Crossing the Country

Car on Historic Route 66

Old Car © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
~ Miriam Beard

Saturday:

It is sunny and 71˚ and 8:03 a.m. when I lock the door,
jam my last bag in the car.
No need to memorize the blue of the sky, it is already mine.
A red tail hawk dips into the arroyo,
I catch his wide sweep as I turn north.
Prickly pears and yucca bloom extravagantly,
Spent blossoms of the ocotillo litter the curbside.

In three hours I have detoured twice,
a little lost, I follow Arizona Scenic Highway signs
like dropped bread crumbs in a dark forest,
curve along the edges of copper mines,
open pits of rock, miners in yellow hard hats maneuver
front-loaders along the narrow ledges.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

Boyce Thompson Arboretum © 2013 Bo Mackison

I walk the paths of the arboretum at noon,
detour through Miami’s mission district at three,
at four I descend into the Salt River Canyon.
Hawks soar high above the road, I follow their shadows on the asphalt.
Red Tails are my trip totem,
Road cuts expose the white rock of the White Mountains,
Vines and creeping flowers line the rough rock.

5:02 p.m. and I stop in Show Low,
the motel is on Deuce of Clubs Street, the main drag.
Can’t show lower than the deuce of clubs.

Scattered Petrified Wood

Scattered Petrified Wood © 2013 Bo Mackison

Sunday morning:

Gas at Safeway is 3.42 a gallon,
two fishermen lean against their truck, boat in tow,
and argue about late starts and wasted time.
The older guy draws on his cigarette while pumping gas.

North of Show Low the topography is Illinois flat,
the soil is Utah red.
Dead River.
Querino Wash.
Four Mile Draw, Five Mile Draw, Six Mile Draw.
Godawful flat and dusty,
Telephone poles are distraction.

Past Holbrook, outcroppings jut like layers of floor sheeting.
It’s a land of rock, a many-layered fossil cake in rainbow hues.
Entrance signs greet and command:
“Welcome to Petrified Forest National Park.
Do Not Remove Rocks Under Penalty of Law.”
I take only photographs.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. A cross-country traveler by day, and an occasional poet in the evening.

Delight – A Desert Wisdom Card

Torch Cactus Flower

Torch Cactus Flower © 2013 Bo Mackison

We have won a moment in an unfolding universe. Isn’t that worthy of our notice? ~ Hannah Hinchman

The Torch Cactus blossom is guaranteed to delight with bright petals, upright stamens, and its appeal to the senses.

The flower blooms on a rather undistinguished cactus, and each individual flower opens for a single day. But the glory of the torch cacti is its propensity to occasionally bloom en masse. This is a sure opportunity for delight!

There are three tasks that matter in this lifetime. The first task, though not the most important task, is to quiet the busyness in your mind. The second is to find your song. And the third task is to sing your song. ~ Mark Lesser

Delight – it’s a feeling that is transitory, fleeting.

There is no need to prepare for delight – simply be aware. Delight in the flower you see in the garden, the song you hear on the radio, or the soft towel you pull from the dryer. What makes you smile in delight?

Invitations to experience delight are quick and easily accessible. Take up delight’s offer and notice its gift.

The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention. ~ Julia Margaret Cameron

DELIGHT offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art prompts, and calls to action:

  • Delight is a simple gift, easily discovered, a tiny moment. Notice when you smile or laugh in delight.
  • Compose a line poem. Each line consists of a few words about a person, place, thing, or happening that prompts delight. Begin and end the poem with the one word line, “Delight!”
  • Play a game of DELIGHT. Draw a nine square grid, as if you were making a line drawing for a game of tic-tac-toe . Write the word DELIGHT in the center. Each time you notice something that delights you, write a brief description or sketch a picture in one of the squares.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using photography, with a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

Cross Country Adventure

Cactus Flower Wreath

Cactus Flower Wreath © 2013 Bo Mackison

I locked the doors, left a note in my neighbor’s mail box, and gave the mountain view from my door a lingering look. A red-tailed hawk swooped towards the arroyo, then caught an uplifting current and soared into the deep blue sky.

Months ago, when I was pondering a solo road trip half way across the country, I questioned my sanity. But today, it feels right. I’ve crammed everything into the car — mostly boxes of books and art supplies, a couple of pieces of art I purchased for re-location to the Midwest, and a box of newly acquired book-making paraphernalia. Camera bags and my suitcase occupy the back seat. My bag of travel food – peanut butter, vegetable juice, apples, almonds, baby carrots – is in the front seat within easy reach. So is a cooler of ice, a jug of iced tea, and several cases of water. My goal is to do the trip without any fast food stops.

My other travel objective is to drive over 2,000 miles while (mostly) avoiding the interstate system and stopping at every National Park or monument within a half hour drive. That is the part of my plan that makes this travel plan sensible, doable, and sane. And the fact that I’m limiting my road travel to 350 miles a day. It’s not a lot, it will take me a week to get to Wisconsin, but it is doable. Even enjoyable. I’ve already promised myself that when I see a photo opportunity, I will take the time and stop.

What’s not to love about this kind of road trip!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.    She will report in with travel updates, as time and  internet connections allow.

 

Saguaro in Bloom

Saguaro Cactus Blooms

Saguaro Cactus Blossoms © 2013 Bo Mackison

“The poetry of the earth is never dead….”  ~ John Keats

What a joyful experience to walk through the Sonoran Desert when the saguaro are in bloom! After craning my neck to see the very top of each saguaro, I felt as tipsy as the bees that were swarming the flowers  while doing the pollination dance.

I spent much of today packing, and tomorrow I begin my travels to the Midwest. I hear that spring is just about ready to burst in Wisconsin and I am ready to be home.

But still, I will miss my other home in the desert.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

Reverence – A Desert Wisdom Card

Saguaro Cactus - Saguaro National Park

Saguaro Cactus Crone © 2013 Bo Mackison

By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world. By practicing reverence for life, we become good, deep, and alive. ~ Albert Schweitzer

 What is reverence?

It is deep respect. It honors the presence of the sacred in everything – people, animals, plants. This includes respect for the land and for those sustained by the land.

When I look at this photograph of this aged saguaro, I see an ancient saguaro crone. There are small flower buds on the tips of her arms. She surveys the desert earth, thankful for the earth that sustains her, thankful for the flowers soon to bloom, for the bees and bats which will pollinate her flowers, for the fruit that will set, and for the birds and animals that will eat her fruits and spread the saguaro seeds, seeds of potential new life.

Reverence generates a simultaneous movement upward and downward within the interior of the subtle body, our deepest place of perception. The Upward movement brings recognition of a spiritual essence. The more mysterious Downward movement entails descent into the deep ground of Being. To inhabit both movements at once equates with reverence.
~ Karen Jaenke

The saguaro, one of the largest life forms in the desert, has wide roots in the desert earth.

Her arms stretch high into the sky; she connects the earth and the sky. We admire these plants, the connectors of earth and the heavens. Yet, we too stand rooted upon the earth. We raise our arms into the air, our fingertips touch the sky. There is no line of demarcation between the blue skies we gaze at with awe and the skies that swirl about our very beings. We, with reverence, connect earth and sky.

Always and in everything, let there be reverence. ~ Confucius

REVERENCE offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art prompts, and calls to action:

  • Imagine yourself in the pose of the ancient saguaro crone. What are you holding in reverence?
  • How can you show reverence for yourself, other people, and the plants, animals and things that are present in your ordinary life?
  • Barry Lopez, in his book, Journeys on the Threshold of Memory, writes about his history by documenting the things his hands have done in his life. How might you tell a part of your story using the same idea as a creative seed? What might you use to document the exquisite miracles that your hands have performed? Would you use written words, an oral history, still photographs, a short video, or other media?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using photography and a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.