WHAT YOU SEE DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU STAND . . .

Minnesota has thousands of lakes. For many years, car license plates
carried the slogan "Land of 10,000 Lakes." The DNR states there are
actually 11,842 lakes 10 acres or larger. Each lake has been given a
name with some of the "names" being simply numbers . . . like Lake
22 or Lake 23.

The lakes sometimes share the same name. For me, amount all the 154
lakes named "Long", one Long Lake will always be special.

     It was where I saw a Cerulean Warbler for the first time.


                                     Cerulean

                           A small flutter of a bird
                               traverses tree tops.

                 Part of springtime passing through
                                   to elsewhere.

                            I lift my eyes skyward
                               hoping to glimpse
                        its ethereal, sky-blue back.

                                   But see only
                            a clear, white breast.

                            Next year, I will walk
                         along a high-ridge trail,
                               to look down on 
                                     tree tops.

                                 

BLUEBIRDS REMEMBERED

They turn in lilting flight,
descend to trees and fences and
begin a gentle conversation.

In loose clusters, never alone
as if they have
a fondness
for each other's company.

Always in my memories,
their graceful flight
and soft calls
always -

turning blue skies 
more blue.

May Day ! ! May Day ! !

I remember a May Day in London. Elizabeth and I had just visited
Westminster Cathedral and out in front was a significant gathering of
people watching a circle of young girls dancing, holding ribbons, and
twining the ribbons around a May Pole. I had heard about May Poles . . .
but had never seen one. And here I was watching it all happen!

But, that wasn't all.

The group invited me to join them. Now . . . I'm not a "dancing type"
person, only having danced once with Elizabeth at our high school prom.
But, there I was dancing. I will never forget that day in London with
Elizabeth.

I can hardly wait to see what special thing Elizabeth and I will do
on this May Day!

Feathers Go Before A Fall

This poem was written on the day before International Earth Day 2005 (35 years after the first Earth Day in 1970!) and dedicated to Gaylord Nelson and all far-sighted persons around the world.

DDT was banned in the U.S. on 6/14/1972. It was not allowed to be used anymore after the last day of that year. It took a while for the food chain of the Bald Eagle to rid itself of toxic levels of the pesticide. Coupled with major tracts of land being set aside for breeding pairs, the numbers of eagles slowly grew. Truly a modern success story!

Just yesterday, I saw two different pairs of eagles soaring over the Mississippi near our home.


Feathers Go Before A Fall

Crossing an isthmus onto an
island in Lake Wappogasset.
Northern Wisconsin is beautiful.
Today was especially so.
The day was early.
The bay was edged with stately pine -
protected and still.

And there it was!

A lone mature Bald Eagle
perched on an exposed limb.
White head and tail glistened in the sun.
Eagles didn't used to be rare in these parts.
Was always a joy to see one!

But not today . . .

High in the tree, a light wind blew.
The eagle seemed unsteady.
Rocking and wobbly.
Tail feathers disheveled -
some missing.
Two tail feathers joined the air as I watched -
landing lightly on the water.

What was wrong?

Someone at camp said that its mate had
died two days before.
Found it floating.

     It won't be long before this one
     dies as well . . . It's the DDT.

That was back in the early 70's.
So different now.
Change happens.
Some, not without effort.

Sometimes, too late.

Sometimes, not at all.

M A Y P E A C E P R E V A I L

Last evening and early  this morning . . . it snowed  no less
than 9 inches here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The snow
made a beautiful background for our outside Peace Pole.

Some years ago, my spouse and I designed and built the
6-foot, cedar-post Peace Pole and set it firmly in concrete
in our  front yard. The words "May Peace Prevail on Earth"
are  carefully painted in black in sixteen different languages
on the Peace Pole's four sides. We had asked each of our
surrounding neighbors to print for us how the words "may
peace prevail on earth" would look in each of their countries
of origin. They were most enthusiastic to do so. One of our
Polish friends even insisted that five words were inadequate
and wrote out a whole paragraph! (When he saw the amount
of space there was . . . he agreed to just the five words.)

We wish you could see it now, out there in the freshly fallen
snow! I also hope and pray that peace will someday cover
the earth . . .

SPRING HAS COME . . . SPRING WILL COME . . .

Meteorlogical Spring was Saturday, March 1st ! It didn't feel or look
like spring. Snow so deep. What do you mean Spring came!?  But . . .
here comes another chance -

My trusty calendar has an entry "Spring Begins Thursday, March 20th.

As they say in central, northwestern Minnesota:  When all else fails . . . write a haiku.
Here's a little (5-7-5 syllable) poem:

                          LATE SPRING

                        A furnace in March
                 almost as good as a campfire
                  dream on, dream on, dream

spring will come when . . .

Yesterday it melted outside big time! Water running in the streets. Elizabeth and I measure each day's height of snow along our driveway. And yes, I chop a little ice in the gutter by the catch basin to hasten the flow of water. (I did that back when I was a kid . . . and convinced myself that it "helped Spring come sooner.")

Here is a poem.


spring will come when . . .

the heavy, sweet scent
   of clove currant wakes
         the neighborhood

fiddlehead ferns slowly rush
    through leaf-covered dirt
         toward light

I touch fuzzy,
    ground-loving, purple,
         wild ginger flower

I hear the
    coo of a dove.