The Hummingbird’s Death
The hummingbird on the stone walk
outside my door
lay so still
I picked him up tentatively
thinking he was dreaming
but his eyes remained closed
and my eyes found tears.
What happened to you?
I whispered to his softness…
No answer
I buried him in my garden
near some sage
and placed a stone
to mark the spot.
By way of eulogy
I wished him joyous flight
and offered prayers of awe
that in my hand
I had held Magic wrapped in feathers.
©photo and poem by caf
In Spring
When the morning makes itself pink
and sometimes orange
and the clouds wear dark blue
and the rain stops for a moment,
the clean chill in the air
finds her bones
and calls them to love even the coyotes
who ate the deer
even the deer who ate her Magnolia
even the dead mouse in her cellar,
for Spring mornings renew the world
renew her body.
She says
I think I could run and live forever
if it were always Spring.
© photo and poem by caf
A Day Like This
Some days are made for gazing
long into the distance
where dusty words
are excused from stale thoughts
as your body wears a rut into a comfortable chair
by a big window overlooking a field or forest.
Some days are for ruminating, wondering
about nothing much at all
but who’s coming up the road
and why the lilacs are budding so soon
while dishes soak in the sink
and floors beg for a sweeping.
Some days never rise
but lie napping by a snoring dog
who barks between snorts
while the leash lies idle
and coat sleeves remain empty.
If such a day should come to you
tend to it as you would a sleeping child
let it relax, keep it safe
treasure it and check on it often
for such days are when your soul grows
your life’s poetry.
© photo and poem by caf
Sunflower Seeds Meet The Full Moon
They sprout from safe darkness
dirty heads wearing remnants
of the seeds that birthed them
for now they are but inconsequential stalks
living on my window sill
While the pompously bright but barren moon
ogles them (I imagine enviously)
– these springy suns to be.
© photo and poem by caf
Sunflowers
It’s 25 degrees outside
cold as January is, biting winds
so today she planted Sunflower seeds.
Helianthus with the brown faces
and bright yellow rays
will soon atone for absent sun.
Lonely fields empty, frozen
garden life suspended
so today she planted Sunflower seeds.
Mostly a defiant act
their growth to be offered as proof
that winter and death do not control her heart.
© poem and photo by caf
Passing the Light
Lazy moon in her bed of night sky
makes no light of her own
but only reflects the sun
and trusts the earth to keep her orbit steady.
She lights our darkest world
and her burnished body covers the pines in lacy glow and shadow.
Yes, this spoiled child creates miracles of beauty while doing nothing
but sharing the light she has been given.
©photo and poem by caf
Today I saw a cow licking her newborn calf
as a kestrel killed and ate a pigeon in the tree.
Walkway cracks sport new grass
though drenched with killing spray.
The big moon rose followed by the sun
though I doubted either would shine again.
There was laughter and wings on water
though hungry guns combed the other side of the lake.
There was tenderness in the trees as I sat on stones in the creek
though the rocks felt cold and secretive.
An aging butterfly landed on my arm
harbinger of yet another metamorphosis
Her wings were hard used and frayed
but she stretched them out broadly,
if not grandly.
We sat dreaming of pollen and sweetness
until she wobbled into flight
daring me to follow
But now I am a fish in icy waters, frozen
and will only regain my wings
when the chill departs
and warmth returns to the land.
©photo and poem by caf
Oumaumau*
The rock – a wandering Taoist
follows the currents of space
without preset path
not caring where it travels
free of ambition
no home, no religion
enough courage to orbit no star
content to go where the stream takes it.
It borrows color from the sun
and trusts its direction from some unseen influence,
its only task to go where it is taken.
Watching Oumaumau
I see bravery
and a wish for my own heart’s path.
*Oumaumau is an asteroid recently discovered by a telescope in Hawaii as it skipped through our solar system – the first interstellar asteroid to be documented. What I find so fascinating about this asteroid is that it has no orbit – it just rides along through space unattached to anything. That caught my imagination, as most things in our universe are tied to something – but not Oumaumau. Its name means Wanderer.
©poem and photo by caf
Last Night’s Dream
Moon shines on her dreams
lighting up the open closet
dust bunnies, memories stored
in bags of old clothing.
Waking, she hauls everything out
giving space for the burnished air
to wash the vacant corners
with a breath of freshening air –
Illuminated Emptiness!
© poem and photo by carole fults
In the Garden
Butterfly –
from egg and caterpillar to cocoon of silk
to orange and black smear of summer
and quivering wings on Bee Balm – do you mark your age?
or do you think only of your assignment
to dance in the flowers
while we, the more evolved, fight our own metamorphosis
from cocoon of flesh to angel
arguing and resisting all the way home
to the garden.
©photo and poem by caf
Inside-out Art and Writing 