearby as I often do, close to the ground where its moist and fragrant-you weren’t there this time and the water had more clarity, less shadows, I put the book down, feeling full, I absorbed every last word and now I need rest, This life, how long and twisting like a path, still shortened and condensed
Light In a Forest
Lost in currents,
I wander, ashamed of my confusion
Light is obvious as the sun
burns away
I have no justification,
only that I fail to see
how I am lost in the world
so easily
the earth requires my penants
I won’t submit
lost in currents, drowning
desperate to begin.
Shadow and Light
Such vivid colors in pastel
From the shadowed rooms
All around the trees
Sway
And heron bob and dance
In stagnant air
I was chased by a horsefly
It found me
Several times
Didn’t give a thought
For my images or rhymes
It wanted blood
And it demanded it
Like a jet fighter circling
Or the vultures above
Watching me,
An outsider
Stumbling between heat
And cool breeze
Shadow and light
A Book I Found In the Woods
Customized just for You
Photography and Words
I’ve sent out all my lifelines, I won’t ask again…
How could one find such vivid colors from a darkness
Such as this
Loneliness has a face, I can recognize
But it’s never the same
You call into the darkness, walking blindly,
No one ever came…
A book you pick up in the dirt
No one wants to read
The darkness of the water lapping against the shore
The stagnant pools
Of life and death
Twisted and entwined
There were paths to walk
I got lost
I was found
Wandering anxious in the hot sun
Had to sit down
But the heat hung on my shoulders
Like a burden
I’m tired of this path
You will learn to find another way
Out of the darkness,
This book of wrinkled pages
Hides a lifetime of pride
And shame
You sought the darkness
craving light
But nothing came
z