Morning Has Broken – A Desert Poem

Ribbon Sunrise

Stop everything and be still. Let the fire of stillness burn everything and reveal that which is Openness. ~ Adyashanti

darkness
there is an emptiness in the black
until I allow time enough to adjust
midnight dark is not cave black
look to the skies
luminescence
star shimmer
and against a back drop of starlight
Jupiter is the headliner in the western sky,
hovers above the outline of the terraced copper mine
and Venus hangs low on the eastern horizon,
and gradually this awareness: pink haze seeps through the indigo blue
illuminates the mountain’s silhouette
details come into focus
canyons within mountains
bajada crevices are the foothill’s showy skirts
rose-pink, dove grey, orange on the horizon
cotton candy in the pale blue sky

morning has broken

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Posting a desert-related poem each day in April, National Poetry Month. Updated poems from my blog archives, new poems written as sacred practice, and selected, favorite poems from other poets. Spending much awake time in early morning — which gives me opportunity to wait…wait…then watch the sun rise.

Descent into Winter

Winter Sunrise
This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.
~ John Muir

winter’s time
it’s bare essential time, parses my day’s responsibilities to the minimum
the descent into winter lessens my awareness of inconsequential matters
let me hibernate and rest in my inner landscape, know intimately its deep beauty first.
when light shines again, i will be, i will do.
let go, let go. until the reconnection,
the sky lights and breaks open beribboned in yellows and pinks
winds blow
renewal is nigh

Life is Like a Puzzle

Tree Silhouettes

Tree Silhouettes © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”
~ Yoko Ono

On my month-long break from the Southwest, I returned to Wisconsin’s winter, and discovered this year’s snow season felt more brutal than in the past. The nearly two feet of snow that fell during the earlier part of my visit has had no opportunity to melt. The snow is as deep as the day it fell, though it has been swept aside from walks and roads to make it more manageable for travel.

Even so, my outdoor explorations were limited to walks around the neighborhood and a few sojourns by car. There is no such thing — for me — as a wander in a forest or a tramp through a field or prairie if I have to plow through depths of snow with each step I take.

And so the photos have been few. They all fall into a single category – trees in snowy winter. I do love the trees in winter, the branches exposed, the skeletal trunks and limbs showing the soul of the tree. Even the conifers have a minimalist feel to them.

This morning’s sunrise  – I’m watching it as I write – will be my last in wintry Wisconsin for quite a while. It’s a pale sunrise this morning, as if the cold has frozen the rays into a cool white light.

The snow is a beautiful sight from my windows, but I miss being in the middle of nature, in the midst of the weather and the breezes, tramping on the land.

There is much I miss when I am away from Wisconsin and living in the Tucson area. There is much I miss when I am away from Arizona and living in Wisconsin.  Life is rather like a puzzle — you fit the tiny pieces in as you find them, not sure of the big picture. Each day is a new puzzle piece, and they all fit together to make one huge whopping, incredible, messy life.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Tomorrow is a transition day – travel, comings and goings, many opportunities ahead. Keeping my eyes open in anticipation.

Pretty Chairs All in a Row

Ephraim Beach

Beach Chairs © 2012 Bo Mackison

We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin . . . and the sand out of our belongings.  ~Erma Bombeck

Door County, Wisconsin. The chairs all in a row, the boats all anchored, Green Bay placid. In another three hours, this beach will be filled with vacationers. Lots of splashing, calling, sun-worshiping. But at 7:30 in the morning, there aren’t too many people wandering around. It’s one of the best times of the day, my way of thinking.

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 Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is taking an August break from writing long blog posts, but the photos continue while Sherpa and she spend a few days in the “Cape Cod of the Midwest.”

Early Morning Fog

pa031366.jpg

Early Morning Fog ©2007 Bo Mackison

Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us. ~ Henri Matisse

I was driving too fast on the Door County country roads to reach Lake Michigan which often affords lovely sunrises but inland fog was slowing my efforts. I finally slowed the car enough to look out and appreciate the opportunity for a different type of picture altogether. This landscape is quite appropriate for an October morn.