(For the Bird Weekly photo challenge: black & white
Black and White
Tag: black and white
Close Up
For Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Closeups or Macros
Interesting Signs
Lonely Places
Once offering solace
a place to contemplate
Now an ominous reminder
of solitude imposed.
(For Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: benches)
It’s All About Nature
Expressions
Countenance displays truth
a smiling pant conveys contentment
A ready smile invites a visit
spreads a familial warmth
A furrowed brow suggests concern
a child’s uncertainty during lockdown.
Words can offer intent
but expression speaks so much more.
(For Cee’s Black & White Photo challenge: Heads or facial features.)
If It Has Feathers, I’ll Chase It
Goldeneyes scurry out of sight,
marvellous but skittish visitors
A Downy’s rat-a-tat captures my eye
his squeaky-toy pitch eliciting a smile
The greatest capture of all
the elusive Kingfisher, caught mid trill
(For Cee’s Black & White Photo challenge: birds)
Thoughts on Gates and Fences
My childhood home was surrounded by fence, bordered by tall cedars – we had a secret to keep. I learned not to trust neighbours. I learned the price of shame.
At the back of the yard was a gate that opened onto a field and beyond that a wooded area. There I found serenity, connection, and a knowledge that what happened within my father’s fortress was not the totality of life.
I like gates.
I vowed not to need fences, that my life would be an open gate, but that was senseless. I was accessible to anyone who wanted to trample my garden.
Took a few dents and whole lot of pain for me to realize that gates and fences coexist for a reason. Boundaries are healthy, and at certain times, locks are mandatory.
(Photos for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: fences and gates. Thoughts part of my process. I’ve been obsessively photographing fences and gates recently. I’ve been sketching them too, trying to figure out the draw. Guess now I know why.)
Here’s one of my sketches:
Clouds Are For Dreaming
Don’t give me the science
I prefer to dream
floating on pillows of white
carried over land and sea
lifted sunward, inspired –
no, please don’t tell me otherwise
Clouds transport me,
Heaven bound.
(For Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: clouds)
A walk in nature reduces life-sized problems
to ant-like awe – an open secret often ignored.
I travel back roads, am humbled by
the power of farm machines,
the vastness of the sky.
Gratitude larger than this limiting skin.
(For Cee’s On the Hunt for Joy challenge: make yourself small; Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: roads; and, Reena’s Exploration challenge: oxymorons.)
