Another rainy morning and gray afternoon. I went out in a break and pried up some small pieces (well, one was big enough I had to “roll” it along one edge to move it) of marble, laid out as stepping stones in the yard long long ago. There wasn’t a fancy sunset tonight at all, so I did this based on a photo from a few weeks ago.
Woke up unexpectedly to yesterday’s alarm. Yesterday I’d driven to get my car maintenance done and today I had no morning plans so I shut off the alarm and considered the morning.
putting out big pots
knocking out last year’s plants
stubborn balls of roots.stack of seed packets
will they grow faster than weeds
or just hopefulness?
Fiddled around with two exercises for an online workshop with Steve Mitchell – all about the amount of water… will do a couple more of these before next week’s class.
Happy May Day to all the workers of the world! And Happy May Day to everyone who wrote during National Poetry Writing Month. Big shout out to Maureen the founder of the feast over at napowrimo.net, celebrating twenty years of making poetry happen in April. What a wonderful month of encouragement and inspiration and resources she provides. Rest now until next year!
clouds cannot bear it
clasping themselves as they fly
iron weight of rain
There’s always a chance a haiku will pop up still but this painting was inspired by the drippy, blowy, dark clouds I saw on the way home today. It was not raining but the sun was only hitting parts of the hills. 
This month really did seem to fly by (at least on most days) and the daily writing and painting were a good thing. Looking forward to May and warmer spring days.
last day of april
both light and dark creeping in
cold and windycleaned my paintboxes
reminding these eyes about
sunshine and shadowpainting every day
made it easier to paint
even on gray dayswriting every day
waiting for anything worth
noting then writing.
The penultimate day of National/Global Poetry Writing Month. This morning I had a surprise waiting for me — a bear had come visiting and couldn’t figure out how to undo the two bungee cords that I secured the almost completely empty metal trash can where I stored my sunflower seeds. So, the bear did what bears do and pried up the lid of the can and bent it in half so he could reach in.
This afternoon I went to Colonie to watch The Return of the Jedi with my former co-worker Chris and his mother. So much detail to see on the big screen. I felt that having watched all the recent additions to the tale, there was even more to see and enjoy here. They have done an impressive job of continuity in the new stories and it doesn’t hurt at all what went before. Just my opinion.
Then dinner with mom and home to paint and write. Hopefully the bear won’t find anything more to investigate. I threw the cupful or so of see left into the thick of the dog roses out front.
In spring, bear visits.
too groggy to untie cords
he bends back the lid.In spring, bear visits.
he slept long until hungry
and he smelled birdseedIn spring, bear visits.
bungee cords were too strong but
the lid bent in half.In spring, bear visits.
He broke open the trash can
for a cup of seed.
Harvest ideas. Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.
