on a city street

 A chill fog touches

the gray sidewalk.

A tall woman and a tiny girl,

hand in hand, move slowly.

At the corner, a long pause,

perhaps a rest.

The girl looks up.

In slow grace

the woman bends forward,

kisses the child.

(c) Duff Axsom, 2013

petals on a bough

The small bird

let a chirp

from its beak:

    I heard

woodnotes, whin-

gold, sudden.

The Lagan 

    blackbird.

The Blackbird of Belfast Lough

(Early Irish poem) The title of this post is from Seamus Heaney,

who sees a similarity between ancient Irish poetry and haiku.

"this worldness. ... Both are alert to their physical surroundings yet possess a strong sense of another world to which poetry promises access. In each case, it’s as if the poet is caught between the delights of the contingent and the invitations of the transcendent."

corners of the sky

'It is in the wild places, 

where the edge of the earth 

meets the corners of the sky, 

the human spirit is fed.'

                                          Art Wolfe, nature photographer

The photo is one that I took near Pelican Bay where the edge and corners meet.

the spirit runs, intermittently

Water’s my will and my way,

And the spirit runs, intermittently,

In and out of the small waves,

Runs with the intrepid shore birds─

How graceful the small before danger!

                                 Theodore Roethke

These marvelous birds were dancing for me at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

the edges of time

I saw this astoundingly perfect line of poetry yesterday and it reminded me of one of my favorite photos from a couple of years ago. Not quite the small stone observation of the past month, but wanted to share it.

Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf

                                                                                Rabindranath Tagore, from The Gardener

Perhaps it is time to share some of my favorite photos over the next weeks and lines of poetry from some of the wonderful poets that have been in my life. Or, a few poems of my own.

Small Stone: January 31, 2013

No deep, pensive observations today.

As we come to the end of our January

mindful writing community, it seems

appropriate to walk hand in hand toward

the next challenge. Thanks to everyone

for all your great posts and for visiting

with me here. Until we meet again….

the Sunday group? I plan to keep "mindful"

at least once a week. Hope we can all

hang out together in 2013.

Small Stone: January 30, 2013

The January Small Stones project is coming to an end tomorrow.

Looking back over my daily “stones”, I am struck by how

often my observations become a reflection of my

own inner processes, questions and even turmoil.

I truly question if this is ego or an attempt to really

connect with my environment, the people I encounter

and the joys and sadness of the world I inhabit. 

More to be learned.

This photo was taken today at the Martin Luther King memorial in San Francisco. A place for thoughtful remembrance and reflection. Bright sun, afternoon shadows and reflection.