Friday, December 30, 2022

CREW Bird Rookery December 30, 2022

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Bunche Beach December 29, 2022

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Harns Marsh December 28, 2022

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

CREW Flint Pen Strand December 27, 2022

Monday, December 26, 2022

Six Mile Cypres Slough December 26, 2022

Sunday, December 25, 2022

premonition


 

As if my dream of him was a premonition

Nick sends a photo holding a huge fish

Caught the day after I sent him my vision

But his real fish is bigger than in my dream


Seeing it I laugh delighted but nervous

Enjoying the uncanny coincidence

Tinged with disapproval at the image

Looking like Hemingway off Key West


It looks like he hauled in a giant tuna 

A fish that humans are killing off

And now that I know fish feel pain

The thought of those hooks hurts me


My skeptical life partner disbelieves

Declaring it must be photoshopped

Or pulled from some past fishing trip

Doubting the timing sensing a joke


Leading me to think the image is spoof on me

Tricked again by being a gullible person

But Nick assures me no such thing

It’s an amberjack caught that very day


He’s in Hawaii enjoying a family vacation

And always releases whatever he catches

But this fish was given to a local church

To feed the hungry who gather there

Friday, December 23, 2022

witness to their work

Watching twelve young men digging ditches

Thrusting their shovels into the rocky packed soil

Beating out a thumping rhythm hour after hour

Six days a week I am witness to their work


Excavating long trenches around the neighborhood

Such hard labor and yet they are in good spirits

To judge by their exhausted talk at the end of each day

Laughing and joking with each other


They speak Spanish among themselves

Their orange shirts identifying them

Never engaging with the residents here

Nor do I as I stay inside keeping my distance


Two times in my life I have had to do that

Digging just a short distance to bury a water pipe

Never lasting for such long hours as them

Stopping collapsed every muscle done in


No machine could do the digging like they do

Removing the sod carefully then replacing it

Leaving only a faint trace of their toil behind

And giving no hint of where they will go next


But a backhoe would be doing it anyway

If that cost the owner less than their time and effort

Of course these are people who deserve to be well paid

But I expect their wages come dirt cheap


I have the urge to go out and embrace them

Shouting their praises for all to hear

But I practice restraint knowing not to interfere

And instead acknowledge them using these words

 

Six Mile Cypress Slough December 23, 2022

Thursday, December 22, 2022

dream interpretation

Nick smiles happily pleased and proud

Showing off the the very large fish

Held out at arms length hanging down

Reaching almost to the ground


I saw him standing in a stream

Waking up when he looked at me

With the image of him still in mind days later 

Remembering our good times together


Never gone fishing with him in real life 

But I know he likes the outdoor experience

In the way that a New York City kid does

Going to out of the way pristine places


He talked about catching trout in Jackson Hole

So the literal dream scene makes sense 

But he used to reel in entire agencies as customers

When his job was sales for my software product


So I'll take that as the symbolism here

Nothing at all profound but sweet enough

Glad to get a glimpse of an old friend

Years later now in another life

Wild Turkey Strand December 22, 2022