Monday, July 18, 2011

Moonset Over Banff

from my recent journey through British Columbia and Alberta, Canada


weary crescent moon
swiftly sinks into the rock
she's been up all day

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Bathing in Banff

from my recent journey through British Columbia and Alberta, Canada
People of Chilmark, Thomas Hart Benton, 1920

An international cast of tens
dons bathing suits to sit and soak;
twenty minutes suffice most folk
at thirty-nine degrees centigrade.

Some few have brought their youngsters in,
who splash with wild aquatic joy.
Do they amuse, or just annoy
the statues steaming in the shade?


Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sunrise Over Kamloops

from my recent journey through British Columbia and Alberta, Canada

Wheat Field with Rising Sun, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889


The sun sneaks up in Seattle,
light filtering through layers
of cloud, needle, and leaf.
Some days only birds can tell
that dawn has come at all.

Along the Thompson River,
smooth hills hardly hinder
the whole sky's growing glow.
Still I resist rising
until the sun turns its spotlight
upon my thin tent door
and morning insists
that it not be ignored.