Wildlife and outcasts

These are my submissions for a contest taking place soon:

10 images:

https://imgur.com/a/K6asxEr

“Fomalhaut Rising”

The blue hummingbird in the outlet stump
Across the way from the entrance to the hump
Surrounding the altar of the dam silent star
Planted upon by the ant carved monkey tree

Left its bones buried in another plane
So its essence on this side may never wane
To guide the travelers come from near and from far
Here to remember what of life is made free

The damsel used to cope through consuming herself
Dropped a dollop of yellow beside the river's shelf
Downstream from the scene of the remnant mound
Wherein the guest imagined by tower held in place

Sits in reverie amidst the many families
Fueled by frugality of flames upon the breeze
Whilst 'round the den again the young elkhound
Harks without barks of the familiar fearful face

Of painful experiences relieved by trusted ones
To sift through and then lift unto the undone suns
The fulfilled portals of intertwined synapse sums
To see in shadow created a void in space and time

O'er haunted waters’ boardwalk replacing the bridge
Of web wove through rainbow reminiscence ridge
Singing cacophony in chorus keyed to jug of rums
To encapsulate the date to drop the rusted old dime

Into the troglodyte fountain for each to pay mind
Toward path of assurance the dance will step kind
Lest the tree drawing unknown power be planted in vain
And the hourglass drained down into a singular grain



"Four"

When shadows lie long and rivers run still
A weathered, aged man waits up on a hill
Too stiff to meander, patient for respite
Received of a gander 'cross an ever frosty night
Of dots that will frolic filled with life without fright

If stalwart against the chill be his will
That borders his every bone up on the hill
Surrounded by remnants, twigs and hips, of the lush
Commotion arrised and spent within his slumber's hush
Disturbed by not even the foremost vocal thrush

With each new awakening, what remains is less the same
The furry nuzzling noses become more hungry and less tame
His dwindling domain grows more difficult to be seen
The spots sought present e'er fewer and farther between
He wonders, when they've all gone, will any other come to me?

What place could be this, this stasis coming to be
With each passing phase less to offer to those who live free?

Is it everlasting quiet and solitude to be my destiny?

When dusk turns to dawn in a fledgling's song
A caterpillar changed flitters along
Oft wondering what for the newly winged
This world might hold in store beyond what it seems:
An endless expanse of bounty that always teems

Consuming enough to just self-sustain
Uneases her, thinking it to be vain
Discarding one path for another much the same
Yet static remain, transform no more, and endlessly mill
With others of her kind and ringed neighbors up on the hill

Beyond grazers taking leaves under the thorned red and white blooms
An odd sight that dissipates once caught once within a blue moon
Will fascinate the fluttering youngster in life seeking more:
A towering bell descending toward the hill's grassy floor
That shares her nectary bloom's hues, surely this must be her door

Or so it is she begins to believe someday she'll see
An appearance that from her eyesight will not leave

Her mind's deadset, waiting to know where it may lead

When rain will cascade through flakes as a spear
Still close to his doe a child will hold near
More sure of footing with each passing day
With patience he trails after those who know the way
Yet eager always for the rare chances to play

The hips all been spent, the herd will move on
Assured of plenty for adult and fawn
Until green expanses fade and time comes along
To mark paths between what will become their intermittent fill:
The frosty oases alike the richest up on the hill

The little one watches, ever keen to be aware of more
Like how to know where to lay tracks 'tween the fields and forest floor
He spies a pattern in erratic black and yellow stripes' flight
Wherever they linger is marked for relief from future blight
When he must strike a trail his own, surely this is how he might

And so he wonders while he wanders from where the others roam
Will there be a pair of winged stripes to dance toward a new home

And could it be that only he might see and call it his own?

When leaves become spent within winds of change
A woman oft rests underneath the range
Of her favorite shelter from the sun
The towering tulip tree she once climbed for fun
Before the battle that age had begun to won

She tends to it now, taking care daily
With hope some other can climb and live free
For waste it would be, for it to grow just for she
But soon the day comes, once per year, she must take leave
To bushes and thrushes surrounding whom she grieves

This sole occasion she warrants to wear his favorite white dress
"There's my angel belle," he'd say, her face quick a blushing mess
"You see, the daisies match your cheeks." and take her hand
To lead them in dance under the trees or in a hotel grand
Humming softly the melody called their own, "The Promised Land"

She climbs the grade now, humming to herself the tune
Wondering how much, this time, there might be to prune

Beside her beloved below the hill, she waits to be soon



"Perennial"

If being a friend was easy, like planting a bulb,
Every waking thought without effort would unfold.
Love with no conditions would be numbered in petals
And blooms would unearth worth that's beyond precious metals.
Through winters' freezing and unto the summers' heating,
Listening would hear the buried heart been repeating
The greatest work toiled through the initial season
To grow perpetually the intrinsic reason
To plant a new shard divided from a greater whole
And reflect lasting charm of a perennial soul.

Not the new subjects I was hoping for, but no complaints:

Absolutely stunning.

Seeing less wildlife while hiking for now. I have a noisy new hiking partner. lol...but he'll grow into it.

https://imgur.com/3GmtwXg

https://imgur.com/p2LCJhW

I got word from the naturalist @ Mounds this morning regarding my contest entries.

My photo, "Four Creek Fog" won 2nd place / honorable mention in the scenery photography category:

https://imgur.com/AsbrkaM

...and my "Blue-eyed Grass" photo won 1st place in the plants category:

https://imgur.com/N0uiOB1

its footy season

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

lmao!

I will be bringing my croquet set to Shades for the eclipse weekend. I will do my damndest to get the trash pandas to play some footie with the balls and get in on video while on nightly coon kitty patrol, but don't hold your breath waiting for it

hi warbler where did you come up with the name for your profile?

kind of obscure? probably not.

are you a bird watcher?

keep mute mime.

What is your intention with being in my thread?

My squirrels are always shifty around my property, because I got feline guards on watch all the time basically

Love what you captured and posted here

Took a chance to hike a trail new to me this afternoon :)

Dunno if I'll find a capture I like more than this:

https://imgur.com/EISq4Ux

'tis just a wee further to wait
a most dreadful duo of days
'fore more fireside chats with fate
in the black sun death of shades

prepared for a key paired an eclipse
a wanderer be best with little weight
far from light traveled digital blips
waiting upon return of destined mate

with empty flask, litter bug patrol by day
with bird of mask, coon kitty patrol by night
with box of tricks and critter trips eye say
it's about fuckin' time we came back to play

https://imgur.com/a/vrkPM9n

https://imgur.com/GHudVWV

https://imgur.com/dkR5poQ

Excellent

Beautiful photos and I enjoyed your poetry. Lovely!

I so hope I find another cat toy this camping trip.

https://imgur.com/InLaI9R

“Csfe”

In the hemlock grove
The djinn stalker wove
I found muh fuggin cat toy

At the end of the road
Where every wormsign glowed
I then screamed at da fuggin goat

In the four stacks of fur words
From the root consuming bok bok birds
She looked and found her two path vision

In the ceiling feline clouds’ urf
I remembered again penultimate worth
Of never consuming who keeps track of things

When in ravine of things as they seem
Bonded damsels and under water sent pedes
I found da fuggin six side facet

Within the waiting trash panda trines
At war with the ground under desert sines
I found the whole creation doing as it was born to do

In the restless enchantment through
From out of me tree mama drew
The amazed little one able to all in
Take it and with it, enjoy it, and fin

P.S. ishit 9/11/21

https://imgur.com/E5c1JYb

I'm gonna stand
On my toes
Rippin' stars down
There'll be no end
To
My rainmaking


[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Shades gave me two cat toys! And Turkey Run gave me a triangle man keychain! <3










[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Last Edited by mutemink on 04/11/2024 01:56 AM

Turns out I didn't bring the croquet set. Tetris skills can only stretch so far with a countryman and a hammock is more important than knocking balls around for fun :/

First night there, a trash panda took a fire starter while I was airing up the mattress and didn't much like the taste of it.

It liked the taste of gas-x chewables so much it ate the whole pack of twelve in one sitting at the periphery of my campsite. I found the evidence while taking a break airing up, thinking it was already past dusk and the coon kitty conspiracy was probably getting active.

I didn't hear any weird pops that night, so I'm pretty sure that trash panda turned out okay, but not sure how it's family thought. He or she was probably evicted from the dinner table on account of the likely frequent wind passings :D

...and I was wrong

https://imgur.com/raNNSoA

my kids left a pillow in the treehouse.

The squirrels got into it and made a nest way up in the tree with the stuffing.

we had a strong wind yesterday and it blew that nest all over the neighborhood.

So bittersweet :')

Most of this overhang in the Shawnee Canyon ravine is now fallen; now I call it my moon pool.

https://imgur.com/tZmoWaR

Directly across from my moon pool is where I found the tower warble red bellied birb wing two and a half years ago.

https://imgur.com/KDy46Iq

I make shadowboxes with mosscapes, tree branches, glass animals, matte drawings, etc as gifts for others, and no one that works at Mounds knew this.

My award certificate for winning 1st and 2nd place in two of the photo contest categories is a shadowbox forest trail landscape with a tree branch, and there was already a hole in my wall to put a thumbtack in to hang it from the perfect spot near my desk.

How fkd up is this?

https://imgur.com/WRdjazf

yesterday gave me a brain wrinkle

meet Callophrys niphon, the eastern pine elfin