Early Morning in Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
Morning spills gold through the canyon.
A cactus lifts its arms
as if remembering a prayer.
I walk beneath it and hear
the quiet voice of Rumi:
The road you walk
is walking you home
— kenne
I Walk Beneath The Saguaros Leave a comment
Sandhill Cranes Leave a comment
Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw — Image by kenne
All winter the valley
held their voices.
Now the wind opens a door
and thousands rise—
long necks, slow wings,
syllables of change.
Somewhere north
a river bends
and already expects them.
Migration is simply
love moving
toward its next body.
— kenne
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Preparing To Migrate North 5 comments
Sandhill Cranes Preparing to Migrate North — image by kenne
The marsh holds them a little longer,
a shallow mirror of sky and bone-colored light.
They stand in the water
like thoughts that haven’t resolved,
tall, uncertain,
beautiful in their hesitation.
Even migration
has its hour of doubt.
— kenne
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Blue On The Inside, Gray On The Outside Leave a comment
Marine Blues On Moist Rocks Near a Mountain Stream — Image by kenne
Butterflies on moist rocks,
suddenly the world makes sense.
Color speaking to color,
wing touching wind.
Yes, I think—
this is how things work.
Then, the butterflies lift,
vanish off the rocks,
and the rocks stand alone
with their quiet question.
I get it.
Then I don’t.
— kenne
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Orinary Miracle Leave a comment
Broadbilled Hummingbird — Image by kenne
You say,
“It’s just another hummingbird day.”
But look—
a small green flame
hovering in the air
like a thought the world is having.
Every morning
the universe practices this trick:
wings faster than worry,
a heart beating like a tiny drum of praise.
Tell me again
what you mean
by ordinary.
— kenne
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Birdbird Preening Leave a comment
Bluebird Preening on a Limb — Image by kenne
A bluebird, occupied with itself—
feather drawn through beak,
a ritual of care.
The image slips out of focus.
What should be a failure
is kept—
because the blur records
a life unwilling to be stilled.
— kenne
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Pay Attention 5 comments
Fiery Skipper Butterfly — Image by kenne
A butterfly no bigger
than a thumbprint
arrives in the yard
carrying sunlight
on its shoulders.
It rests on a flower
as the earth whispers:
Pay attention.
Even the smallest flame
was sent
to remind you
how to live.
— kenne
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Houston Blues Leave a comment
The Old Rhythm Room, Houston’s Washington Street (09/13/03) — Image by kenne
If you knew Houston blues, you knew that Washington Street had its share of stories. On that night twenty-two years ago, Mark May’s set was another chapter. In the dim light, you could see The Blues Hound and Jimmy “T-99” Nelson, figures who had witnessed the scene shift from the Chitlin’ Circuit days to modern club stages, still holding onto the music.
— kenne
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For Function, Not For Applause Leave a comment
Abstract Art by kenne
There is something endearingly human
about the need to measure, compare,
and quietly panic.
Nature, however,
is uninterested in your tape measure.
It built the mechanism
for function, not for applause—
though applause, historically,
has been enthusiastically sought.
— kenne
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Two Green Helicopters 3 comments
Common Green Darner Dragonflies — Image by kenne
two green helicopters
hooked together
like they don’t give a damn
who’s watching.
the pond water barely moves.
a red-wing blackbird mouths off.
life keeps doing
what life does—
no speeches,
no apologies.
— kenne
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What Was Once Grasslands Leave a comment
(In November of 2012, Tom Markey and I posted an article, Ecocide Arizona Style — The Cow That Ate The West.
The article was about the disappearing water in the San Simon Valley in southeast Arizona. This poem suggest the verdict is in.)
Ecocide Arizona Style
The west is dying of thirst.
You can hear it in the cracked riverbeds,
in cottonwoods gone skeletal,
in the silence where frogs used to sing.
The Colorado staggers,
a vein opened too long,
bled for lawns,
for swimming pools,
for another desert empire of cul-de-sacs.
This is not drought—
this is the verdict.
We were warned,
and we kept on building
as if the sky were infinite.
Mark it well:
when the last drop dries,
sand covers the southwest,
the desert will not mourn us.
It will simply
take itself back.
— kenne
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Great Blue Heron Over The Sweetwater Wetlands Leave a comment
Great Blue Heron Over the Sweetwater Wetlands — Image by kenne
A shadow slides across the marsh
before the bird arrives.
Long legs trailing,
neck folded like a question.
For a moment,
the wetlands remember
what this valley looked like
before water engineers showed up.
— kenne
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Caterpiller — Zerene Cesonia 3 comments
Zerene Cesonia Caterpillar — Photo-artistry by kenne
Morning in the desert garden:
a caterpillar clings to its stem,
eating with the steady rhythm
of breath itself.
Even the sun pauses—
as if it knows a butterfly
is practicing.
— kenne
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Yellow Disks Sketching Circles In The Air 2 comments
Sneezeweed in the Wind On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
A gust arrives
and the sneezeweed bows
all at once.
Someone might call this
wildflower behavior.
But from where I’m standing
it looks suspiciously like art—
yellow disks
sketching circles in the air
while the wind
keeps erasing the drawing.
— kenne
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Mushroon In Pine Needles Leave a comment
Mushroom in Pine Needles — Image by kenne
Under ponderosa shade
one pale cap
holding up
a whole sky of trees.
— kenne
