Tuesday, February 10, 2015

rime or reason

the gentlest curve of snowfall
looks to my eye like a curve of bone
salvaged from the woods
at the site of coyote kill.
way off in the corn field
the ladies line dance
to the tippy frigid cold
keeping balance precariously.
or is that me,
balancing sanity and foolishness
in this gray?
they seem to come closer
but my camera is playing the trick
and the lack of light 
and the snowfall
turn it into another kind of grain
the next day
still gray
but less airborne snow
and more earthbound snow
and corn ladies deeply bound.
i can get a little more personal
say a howdy
and shiver.
(my neck shivering despite the silk)
the weirdest snowfall left
rime
icing in the bitter cold.
a rain freezing
left another kind of trace
a powdery gray
on the grandmother maple.
rime.
umber gray on blue gray
gray and gray and then this afternoon
 late,
the sun shone
dancing on the weird snow carvings.
bringing out some colors 
through my window.
next week is winter break.
i'm grateful.

28 comments:

  1. poor you, poor corn ladies. It will take more than silk to combat that cold. so when is SPRING break??

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  2. sue, thank you
    jean, winter break then, just before easter, spring break. between, all of march. which i love.

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  3. You and the ladies are beautiful.

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  4. that cornfield is just fabulous. year-round inspiration and delight

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  5. melissa, those ladies surely are, i hope i sometimes am
    india, these corn ladies dance all over the place around here. one day, if i'm brave enough, they might teach me.

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  6. Your corn dancers are so interesting, bit scary in some ways. I can imagine them wandering and dancing in the dark of night.

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  7. penny, you reminded me "somehow" of my old mare who was afraid of round hay bales and big rocks in the woods. i wonder how she would have felt about the ladies?!

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  8. those subtle colors easing you into spring. perhaps.

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  9. the picnic table submerged in snow reminds me so much of my desperate walks on fort drum. i don't miss that! but i miss you. :)

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  10. neki, they say no for at least another week, but phil said 6 more weeks...could be till may.......
    aimee, so much more snow this year than then. but then, cleveland knows snow.

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  11. Beautiful words, and amazing winter photos. I posted some photos of the summer day we had today in LA at saltairandpistachios.com. We really miss out though, not having a real change of seasons, and experiencing everything covered in snow and the way the air must feel.

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  12. You have managed to find such beauty there Velma and describe it so well. Those ladies - they make me smile! The sun on the snow, the snow on the branches; it must be sooo cold, Wishing you a warm and friendly break next week.

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  13. V - whilst snow = cold, cold and more cold it has such beautiful way of softening the landscape and offering the opportunity for contrasts. Thanks for braving the cold and sharing the images. Stay warm. B

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  14. barbara, those springtime pictures are so bright and beautiful...it will be that way here in a few months time! and the air is exquisite here. really.
    fiona and barry, it was about a year ago that we actually met and enjoyed an evening...all this snow is actually very very good for the land, so i'm far happier with it than i am when we have little. the ladies send their greetings!

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  15. I love these photos and the cornstalks really do look like some sort of mysterious beings doing a strange dance....

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  16. The corn ladies looked like a row of tipis from afar... Have a great break! Long winter, we will appreciate spring, even me who STILLS loves winter though everyone else looks at me with horrow when I say it.

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  17. sharmon, oh, they ARE!!!
    valerie, i still love it, too, in spite of the cold and snow
    scares

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  18. you are having such A Deep Winter Velma!

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  19. Just beautiful images Velma... oh so cold for you... always the poet! Lovely!

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  20. sophie, blushing, you are such a wizard with words, this is praise indeed.

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  21. Sculpture and artwork all around you. Am envious. Looks sublime.

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  22. susan, it's sublime and wickedly cold.

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  23. haha, I made up a word... horrow... just about sums it up, I guess.

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