butterfly

sun casts its
eye on winged shadows,
dancing in
to the day–
tossed by light waves that play with
dappled melodies

I’ve been wanting to do another butterfly painting, and the dVerse prompt from Laura, flights of fancy, provided the perfect excuse.

heat wave

on the horizon
top melts into bottom and
becomes something else

For Frank Tassone’s haikai challenge #147 smoldering hot.

And a watercolor for World Watercolor Month, hosted by Charlie at Doodlewash.

Draw a Bird Day: Mallard

we decoy ducks–turn
them into sitting targets
for the play of guns,

cartoon them with characters
that ignore their balanced grace

I did a lot of drawings and paintings of ducks and found them to be a challenge.  Often they ended up looking more like decoys than something alive.  I was interested to discover that the expression “sitting duck” came from how easy ducks are for hunters to shoot and kill–less sport than slaughter.

I also did not know that they spend 2 weeks in late summer or early fall molting, replacing all of their feathers.  During that time they can’t fly.

 

Mallards are good parents, and prefer shallow freshwater wetlands to raise their families.  They are one of the most recognizable and abundant duck species in the world, and ancestor to most strains of domesticated ducks.

For Colleen’s #tanka Tuesday, poet’s choice.  I’ve written a tanka.

Draw-a-Bird Day: Blue Jay

you woke me not with
singing, but with squawks—crowlike,
insistent and loud—

a flash of blue amid oak leaves,
glittering with morning sun

I read online that bands of blue jays making a racket are often harassing a predator–must have been a hawk about the other morning.

I will continue to do draw-a-bird day here, but I’ve been posting at kblog while Nina is taking an extended break.  Once she returns, I’ll be back at MeMadTwo regularly again.  In the meantime, visit me at my other site!

 

Eclipsed

This curious life–
a burst and then a fading–
star paths to the moon.

Faith stitched taut into nothing—
thoughts held together by wind.

A tanka for Colleen’s #Tanka Tuesday with synonyms for strange and beliefs.

It’s a full moon, eclipsed.

 

Ciphering

I’m mapping the wind–
an idea to carry,
gravity released.

No more searching for lost words—
at the vertex, spiraling.

For Sue Vincent’s photo prompt, above, and Colleen’s poetry challenge with synonyms for inspiration and plan.

I’m still circling around.

 

Invocation of the Trees

Have mercy on us
we who are poor in spirit
we who are never satisfied
we who strive to possess everything

We who are poor in spirit
bless us and teach us
we who strive to possess everything
fill us as vessels with the breath of stars

Bless us and teach us
cleanse and heal our weary hearts
fill us as vessels with the breath of stars
attach our roots with grace and truth

Cleanse and heal our weary hearts
quench our hunger with light
attach our roots with grace and truth
you who honor both heavens and earth

Quench our hunger with light
we who are never satisfied
you who honor both heavens and earth
have mercy on us

Another pantoum, for Sue Vincent’s photo prompt, above.  It seems a good form for call and response.

The trees have been talking quite a bit lately, with a background of running commentary from the birds.

Spellbound

I draw the Wheel of Fortune. My seasons are indeed turning.  I open maps, searching for a solid place to land.  Dazzled by paths that keep shifting, I am transported with a velocity that blurs the threads that have held me in the landscape my feet have raveled in the circles of my years.  The unknown spills across my limitations, beyond the boundaries traced by time.

Randomness and change
growing wings in transcendence–
radiant shadows

A haibun for Colleen’s #Poetry Challenge #92, using synonyms for bewitch and treasure.

 

Over/Under

Like water
falling—running and
colliding
unabridged–
awakening and reaching,
encircled in green.

In flowers
dreaming—lost inside,
drowning—caught
on the edge
of rebirthing the crossing–
like water, falling.

For Sue Vincent’s photo prompt, above.  The poem started out as a pantoum, but decided instead to be a shadorma.  The art was in a pile of not-sure-what-to-do-with-it work–it’s a watercolor monoprint on rice paper off something else I was working on that had too much paint. It seemed to fit the prompt.

I think there’s a pair of wings in there somewhere too.

And I want to also celebrate the fact that July is #WorldWatercolorMonth, “31 days when artists around the globe come together to paint the world with beautiful watercolor and help raise awareness for arts education to get art supplies for kids who need them via The Dreaming Zebra Foundation”, hosted by Charlie at Doodlewash.

 

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Kerfe sent me some great shots of this bridge (she knows how much I love bridges). I picked this one to do first. Very difficult perspective–I will have to try this one again. I printed these at work in black and white and fudged the bay and sky colors. 

Kerfe’s shots. You can see what I mean about the perspective in the bottom picture.