Cocklebur Art by kenne
— kenne
(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
— kenne
Reaven In The Desert — Image by kenne
I have distrusted symbols
most of my life,
yet there it is—
black wings over sand
that has forgotten rain.
The bird does not promise rescue.
It promises presence.
In the desert,
that distinction matters.
— kenne
Arizona Fleabane — Image by kenne
Desert Sunset — Image by kenne
— from Further On (Up The Road) by Bruce Springteen
Sonoran Sunset — Image by kenne
— Mark Twain
Greater Roadrunner Art by kenne
Tucson Autumn Sunset — Image by kenne
— Mary Russell Mitford
Sedona Panorama by kenne
What? What? What? — Fred Imus Cap
“A full moon really affects me,” Fred told his brother Don.
“I get nervous and irritable. Does that ever happen to you?”
Only on days that end in Y.
For Christmas in 1999, Joy gave me a “coffee table” book, Two Guys Four Corners — Great Photographs, Great Times, and a Million Laughs by Don Imus and Fred Imus. The Imus brothers grew up on a cattle ranch in northern Arizona, a thirty-five-thousand-acre ranch between Kingmen and Seligman called the Willows. The main ranch house was on a dirt road fifty miles old, Route 66.
We first learned about Don Imus, a ‘shock joc’ nationally syndicated Imus In The Morning radio and TV program out of New York. His younger brother, Fred, also had a radio show and would frequently appear on the Imus program. Fred was the irascible brother of the far even more irascible Don Imus. He was also an entrepreneur, owning and operating the Auto Body Express in Santa Fe.
I didn’t grow up in the Southwest, but I fell in love with Arizona and the Four Corners when I finished my service in the Army in the late ’60s. If you love photography as much as I do, the Southwest provides a photo opportunity at every turn. The gift of the Imus brothers’ book set me on a path that would take me full circle back to Arizona in 2010. Since then, we have photographed almost all the venues in the Imus book.
Speaking of full circle, the Imas program was primarily a talk show. However, he occasionally played Americana music, and one of his favorite groups was The Mervicks. The lead singer is Raul Malo, whose voice is exceptional. They have a new album, Moon and Starts. This past Sunday, Raul, who is 58, was interviewed on NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, during which we learned that he has cancer.
Stream In The Woods — Image by kenne
I’ll Take Saguaros On The Rocks — Image by kenne
— kenne
Desert Wildflowers — Image by kenne
In Our Woods, Sometimes A Rare Music
Every spring
I hear the thrush singing
in the glowing woods
he is only passing through.
His voice is deep,
then he lifts it until it seems
to fall from the sky.
I am thrilled.
I am grateful.
Then, by the end of morning,
he’s gone, nothing but silence
out of the tree
where he rested for a night.
And this I find acceptable.
Not enough is a poor life.
But too much is, well, too much.
Imagine Verdi or Mahler
every day, all day.
It would exhaust anyone.
— Mary Oliver
Sedona Tourists — Image by kenne
— Alexander Eliot
Sedona, Red Rock Country — Image by kenne
— Christopher Fox Graham (Managing Editor of the Sedona Red Rock News)
