Almost April

Almost April, #3
Originally uploaded by vajra.

tulips in pink red
and white profusion petals
throats open to catch the sun

César Chavez

by Joel Levine

Café

Rooz Café Sidewalk
Originally uploaded by vajra.

the sun is not warm
enough to sit outside in
the late afternoon

drinking chai inside
I'm warm and happy looking
out the large window

Small Task

For today clear everything off the table or desk where your computer is. Turn off the computer. Clean the keyboard and mouse with rubbing alcohol. Wipe down the table with whichever cleaner you prefer. Discard or put away the items you don't need immediately. Bring one small object that you are truly fond from another space and place on table. Breathe.

Ephemera

Tulip Fest Series, #15
Originally uploaded by vajra.

thin petaled tulips
fragile diaries of Spring
fading in the sun

Small Task

For today, empty all trash cans so as to start the week with empty trash cans. Bye clutter.

Before the Wind Blows

Before the Wind Blows, #2
Originally uploaded by vajra.

silken filaments
poised like ballerinas
incandescent charm

Persephone

Alba, #1
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Spring has sprung
like Venus
or Athene
she has come

suddenly

without warning
after cold snow
or after the earliest
buds have died

suddenly

the leaves are green
filling out
the empty spaces
where sky was

suddenly

I have wondered
if Hades could
hold back the Spring
but no

suddenly

we are come
to today and you
beautiful Spring
are here

Cat Friday

On the Pink
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Vespa

Arrivederci, Roma, #2
Originally uploaded by vajra.

the mouth of truth speaks
of gelato espresso
riding on sidewalks
and you

Golden Poppy

Golden Poppy
Originally uploaded by vajra.

thin petals open
inspiring delight in March
I read the message

Might As Well

Might As Well
Originally uploaded by vajra.

the daffodils vanished
killed by squirrels or drought
this one wasn't told

The Blue Gate

The Blue Gate
Originally uploaded by vajra.

scraps of new blown glass
can be used again like sand
a clear lonely blue

Empty

Vista de Corrales
Originally uploaded by vajra.

sometimes conversation
is good enough
people
kind enough
skies
blue enough
moutains
big enough
to fill the empty
heart of you

This Old House

This Old House
Originally uploaded by vajra.

I once thought that objects
like books and houses
were holograms
or metaphors
precisely reflecting
the people who possessed them

forgetting paper and brick
survive longer than love or cares
or you and I

Haiga

pines deer and highways
emptiness gradually
fills in the spaces

Cat Friday

Kishta
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Haiga

Clickity Clack
Originally uploaded by vajra.

stark blue and brown day
too warm for winter sparrows
even seeds miss snow

Unnatural

Remuda
Originally uploaded by vajra.

heat in March no respite
from the sun
cheerfully the shirtsleeved
walkers ignore the
apricot blooming
out of season

Riding The Rail

Riding The Rail
Originally uploaded by vajra.

looking back as the city
moves backward
past the sad copies
of buildings torn down
for promised perfections that never
happened and Joni Mitchell sang
unheeded and new fits anywhere
but backward

goodbye

Tulip

Tulip
Originally uploaded by vajra.

one early tulip
pushes past the wet green swellings
of leaf and soil and air
to rouse sleepy earth
to play

Suddenly

Suddenly All In Bloom, #1
Originally uploaded by vajra.

gray clouds hover close
to the chilled March sidewalks
pear blossom shouts "Spring!"

Hands Full

Lillias Pastia, #1
Originally uploaded by vajra.

today my hands were full
carrying boxes and bags
the camera hanging
unused from my shoulder
we walked talking about
something
I can't remember what we said
or why
but we walked happily
to café and packer and grocer and bank
we stopped for a single moment
because this camellia
was too beautiful
to ignore

If You Love It, Is It Still Clutter?

Spent some time today, moving pitchers and teapots from one spot to another, putting away books, and preparing to box and put some of my "decor" away. In many ways, it feels like busy work because I know more books and "decor" will take the place of what I've stored because being a collector is a large part of who I am. I noticed as I started to clear the top of the dry sink that I loved every piece of celadon or blue pottery. Loved the glaze, the feel of the pot, the look of them wherever they were placed.

I wonder what directive I'm listening to? Is it an external or internal "should?" Am I listening to someone else's view that I should have less or that it should meet some curated standard? Or is it the part of me that thrives on barrenness...occasionally?

Blinded

observe the simple
lily white cup against the
wall
so close
it's cold
simplicity
turns to flame
while you
stumble to your knees in
awe

Cat Friday

Turn In the Light
Originally uploaded by vajra.

Haiga

Pavlova
Originally uploaded by vajra.bleaached

bleached lace petals
slowly unfurling in Spring
await butterflies

Feeling Crafty

I've been feeling crafty recently. Right this minute I have a real yearning for manila envelopes because they provide a surface that feels both antique and new at the same time. My journal, which has taken a back seat to this page and other forms of virtual communication -this blog, my FB page, Twitter, Flickr - but something there is that longs for paper or wool or paint. The hunger for the tactile. All it requires is time and attention and reaching out.

Commencement

Spring arrives in waves
of poppies and tree's blossoms
against the crisp blue
the fragrance of cold
and sun's subtle warmth against
my upturned face

Commencement
Originally uploaded by vajra.

E'er Blooming

E'er Blooming
Originally uploaded by vajra.

I could wash my face
in your petals leaving traces
of pink and white on
my cheeks

The Hedgehog And the Fox

Many years ago, as time is calculated by man, and when we were much busier than we are today, we selected a Hedgehog to be our business manager. Any bill or receipt or message that needed Jim's attention was placed under the Hedgehog so that he would notice it when he returned to his desk. After taking action the Hedgehog would return to the little hutch above the desk until his services were needed again.

I realized that this very useful Hedgehog has not received the acknowledgment he should. And so for your amazement and wonder I present Hedgehog...

By the Window

By the Window Series, #12
Originally uploaded by vajra.

I love tulips bending
from the weight of their open heads
nearly resting on the table
graceful as dancers
posed or tired
on a wooden floor

Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen

Line

Sheets On A Line, #1
Originally uploaded by vajra.

once you could walk from
here to the end of the block
fences connecting
children balancing to gaze
into backyards and sheds
sheets bleached in the sun
hot as an iron
flattening everything
into a clean
clear
line

Follow Through

I planted the forced narcissi (just love that plural) in an old chipped pot on the front porch. All directions point to hope.

Seven Stanzas at Easter by John Updike

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that–pierced–died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

Delicious Dinner: French Potato Salad

Salmon Salade Niçoise

2 pounds small red potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed and cut in 1/4" slices
2 Tablespoons salt
1 medium garlic clove, peeled and threaded on skewer
1 1/2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground bblack pepper
2 Tablespoons minced shallot and/or chives
1 Tablespoons minced parsley
1 Tablespoon fresh tarragon
1 onion diced
5 stalks celery diced
1/4 cup capers, rinsed and drained

Place potatoes in a pan of cold water with the salt added. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium. Lower garlic into simmering water and blanch, about 45 seconds. Run garlic under cold water and set aside. Simmer potatoes, uncovered, until tender but still firm. Drain potatoes reserving 1/4 c. cooking water. Arrange potatoes in in a single layer on rimmed baking sheet.

Press garlic through garlic press. Whisk garlic, reserved potato cooking water, vinegar, mustard, oil, and pepper in small bowl until combined. Drizzle dressing evenly over war potatoes; let stand @ 10 minutes.

Toss onions, celery, capers and herbs in small bowl. Add cooked salmon (flaked or small chunks). Transfer potatoes to large serving bowl; add salmon/onion/herb mixture and mix gently with rubber spatula. Serve.

Evening

Callas At Evening, #7
Originally uploaded by vajra.

evening silent
with winter chill birds and bugs
wait to drink their song

Narcissus

Encouraged by my conversations on small gardening with Lessie, I'm taking the narcissus bulbs that I forced last month, and planting them in the garden. If they don't come back, well, I enjoyed them in February. If they do bloom again: yea!

Quite Contrary

I'm trying an experiment. It seems appropriate for Lent because it requires discipline. Lots of discipline. I saved three white plastic jars and have now planted teeny weeny succulents in them. The discipline will be to refrain from watering them until the soil is completely dried out. There are no drain holes. Only hope. Hope, because if it works they will be neat for brightening up a small corner. And with no drain holes they will not damage furniture

Little Red Book

Little Red Book
Originally uploaded by vajra.

red sun's frail afternoon
rays let me write my name on
your gold aurora

Cat Friday

Nice Roll
Originally uploaded by vajra.

A Camellia Like A Peony

A Camellia Like A Peony
Originally uploaded by vajra.

so pink and petaled
at ruffled core
let me touch yo
lovely camellia

Abstract and Brief

Only In Siberia, #5
Originally uploaded by vajra.

sun behind clouds
light but no warmth
plum petals litter the sidewalk
and magnolias hurry to full before
the roses now leafing out
with red leaves now
and then green
push their buds
to full
and here
a happy poppy
or rather
I happy
and
a
poppy

Lunching With Margaret

The Day That The Rains Came, #5
Originally uploaded by vajra.

we met for lunch
happy to see each other
news and children
where we have been
and where we hope to go
our days now separate
when once we sat
next by next
desk
or in the rather seedy
court rooms
with clients
waiting
outside while we
spoke for

something

I now forget what it was
though I don't forget her
how happy
to see her
today

Haiga

Cup Of Gold, #6
Originally uploaded by vajra.

white spathe curls around
itself curve upon curving arc
my heart's nautilus

Turning In

Turning In
Originally uploaded by vajra.

late night typing words
calling memories to mind
and in morning dreams
this day's joyful mysteries
fade with faint traces
of sand and honey