In the shade of the baobab tree
boto drivers wait to give rides
slim cattle rest from the sun
there are children who sit briefly
watching the cars and trucks
as the dust flies up
and the old men sit in their chairs
or walk further down the road
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NaPoWriMo Day 7 prompt to write a list poem
I am travelling to Mombasa with maybe five hours of sleep over two days. Delays, delays, delays and not sure I really slept at all. The movies keep me entertained. The food is okay.
The gritty leg from Doha to Nairobi, I see the desert beneath me and the three small children traveling with their mother let out sounds like a mad cat. They cry and moan sometimes in an echo of the other and sometimes in unison. This cacophony lasts for the duration.
let out a howl
unpleasant in the pleasant
changing of seasons
Turquoise water—
God or weather had made the way
for what could have been brown with silt
but not on this day—
clear was the Little Colorado River
as it careened past quick sand
past boulders
and sacred places
into the confluence
of rivers
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dVerse prompt to write a quadrille using the word careen, Learn more about this sacred place
https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/grand-canyon-little-colorado-river-native-voices
These are the ants that I read about in school and finally see them in Ghana.
Balance huge tray
of bananas on your head
to sell on the busy street
street commerce
cars waiting
people selling their product
cool breeze
Liberation Road
by the airport
tomorrow City Center
I turn a rock
earthworm wiggles away
I turn a rock
see a salamander shine
I turn a rock
soft mossy side now down
I turn a rock
expose it to the light
Travelling with the storm perched over the canyon we head to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon both going there the storm moving faster along the rim while we drive over the plateau happy to be dry in these moments arriving at the campground everything is wet but the storm has passed the sky clears revealing the colors of layers of chiseled rock lit by the setting sun
Two years later I travel that same road there is no storm but snow is on the ground where the Cat Fire burned last summer we watched it burning from deep in the canyon hotshot fire fighters called in helicopters fly in and out delivering their load plumes of smoke rise over the Kaibab Forest we float safe on the water of the Colorado River and smell the air from 8,200 feet above now the snow covered ground hides the char of the Cat Fire black surrounds the base of these ponderosa pines others are burned completely pinyon junipers pine needles scrub brush 4500 acres burnt from a lightning strike
Two California Condor on the ledge
young ones with faces to the cliff
it was a cold night
after warming up they will fly
if you hear the wings pound
watch them soar
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Saw these condor when walking the Navajo Bridge
In March we make our move out of the state of Texas. Head southwest towards the border, a northerly keeps us cold and provides a tail wind. I want to see the border for myself. I want to eat tamales and count butterflies along the Rio Grande.
Tomorrow we will go on towards Davis Mountain and see the stars. If the temperatures rise, we will swim in a spring fed pool but it is March. The weather is unpredictable and we go day by day hoping for some sunshine.
freeze in South Texas
tornadoes in Alabam
flee to promised sun
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dVerse prompt on March Madness
surely GOD is here
Temple of Sinawava
more than a legend
wordshophop 