~Nature~

Preface to Nature​

We are fitted to our environment through eons of adaptive trials and selection. Everything we are is shaped by our world (and in the past 10,000 years by our effects on ourselves and the world—especially through war), there is no separate us and "It"; except when we behave as indifferent spectators or rapacious conquerors. I do believe in evolutionary biology and psychology, and the profound revelations that these approaches have to tell us about man as an animal in the world—¡It's sometimes rather scary; and, often rather humbling!

The patterns that we see in nature are inherently patterns that we have evolved to see—they are embedded in our deepest inspirations and aspirations. To see nature is to see our selves.

 

Across the Clyde

"Morning Scottish mists swirl o'er the loch,
Warm breakfast full of wholesome goodness."

27 September 2004
Helensburg, Scotland

Blood sausage—broiled mushrooms;
Across the Clyde—water-sky—washed grays.

Salty Scottish bacon;
Day sneaks past sleepy orange cloud guards.

Creamed hot tea or coffee;
Fills loch & sky with growing soft light.

Black currant marmalade;
Briefly auroras pink-red shine East.

Grapefruit berry yoghurt;
Mantled mists hang sullen overcast.​

 

Banana Sunset

"A break of flashing sunlight,
Slanted gold brims the earth."

20 September 2004
Taunton, U.K.

"•"

Golden coin'd birches reflecting setting sunlight,
Peeling silver trunks & branches swinging briskly.

I dream of saffron fields with Your anisette smell,
Where nothing needs to Logic make for Heart all rules.

In this most magical of places can bloom Pure,
Vined perpetual perfumed yellow roses Love.


Vined-perpetual, perfumed yellow rose'd true Love,
Vined, perpetual-perfumed yellow rose'd fond Love,
Vined-perpetual-perfumed-yellow rose'd fair Love,

"•"​

 

20:14 UTC, 6 Nov 2004

6 November 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

Twenty hundred—Zulu;
Fourteen hundred—Texas.

6,000 miles up high,
The view's quite different,
Not low horizon slung,
Puny little man's height.

High from a satellite,—
Naked—round Gaia spreads,—

Bright sun—Americas,
Half of Australia;
Dawn's light at Nippon's edge;
Twilight strikes Brazil's tip;

Strange impact sun has made.​

 

48 Degrees

Climate Insinuates Itself Into Our Beings

11 June 2004
Madison, Wisconsin

I left my warm, sunny sourthern home,
Came up to a grey, cool northern place,
Summer day was overcast—50 or so.

I sit & wait outside on a public airport bench
Brain case cooling & cracking to splitting headache strength.
"Come layered," I was told—shorts & flip-flops wore instead.
Two grey haired ladies greet at the sidewalk's edge and say,

"¡The day's so nice, I was afraid it'd be.
At least ninety five degrees in the shade!"

Already I miss the sweat, mosquitos,
Chiggers, burrs & the small annoyances,
& Hot car on black-melted-asphalt smell,
Left just a few short hours and miles ago.

¡I guess that wild chili-vibrant nature radiant,
Turns us to eccentric lovers of diversity!​

 

3 Little Frog's Dance Tiles

"An inlay of frogs dancing
In the bath tub's tiled wall."

20 September 2004
Castle Hotel, Taunton, UK

—"‡#‡"—

Three merry toads—hind quarters,
Froggy legs stretch'd elastic,
Dance the Maypole 'round cattails,
Hopping lily-pad-to-pad,
Seven rounded footstep floats.

Hyacinths yellow upturned,
Glow warm celebrating Spring,
Dragonfly buzz overhead,
Motorized contrasting wings,
Inquisitive queries fuss,
Chromatic hues reflecting.

Tall green stalk with brown cigar,
Tri-ribbon'd silk strand curves down,
Twirled tidy dainty pinkies, . . .

¡Bottle of grog in the bog!

—"‡#‡"—​

 

Black Swan

—"•"—

2 October 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

—"•"—

Ugly, puny seed,

Struggling grubbily in dirt,—

¿Peony your name?

—"•"—​

 

Cetacean Chant

8 June 2004
Panama City, Florida

I swam until my arms & legs
To splayed fins transformed;

Until my registers sank subsonic
Deep four octaves below middle-C.

I stood on end to sing my songs,
In pressured darkness & perfect pitch,
Resonances that ring the world
In bass-profundo rolling melody.

Thus, beneath the ocean waves,
Levitated, I man, became Leviathan.​

 

Chicane, I Watched the Moon

"Awakening abruptly, near landing, sleepy-eyed,—
Yellow-moon shining placidly on resplendent shore."

AA 3571 Flight to Corpus Christi, Texas
28 September 2004

(6,7,6,7)

—"¯•¯"—

Perfect symmetry hangs
High above black ocean waves,
No planets visible—
Dark-blue early evening,
She dips her golden hair
In Neptune's widen'd basin,

Reflecting strands wandering
Bounce curious upwards,
Spectactors, entranc'd, behold
Nudity through rippling
Shallows, glistening entrapped
Sands, sinuous rivers
Wavering—transitory
Brief reign in beauty's bloom.

—"¯•¯"—​

 

Chocolate Zamba

"¡They've discovered the 'secret'
-Molecule in chocolate!"

4 October 2004
DL-400 Atlanta to Washington, D.C.

"•""""""""""•"

Anandamine chocolate scent,
Lustrously silken tongue'd froth,
Cacao imbedded with heat,
Topped white cream—nutmeg infused.

Soothing embattled rough senses,
Nostril'd Kahlua intense,
Smoothing sore melancholy's blues,
Freeing flowing passion's bloom,

Loosening vanilla Samba,—
Sienna sunshine sipped slow.

Sienna's sunshine sipped slow.

"•""""""""""•"

(Anandamine is the "feel good" chemical in chocolate.)​

 

Cloud Star

"I ran early this 'morn, as if 'neath
An orange's 5 Segments, the ends
Anchored East & West."

15 September 2004
Corpus Chisti, Texas

Dawn's break ripples sky to 5-sided star;
Lines converge to point at horizon's edge;
Right-sided triangles contain triad,
Pink salmon geometries drawn up high.

Sun's light streaming through domed snowglobe heaven,
Helios' chariot leaves contrails
Through the vastness of rounded hemisphere;
From the startling of the Sun—East to West,
Mathematical precise expressions.

Running beneath half-sphere symmetry awed,—
By hands striating and furrowing curv'd,
That pull mile-wide yarns onto crystal orb,
Rolled and smoothed thread for day's activity.​

 

Crystal Snowflake-2

2 September 2004

#------#

Crystal snowflake, delicate-small,

Filigreed design, lacy-white,

Consumed by frozen stars' ocean,

¡U-ni-K!

Confident down winter's chilled sky,

Cool crystal snowflake, delicate and small.

#------#​

 

Falcon-Gentle

30 May 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

Gyrfalcon gyres,
Smoothly Glissades.
Mysterious

Bird of high flight,
Soaring upwards,
Glad & mighty,
O'er destiny.

I had not known
That pierc'd your bone
On shatter'd Wings
You flew to me.

Tho' bluid you draw
With talons sharp
No Evil issues forth.

You still repose
On shoulders broad
Your load is light;
My horse is strong.​

 

Fate a Comet is

"Across the oceans wide is seen a streak,
In heaven's meteor a trailing sheen."

24 October 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

(6,8,)

åå å ±±± ŒŒ¤‹‹‹‹‹››› ››››±±±Œ››››‰

Oh, those connecting dots
From neutron stars to giant reds;
From blues A-major strummed
Singing lost longings leaning left.

Upwards slide—lazy sky eye gaze—
Charm'd chalchihuitl's glaze;
Searching sight's slight silver ellipse,
Yearning for moon's eclipse.
Somewhere high heaven's starr'd night light
Awaits impatiently,

Kismet's magnetic lightning flash,—
Stroked clarity 'lectric.
Slashing cloud dwelling's puff-metric;
¡White peony melody's crash!

± åå å ±±Œ¤‹‹‹‹‹››› ››››±±±Œ››››‰​

 

Frost-Moon & Helios

"There are so many wonders in the sky,
Too bad we seldom see them in our lives."

27 November 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

—

Blazing up gray 59 to Houston,
It's 7:24 in the morning,
Frost-moon—early-sun in opposition,

If I could take my hands off steering wheel,
I'd hold the moon in left and sun in right,
Balanced Ptolemaic juggling act,

Streaking up compass rose equipoised time,
Dark highway's conduit splits yellow-green,
Leaving turquoise sky undivided still,

Revelatory backdrop witnessing,
What priestess and priests on ziggurats,
Would use for timing human sacrifice,

But moderns willingly will give their hearts,
Hoping that giant bodies lining up,
Brings fortuitous serendipity.

Hoping that giant body's lining-up,
Brings fortuitous serendipity.

Hoping that giant bodies lining up,
Bring fortuitous serendipity.

Hoping that giant bodies lining up,
Serendipity brings fortuitous.

—​

 

Gem Welts

"There's a lot of biting little insects,
Love the full sunlight and wilderness here."

11 October 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

§‡—"•"—‡§

Seven wasp bites spread throughout my body,
Still, I refuse to raze their paper house.
The hives have spread across my arms & face.
¡ITCH¡—Desire to scratch—¡Uncontrollable!
Reddened fingers, arms & jaw poisoned swell.

¡Oh, Corpus Christi, land of plagues diverse!
Thistles bristle—chiggers, fleas, wasps & flies;
Not to leave the droves of blood-sucking ticks;
Or, the swarms of sharp biting mosquitos,
Out of our litany of nasty bugs.
¿And what of crawling brown stinged scorpion?

Still, my repast of joy is quite full here.
I am no Job complaining of his woes.
Every pinprick small proclaims life to skin:
Some most intense—inflamming poisoned barbs;
Some most gentle—bright yellow sunshine warm.

§‡—"•"—‡§

(Hives-an itchy skin eruption. Chigger-a type of irritating flea.)

§‡—"•"—‡§​

 

Half Moon Up, Then Down

"Half-moon in the night—upturned bright,
Half-moon in the day—downturned faint."

3 November 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

I could have sworn I saw half-moon
Scoop up night's gaudy remnants bright
Disheveled form into clear day
Cerulean cool firmament wide

Misty kissing dim horizon

Mysterious her transforming light
She hangs upturned high in the sky
Reminding me that what was shards
Resplendent now shines clarity​

 

Peculiar Peccary​

"I saw her, looking like a little boar,
But only buzzing flies told me— 'She's dead.'"

9 November 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

—¿?—¿?—"!¡"—¿?—¿?—

I wondered why she stood so still-fast,
Little javelina black,
No grunt or motion—sudden panic,
As wild pig's skittish nature,
Round gregarious little musk hogs,
Only frolic merry nights,

And since her pose was quite natural,
It must have been death by fright,
Perhaps fear at crossing the wide road,
Her brown eyes were full-open,
No tender hand closed them as if sleep,

Quiet, kneeling on forelegs,
Praying to uncaring Warthog fierce,
For deliverance from man,
Dying instead from heart failure's quick,
So I speculate and run.

—¿?—¿?—"!¡"—¿?—¿?—​

 

Spring Sparkle Fall

"¿How can words describe brisk Autumn's wonder?
When Spring days's youth rebounds in energy."

4 November 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

It can't just be the Naproxen
Doc gave to ease the running pain;
Quinine sunshine imbues clear skies,
Brilliant Autumn cerulean,—
Lightness and brightness all around.

No clouds disturb firm turquoise sphere,
Everywhere echoes yellow-green,—
Grips dappled sunlight playfully;

Minstrel breeze meandering sings,
Palm dances—mesquite enchantments;
Rap, Hip-Hop fugue or counterpoint
Bounces joy's spark from heart to soul.​

 

Wolf or Dolphin —Pack or Pod

"They crawled out of the sea, then went back in,
Once with fang, now with jaw their pod defends."

16 June 2004
Corpus Christi, Texas

Three graceful musketeers;
With long and floppy ears,
Padded feet and curved claws;
Strong teeth in long jaws,
As one charge&run&flee;
All or one create a lee,

Graceful lanky on the beach;
Chasing seagulls flaring each,
Reacting, running, growling;
Playing, eating, scowling,

Eternal loop of see & smell & eat;
Time a mindless feat,
For they measure and count not;
In their ceaseless daily trot,
A glint a flash a dash of brash;
A dint of rash-crash-mash,

Something strikes deep within;
Foments change & makes fin,
Cousins to the ocean took;
Forever found their nook,
Transformed to smily smooth;
Lost sailors always soothe,

No meaning caught in thought;
Just what sensation's fraught,
Wonderful life in the pack;
Camaraderie never lack'd.​