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Tuesday 1 January 2013

Adaptation


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File:Dry Etosha Pan.jpg

A sight of dry, hot and salt-encrusted Etosha pan over the parched savannah in Namibia. The air in the background is hot, very shimmering and dusty. The tree is an acacia tortilis: photo by Alchemist-hp, 21 October 2011



To stand out against the sand
not

to stand out against the rock

I've never wanted not

to blend
into shade, the animal inside said

all round the edges then, cold 

grey world, grey
frosted light

bright patch shot
through

with night

faint shadowed wing
flattened on the window
growing



File:Russia. Moscow Region. Winter pine wood, lake Kratovskoe area.JPG


Russia, Moscow region, Ramensky area. Winter pine wood, near Lake Kratovskoe: photo by Aleks G, 9 January 2012

File:Colostygia aqueata Buchstein01.jpg


Colostygia aqueata, Großer Buchstein @ approx. 850 m, Gesäuse National Park, Styria, Austria: photo by Kurt Kulac, 21 July 2011

File:Hornviper Cerastes cerastes.jpg

Saharan Horned Viper aka Horned Desert Viper (Cerastes cerastes), Stuttgart Zoological Garden: photo by H. Krisp, 2 December 2011


File:Colostygia pectinataria01.jpg

Colostygia pectinataria
(la Cidarie verdâtre -- the Green Carpet), Hainaut, Belgium: photo by Entomart, 18 May 2006


File:Flamingo rubro-Phoenicopterus ruber ruber.jpg

Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), Lisbon Zoo: photo by Alfonsopazpoto, 14 July 2005

File:Харьковская белка 2. Маскировка в листьях.jpg

Common squirrel in oak leaves. Protective coloration allows it to merge with the oak leaves. Kharkov Forest Park, Ukraine: photo by Dennis Markov, 9 May 2007



Iguana, blending in with the rocks on St. Thomas: photo by Howard33, 15 January 2010


Lizard, Oregon: photo by Seattle.roamer, 26 July 2009


Lesser Sand Plovers (Charadrius mongolus): photo by Cisticola, 20 April 2009


Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), Carson River, Lyon County, Nevada: photo by fugie, 28 April 1984



Fusco marginatus, Vilnius, Lithuania: photo by Lukas Jonaitis, 30 May 2009

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Frost_on_fallen_leaves.jpg/1024px-Frost_on_fallen_leaves.jpg


Frost on fallen leaves, London: photo by Paul Smith, 7 December 2008

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Frost_on_leaves.jpg/1024px-Frost_on_leaves.jpg


Frost on plant leaves in the Himalayas: photo by Markrosenrosen, 13 October 2008


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/2007_December_frost_in_Sweden.jpg/1024px-2007_December_frost_in_Sweden.jpg


December frost in Sweden: photo by Sigurdas, 21 December 2007
 
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Winter_Forest_Near_Erzhausen_II.jpg/1280px-Winter_Forest_Near_Erzhausen_II.jpg


A  winter forest scene near the village of Erzhausen, Germany. Looking eastward: photo by Ingolfson, December 2007

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Glacous_Gull_on_ice.jpg

     
Glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) on ice: photo by Alastair Rae, 2005

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Langaa_egeskov_rimfrost.jpg/1280px-Langaa_egeskov_rimfrost.jpg

Oak forest (Quercus robur) shaped by grazing animals at Langå, Denmark -- a very cold day with frosting mist in January: photo by Malene Thyssen, 27 January 2006

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe this is not wise ...but: "the pics are wonderful !!!"

STEPHEN RATCLIFFE said...

Tom,

faint shadowed wing
flattened on the window

A lovely poem on New Year's Day, echoed (or as echo of) the wide world of these photos -- from Etosha pan in Namibia to oak forest in Denmark.


1.1

light coming into sky above black plane
of ridge, waning white moon by branches
in foreground, wave sounding in channel

letters recorded in revised
edition, part of body

which establishes it, being
it, such that this is

silver line of sun reflected in channel,
white cloud in pale blue sky on horizon

Mose23 said...

This is a very beautiful poem.

bright patch shot
through
with night

The first three words of the stanza are so sharp, distinct, then the dark's dye seeping.

Hazen said...

That bright patch shot through with night . . . that seems both the essence of adaptation and of ourselves.

vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras) said...

Yes, it is just that
Beautiful.

TC said...

Many thanks, friends.

The long cold night here shot through with that dark dyeing, that shadowed wing flattened on the curtained window, growing (objects of concentration, whether internalized or externalized a matter of debate, purely internal).