Leaving the pine shade,

sun glares on sandstone outcrop,

warm wind rattles reeds.

 Nonsoon heat ripples.

Down shaded rocks, under pines, 

breeze like cool water.

 The pale mesas

flecked with green, crowned in blue.

Winter Wupatki.

 Backyard bushwacking

Sunflowers sway and glow

as I search for potatoes.

 Ponderosa shadows,

     stretched on eye-watering snow.

Raven lands, blinking.

 AM: Delicate fingers in

          ice-lace, roaming.

PM: Cold concrete remains. 

 Tick-tock of snow 

on my tea flask; Lnick-knock

of Flicker on frosted bark. 

 Whump, thump, of snowy

     waterfalls thundering from pines. 

Then, just my breath.

Soft white eruption:

         cattail seeds rush on their way,

         in Autumnal light.

 Sharp fresh apple crunch

stills the avian chit-chat

in the copper cattails.

   Mountain chickadee

tells the same story: oak leaves

crisp-gold or newly-green

clouds capture sunset, 

we sit, sharing stories;

       choosing my words carefully

 Step child of Transport;

     frayed, faded, making do...

     and small acts of kindness.

 Two up, two down, brown

      Bricks nestled in a line.

I swiftly pass by.

Golden wood borders

autumnal remains of corn. 

Geese watch me pass. 

 Dinosaurs hunting

the edge of a lake.

   Wings spread, they call to the sky.

 Sable Kansas sky -

no stars to contemplate,

horn blows as sleep comes.

Silver silos squat

by frost-flecked fields,

  dawn light winks as we roll past.

 Black crow pops, spirals

         from rolling golden stubble.

Engine dust swirls past.

 Orange and pink melding

on the edge of silent black;

clacking toward the dawn.