Image by kenne
Catalina Storm
the storm came in
like it owned the place.
the foothills went dark,
the saguaros stood there
taking it.
that’s the thing about the desert—
months of begging for rain,
then acting surprised
when it finally shows up.
Catalina Storm 1 comment
The Case of Mistaken Identity Leave a comment
Queen Butterfly — Image by kenne
The Case of Mistaken Identity
To the untrained eye,
this queen butterfly is a monarch—
just another orange traveler
floating through the morning sun
as if it had nowhere special to be.
But lean in a little closer.
Notice the absence of those dark veins,
the subtler markings,
the slightly different arrangement
of nature’s handwriting.
It is like mistaking one hiker for another
from across the ridge,
until they wave
and remind you
that everyone carries
a distinct face into the world.
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Gaint Saguaro Art Leave a comment
Computer Art by kenne
The giant saguaros rise
from the computer screen
as they rise from the desert—
arms lifted,
silent and patient,
older than memory.
Pixels become shadows,
shadows become living forms.
The Sonoran Desert appears
not as a landscape,
but as a gathering
of ancient relatives
standing watch beneath the sky.
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Shades of Red Sunset Leave a comment
Shades of Red Sunset — Image by kenne
A red sunset
rests upon Tucson
like a hand
on an old friend’s shoulder.
The mountains listen.
The ocotillo stands still.
Even the wind
seems content to wait.
Then slowly,
almost tenderly,
the color fades,
leaving the desert
richer for having held it.
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We Share A Moment Leave a comment
We Share A Moment In The Texas Hill Country — Image by kenne
The sun slips down
behind the live oaks.
We raise our glasses
to nothing in particular—
which turns out
to be everything.
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Plume Thistle 2 comments
Plume Thistle On The Sunset Trail — Image by kenne
The trail winds upward
through oak and pine,
and there it stands—
the plume thistle,
guarded on all sides.
No one reaches for it.
No one gathers it
into a bouquet.
Yet the bees know better.
They arrive humming,
certain of the treasure
within the fortress.
I remember how often
the world mistakes protection
for hostility,
and caution
for indifference.
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Yellow Salsify Seed Heads Leave a comment
Yellow Salsify seeds — Image by kenne
Before the leaves have turned,
before the mountains
have lost their summer haze,
the salsify knows.
Its seeds rise
into the cooling air,
announcing a season
the rest of us
have not yet noticed.
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Not Just Another Sunset Leave a comment
Image by kenne
The sun descends behind
the western mountains,
yet leaves behind
a kingdom of light.
Clouds become banners
of gold and scarlet.
The desert floor glows softly,
as though illuminated
from within.
Not just another sunset—
but a Tucson evening,
where earth and sky
exchange their vows once more
before the coming night.
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Bottle Brush Bush Leave a comment
Bottle Brush Bush Blossom — Image by kenne
The bottle brush blooms as if it remembers another country. Its scarlet flowers hang from the branches like tiny brushes dipped in paint, each one catching sunlight and holding it a moment longer than the day allows. Hummingbirds arrive without invitation. They know what I sometimes forget—that beauty does not announce itself. It waits in the yard, patient as an old relative, until someone finally looks.
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Song of the Butterfly 1 comment
Orange Sulphur On a Mexican Bird of Paradise — Image by kenne
Song of the Butterfly
(In the Style of Walt Whitman)
I celebrate the Orange Sulphur!
I celebrate the yellow wanderer,
resting for a moment upon
the red and gold extravagance
of the Mexican Bird of Paradise.
Not hurried,
not troubled by clocks or calendars,
it pauses in the desert sunlight,
its wings holding the color of ripe lemons,
of dawn breaking over distant mountains.
O small traveler!
You belong to the flowers,
to the wind,
to the same vast earth
that bears the mountains and the sea.
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Black Bridge In The Grand Canyon Leave a comment
The Black Bridge in the Grand Canyon — Image by kenne
The Black Bridge is officially called the Kaibab Suspension Bridge. It carries the South Kaibab Trail across the Colorado River and is the bridge used by hikers and mule trains traveling to and from Phantom Ranch. The raft below the bridge appears tiny, yet the bridge itself spans about 440 feet across the Colorado River. The Black Bridge and the nearby Silver Bridge are the only crossings of the river for many miles in either direction.
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Not Enough Time To Capture All The Moments 2 comments
Japanese School Boy in Okinawa (1967) — Image by kenne
Photograph
Northern Okinawa.
A schoolboy sits
beside the road.
My camera clicks
takes his image,
but not the sound
of insects,
not the warmth
of the island air,
not the generations
who walked these roads
before him.
Still—
for an instant,
his life
and mine
cross paths
through a lens,
and the mountains
witness both.
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No Drama In This Sky Leave a comment
Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
No drama in this sky,
no thunder, no blaze—
just a quiet occupation
of white under gray.
The mountain breathes slowly
under its coverlet of cloud.
And something in me
loosens,
as if certainty were never
the point at all.
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Southern Dogface Butterfly 2 comments
Southern Dogface On A Mexican Bird of Paradise — Image by kenne
A butterfly lands,
and for one perfect moment
the flower is still.
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Pincushion Cactus Art Leave a comment
Pincushion Cactus Art — By kenne
I have walked on these trails
a hundred times
and frequently do not notice
the little cactus flowering
beside the trail.
Today I stop.
The mountains are still mountains.
Monsoon rains have added water
to the normally dry wash.
The sun is already warming
the canyon walls.
But something has changed.
Not the desert.
My attention.
And perhaps that is
one of the quiet gifts
a place can give us—
to make us look again.
