Alighted Wisdom

Icarus was an idiot.

The price he paid for ignoring sound advice was plummeting to his death, wingless and flailing in a flurry of feathers coated in melted wax.

No, If I had wings, I would have sense enough to avoid flying too close to the sun. But I'm not so sure I could resist remaining aloft, exhilarated to the point of exhaustion before Icarusing to earth -- same fate slightly different ignorance.
Which is why I spent the day studying winged things at rest. Perhaps I could learn how they can resist the temptation to remain permanenty aloft.

Even the Vulture, able to rest on thermals alights for stretches -- foregoing the regal demeanor he commands in the air.

Of course, wing beings have to eat, sleep and procreate -- things better done alit than aloft.

But I wonder if it isn't more a simple matter of being born with wings makes flying more mundane, less a dream and therefor something that one is not compelled to do to excess.

Perhaps a bit more study...

Aloe There

aloe blossoming

bold beneath the summer sun

poised to soothe Sol's burns

Urbaned Cowboy

A knight of the range

missing his mesa

bedrolls, bad coffee

and the coyote's call

poor restless wrangler

in transit by taxi

impatiently ferried

back home to the range

A little R-E-SSS-P-E-C-T

Seen slithering silently from the corner of my eye, she stimulates my reptilian brain stem sending secretions of norepinephine between neurons inducing panic and an innate fight or flight reaction.

Despite my initial reaction of panic, I must admit to being somewhat addicted to the feeling I have immediately thereafter. The pleasure following the panic is in no small part a sense of accomplishment for using reason and knowledge to conquer the millions of years of evolution that bequeathed my ancestors with the survival advantage of an immediate avoidance reaction to a possible deadly hazard.

Panic, relief then a third reaction – an appreciation of raw beauty, the grace in form and movement, Her rhythmic undulation, the symmetrically smooth overlapping scales-- each aesthetic aspect combining to cause a secretion of dopamine and serotonin to mix with and wash away the norepinephine. A chemical rush on the cheap – and legal.

Svelte sister serpent
sibilantly sings
her sweet song of woe
“fear not beyond reason
but tread wary
on my trails
malign me not
with false history
retold in old tales.”
“S” shaped elegance
undulating through grass
who’s pairing with evil
we should perhaps now let pass

Peru -- lives in my yard

an alien dream

Peruvian elegance

blooms outside my door

Cathartes Aura Rex

Summer smolders speeding decay
and the smell of death rides a gale force

summer’s sauna sears the earth
far faster than the heavens
the differential temperature
silently spins thermals
whereupon they sail supreme
janitors aground
regal on the wing
tasting death in the air
living live as they dare

Deception Illuminated

I am amazed by so many small wonders that for me to admit being especially mesmerized by a phenomenon speaks volumes of that phenomenon. Dew formation is just such a wonder.

For me, dew symbolizes the most pure aspects of nature. Pure water condensed from the air as if by magic -- coalescing, adhering and illuminating whatever it touches, often refracting multiple images of what is graced with its proximity.
Beads of crystal innocence held intact by surface tension – the dew drop both the container and the contained. Sunday morning, compelled by almost perfect light and a early morning misty rain, I set out to look for photo opportunities. Nothing specific in mind other than the chance to catch a good shot of a dew drop on a blade of grass, or maybe captured on a flower petal

I soon discovered the added benefit of dew’s properties of adherence and refraction. Things hidden are sometimes revealed. On this particular morning it was beads of dew adhering to spider silk.

The varying size droplets affixed to the webs reminded me of the intricate diamond woven headpieces – something worn by Thracian or Nubian princesses. The web’s proved the perfect medium for condensation. The fine cool fibers collecting equally fine droplets.

Crawling about, water soaking my knees through my jeans, I discovered how easy it was to locate wolf spider tunnels. The dew drops accentuated the tunnel openings I wondered if the spider’s stealth was defeated or enhanced

The tunnel openings were so obvious to me -- would the openings be as obvious to the spider's intended prey, or would the beauty of the diamond beaded tunnels prove mesmerizing enough to lure them closer for a better look perhaps even tempting them to jiggle the web to create multiple images of themselves in the refracting droplest – the vibration signaling the spider to enjoy a distracted but aesthetically pleased meal.

La nature du chat

La nature du chat détermine le sort du lizard

la nature n'est pas toujours bénigne,

mais la nature est toujours beau

même si, parfois, la beauté de la nature est tragique