beauty and motion

bursting energy
The conditions that prevail in early spring up here at 7500 feet aren't necessarily flowers and blossoms. We watch for other signs. Baby is ten months old now, nearly the same size as her mother and four aunties. When the weather changes, scent of rain or snow on the wind, she runs wildly, kicks up dirt, brakes, turns sharply, deliberately misses the others by inches. I can almost hear her laughing. She is a beautiful package of strength, youth and exuberance. It's not easy to catch her in my lens (don't you love those white socks!).

another cup of coffee
Recent days have been ultra busy as I meet a couple of deadlines and make final decisions this month on the 20th anniversary edition of the SOMOS anthology, Chokecherries. April and May are generally two of the busiest months of the year for me due to the annual anthology, but with a couple of other commitments thrown in, it's nearly overload. Walking in the park helps and it's what I did yesterday to clear my head and move my sedentary body -- after which I crossed the street to browse sock yarn at Moxie (no new yarns) and then spent an hour at Coffee Spot writing in my notebook.

Also finished reading the new poetry collection from Lawrence Ferlinghetti who is 94 years old and still writing and painting. In his own words, the book is "a fragmented recording of the American stream-of-consciousness, always westward streaming, a people's poetic history..." (New Directions, 2013). The cover is one of his own paintings and looks and feels like canvas.

The long poems are interspersed with prose that sweeps decades and warns about the coming of Big Brother (already here?). Ferlinghetti's prolific output makes me hopeful for those of us who are piling on the years. I'm sure he would say: keep working! never stop creating! One of his poems will be included this year in Chokecherries and I'm excited! I met him several years ago in San Francisco at City Lights Books. I was with my BB friend whose stepfather, Peter Martin, founded the shop with him decades ago. LF was in his late 80s at the time I met him and he had a flirty sparkle in his blue eyes. We had a brief conversation and I've never quite forgotten the intensity of those eyes. The anthology will be out in early July and I'll keep you all informed. Meanwhile, go out and buy his book now.

Outside, a light rain descends on the city, silencing everything. It is as if silence itself were contained in the soft rain. Umbrellas blossom in it. There is a hush along the boulevards as it comes down.
(Lawrence Ferlinghetti, excerpt from "IV" in Time of Useful Consciousness)