Archive for the ‘The Woodlands’ Category

After A Morning Run With Shorts In Hands   Leave a comment

After a Morning Run In The Woodlands, Texas With Shorts In Hands (05/21/09) — Image by joy

“Running releases more than just sweat.” 

— Anonymous

Crawfish Boil   Leave a comment

Crawfish Boil — HDR Image by kenne

Tear the thin membrane.
Suck the juices from within.
Pinch the tail and eat.



Houston Chronicle Article, October 2006   2 comments

A Framed Copy of an Article in the Community Section of the Houston Chronicle, October 2006

What began as the “Reading Series” at Montgomery College in 1993 evolved to become the “Writers In Performance” series
conducted by the Montgomery County Literary Arts Council (MCLAC). Over the years, many local poets, as well as national
poets, have read their poetry at Montgomery College. Since moving to Tucson 12 years ago, I haven’t had too many
opportunities to attend the series, which continues under the leadership of Cliff Hudder and Dave Parsons.

— kenne

Wet Spider Web   Leave a comment

Wet Spider Web By Spillway — Image by kenne

“I’d come to realize that all our troubles spring from our failure to use plain, clear-cut language.”

 
― Jean-Paul Satre

Morning   Leave a comment

Lake Woodlands Sunrise (1990) Image by kenne

Morning

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,
the swale of the afternoon,
the sudden dip into evening,

then  night with his notorious perfumes,
many-pointed stars?

This is the best—
throwing off the light covers,
feet on the cold floor,
and buzzing around the house on expresso—

maybe a slash of water on the face.

— from Morning by Billy Collins

Zen Fountain in The Woodlands   3 comments

Zen Fountain In The Yard of Our The Woodlands Home (May 2010) — Photo-Artistry by kenne

Our yard had a lot of me
in the plants, lighting, and
the fountain where we
buried our cat, Kiko.

And there was the sweat
from the gulf coast heat,
digging through roots to
place the water reservoir.

The photo for this painting
was taken weeks before 
we left our east Texas home,
for a Tucson desert home.

Our friends and family
called us crazy for
leaving
the piney woods for a new
home sixteen hours away.

We return to Houston a
couple times each year,
having driven by our old
home only once, not

stopping, afraid of what
we might see of the old
Zen fountain and landscape
we created with love.

— kenne

Lake Woodlands Sunset   4 comments

Lake Woodlands Sunset (October 1, 2009) — Photo-Artistry by kenne

When I lived in the forest

it was not always easy to see 

the sunset for the trees.

After a short trail walk

I would spend some time

at the lake and nearby dam

before crossing the bridge 

to set under a gazebo

watching motorless boats

moving silently across the lake.

— kenne

Yard Lamp   Leave a comment

Yard Lamp (April 11, 2009) Photo-Artistry by kenne

The earth drinks people and their loves
like wine, in order to forget.
But I drink wine to remember.

I collect memories the way some collect coins.
The memories fade like constellations at dawn.
Until the next glass of wine.

— Robert Phillips

Facepainting   Leave a comment

Facepainting (The Woodlands Art Festival, April 2008) — Image by kenne

              All women are wounded
Who gather  berries, dibble in mottled light,
Turn white roots from humus, crack nuts on stone
High upland with squinted eye
              or rest in cedar shade.

— from Praise for Sick Women by Gary Snyder

Corner Shadows   Leave a comment

Corner Shadows — Photo-Artistry by kenne

Chase’s Graduation Day, May 24, 2022   7 comments

Chase, December 12, 2005 — Photo-Artistry by kenne

Chase (October 11, 2005) — Image by kenne

Chase and Grandma Joy (May 28, 2005) — Image by kenne

You are educated. Your certification is in your degree.
You may think of it as the ticket to the good life.
Let me ask you to think of an alternative.
Think of it as your ticket to change the world.

— Tom Brokaw

An Oldie But Goodie   1 comment

Patio Art (December 2005) — Photo-Artistry by kenne

Pinwheel and windmill

Standing tall with the jade plant

In patio pot.

— kenne

The Blanton Project Revisited   Leave a comment

The Blanton Project Cover (Oil Field Girls, 1940, by JerryBywaters) — Image by kenne

In 2009, Borderlands — Texas Poetry Review published a Special Ekphrastic Poetry Issue.

Founded in 1992, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review was created to respond to the Gulf War and is a literary journal based in Austin, Texas. They publish poetry, visual art, book reviews, and essays. The journal continues to garner a national readership, distributed across the U.S., with contributors worldwide. 

The 2009 special issue contains 89 ekphrastic poems written about works of art in the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, one of the largest university art museums in the U.S. In March of 2009, the Writers in Performance Series at Lone Star College — Montgomery presented The Blanton Project, where some of the poets read their ekphrastic poems. One such poem was Oil Field Girls on the Jerry Bywaters painting, Oil Field Girls.

Oil Field Girls

Blue skies and the open road

until an hour and a half beyond San Angelo

and the highway yields to brazen curves.

It’s not their thumbs

that make you slow the red Road roadster,

nor even the vestal boots

that look to plant a few fresh kicks.

As stately as an oil rig

set beneath miasmic clouds,

they beckon restless wanderers

who never staked a wildcat claim.

These desperate locals travel lightly

yet do not need a map

to know which way is out.

Because it does not do to gawk,

you press your bootles foot against the gas

and hope next curve to find a Coke.

— Steven G. Kellman

After the readings were completed, the poets were invited to a reception at my home. 
Click here to see photos from the reading and the reception.

— kenne

Dave’s Crawfish Boil   Leave a comment

Dave’s Crawfish Boil (April 12, 2009) — HDR Image by kenne

Dave’s crawfish boil

Southeast Texas partytime

Spicy and tasty.

— kenne

“The Dean” — Looking Back   1 comment

“The Dean” (November 8, 2001) — HDR Image Taken With My Camera
Lone Star College — Montgomery

There’s a long list of things I have done, and looking back, I don’t know how —
regardless, it’s always about perseverance.

— kenne