.
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
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
Russia, Moscow region, Ramensky area. Winter pine wood, near Lake Kratovskoe: photo by Aleks G, 9 January 2012
Colostygia aqueata, Großer Buchstein @ approx. 850 m, Gesäuse National Park, Styria, Austria: photo by Kurt Kulac, 21 July 2011
Saharan Horned Viper aka Horned Desert Viper (Cerastes cerastes), Stuttgart Zoological Garden: photo by H. Krisp, 2 December 2011
Colostygia pectinataria (la Cidarie verdâtre -- the Green Carpet), Hainaut, Belgium: photo by Entomart, 18 May 2006
Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), Lisbon Zoo: photo by Alfonsopazpoto, 14 July 2005
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
Frost on fallen leaves, London: photo by Paul Smith, 7 December 2008
Frost on plant leaves in the Himalayas: photo by Markrosenrosen, 13 October 2008
December frost in Sweden: photo by Sigurdas, 21 December 2007
A winter forest scene near the village of Erzhausen, Germany. Looking eastward: photo by Ingolfson, December 2007
Glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) on ice: photo by Alastair Rae, 2005
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
maybe this is not wise ...but: "the pics are wonderful !!!"
ReplyDeleteTom,
ReplyDeletefaint 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
This is a very beautiful poem.
ReplyDeletebright patch shot
through
with night
The first three words of the stanza are so sharp, distinct, then the dark's dye seeping.
That bright patch shot through with night . . . that seems both the essence of adaptation and of ourselves.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is just that
ReplyDeleteBeautiful.
Many thanks, friends.
ReplyDeleteThe 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).