Archive for the ‘Sonoran Desert’ Category

The Early Bird Gets The Nectar   Leave a comment

“The Early Bird Gets the Nectar” (White-winged Dove on Saguaro Cactus Buds) — Image by kenne

In April, the budding of saguaros is followed by the return of white-winged doves from Mexico who love the nectar in
the saguaro blossoms. This image captures a white-winged dove atop buds soon to blossom — another take on
“The early bird gets the worm.”

— kenne

Another Year of Few Wildflowers   Leave a comment

Another Year of Few Wildflowers In The Sonoran Desert — Image by kenne

Spring wildflowers in the Sonoran desert depend on fall and winter rains. When there are little to no rains, as
has been the last few years, then there are few wildflowers in the spring. The above image is in the Molino
Basin, where in non-drought years, there are plenty of wildflowers to photograph. This year there are only a
few patches to be found.

— kenne

Where Are We?   Leave a comment

Where Are We? (Doubtful Canyon) — Photo-Artistry by kenne

One hazel lost a leaf of gold
From a tuft at the tip, when the first voice told
The other he wished to know what ’twould be
To be sixty by this same post. “You shall see,”
He laughed—and I had to join his laughter—
“You shall see; but either before or after,
Whatever happens, it must befall,
A mouthful of earth to remedy all
Regrets and wishes shall freely be given;
And if there be a flaw in that heaven
’Twill be freedom to wish, and your wish may be
To be here or anywhere talking to me,
No matter what the weather, on earth,
At any age between death and birth,
To see what day or night can be,
The sun and the frost, the land and the sea,
Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring,—
With a poor man of any sort, down to a king,
Standing upright out in the air
Wondering where he shall journey, O where?”
 
— from The Sign-Post by Edward Thomas
 

Spring Wildflowers In The Sonoran Desert   Leave a comment

Spring Wildflowers in the Sonoran Desert — Image by kenne

A very dry spring

Some wildflowers beat the odds

Flaunting the experts.

— kenne

Lily Of The Desert   1 comment

Mariposa Lily — Image by kenne

I cherish the solitude

of walking alone in nature —

no feelings of loneness

where everything around

me is alive and alert

to my presence

a spirit of closeness

and unity serving

in ecstatic integration.

— kenne

Twin Saguaros   Leave a comment

Twin Saguaros — Image by kenne

If I Was the One

who took another
path I couldn’ say.

Cries in the wind.
Blanks among trees.

— Windy Barker

The Wind Blows Where It Will/Pull My Daisy/All My Doors Are Open   Leave a comment

Source: Agave: A Celebration of Tequila in story, song, poetry, essay and graphic art — edited by Ashley and Nathan Brown
Agave Art Image by kenne (08/26/13) 

The Steven Schroeder poem’s title, all my doors are open, is a line in Pull My Daisy by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Neal Cassady.
Note: It was written in the late 1940s in a similar way to the Surrealist “exquisite corpse” game, with one person writing the first line,
the other writing the second, and so on sequentially, with each person only being shown the line before.

PULL MY DAISY

Pull my daisy
tip my cup
all my doors are open
Cut my thoughts
for coconuts
all my eggs are broken
Jack my Arden
gate my shades
woe my road is spoken
Silk my garden
rose my days
now my prayers awaken

Bone my shadow
dove my dream
start my halo bleeding
Milk my mind &
make me cream
drink me when you’re ready
Hop my heart on
harp my height
seraphs hold me steady
Hip my angel
hype my light
lay it on the needy

Heal the raindrop
sow the eye
bust my dust again
Woe the worm
work the wise
dig my spade the same
Stop the hoax
what’s the hex
where’s the wake
how’s the hicks
take my golden beam

Rob my locker
lick my rocks
leap my cock in school
Rack my lacks
lark my looks
jump right up my hole
Whore my door
beat my boor
eat my snake of fool
Craze my hair
bare my poor
asshole shorn of wool

say my oops
ope my shell
Bite my naked nut
Roll my bones
ring my bell
call my worm to sup
Pope my parts
pop my pot
raise my daisy up
Poke my papa
pit my plum
let my gap be shut

— Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady

My Treasure Lies Hidden   Leave a comment

A Desert Sunrise — Image by kenne

I do not know if the desert can be loved,

but it is in the desert that my treasure lies hidden.

— Paulo Coelho

A Winter Sunset   3 comments

A Winter Sunset In The Sonoran Desert — Image by kenne

A Winter Sunset

The winds are blowing
across the winter sky
colors moving in this
land of the setting sun.

Lovers raise a glass of wine
hearts warmed by the colors
as they lay quietly together
embracing nature’s moment.

Other sunsets will happen
bringing passion and joy
each sharing day’s passing
with those who participate.

Sunsets are always new
generating energy called love
to be shared with someone
since the beginning of time.

— kenne

Pen and Color Desert Scene   7 comments

Pen and Color Desert Scene by kenne

Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,Desert
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

— William Shakespeare

Draught In The Canyon   Leave a comment

Intense Drought In Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne

The Sonoran Desert
known for its biodiversity
having two rainy seasons

the summer monsoon
and winter rainy season
now experiencing drought.

Normal drought conditions
made worse by La Niña
event reducing rainfall.

Many native plants are dying
vegetation green-up is poor
during this intense drought.

— kenne

 

The Moments That Count   Leave a comment

Image by kenne

The Moments That Count!

Ventana Canyon   1 comment

Ventana Canyon — Images by kenne (Click On Any Image for Slideshow View)

On, What Sorrow   Leave a comment

Sonoran Winter Sunset — Photo-Artistry by kenne

Crossroad

   On, what sorrow to have
poems off in the distance
of passion, and a brain
all stained with ink!

   Oh, what sorrow not to have
the happy man’s fantastical
shirt—a tanned skin,
the sun’s carpet.

   (Flocks of letters
wheel round my eyes.)

   Oh, what sorrow the ancient 
sorrow of poetry,
this sticky sorrow
so far from clean water!

   Oh, sorrow of sorrowing
to sip at the vein of lyric!
Oh, sorrow of dried-up fountains
and mills without flour!

   Oh, what sorrow to have 
no sorrow, to spend life
on the colorless grass
of the hesitant lane!

   Oh, the deepest sorrow:
the sorrow of joy, a plow
Cutting furrows for us
where weeping bears fruit!

   (The cold moon rises
over a paper mountain.)
Oh, sorrow of truth!
Oh, sorrow of the lie!

— Federico Garcia Lorca   

Sonoran Desert Wolfberry   2 comments

Sonoran Desert Wolfberry — Photo-Artistry by kenne

Brilliant green and red

Colors of the holidays

Painting the desert.

— kenne