Rylee McNiff

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Read a beautifully written poem by this young person this morning on Rattle.

The submission process asks: Why do you like to write poetry? The answer: Rylee McNiff: “Because when it rains on the 4th of July but you still light sparklers on the porch while your dad reads a James Patterson novel.”

What a wonderful response!

Excerpt:
i’m dizzy. i’m dizzy all the time.
i take in the breath you left behind
stash it under my tongue—
suck on your toothbrush
like a man and his dip

The rest is here:
https://www.rattle.com/my-name-is-love-and-im-an-amputee-by-rylee-mcniff/

Secret Escape

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Oh my daughter
By light’s waning do I see you fly.

Under the cover of secrecy
Does the heart push us to risk and danger.

How many times
Must I die this death?

To quell the strength
Of authority and dominion
The realm of balance
Tears at the heart.

Love has no bounds,
Is strongest when silent
And most practical
When spoken
Only in the right moment

Yeah….not sure why this ekphrastic went here. Both of our daughters left the nest some time ago. Just a memoir I suppose.

Photo is a multiple exposure using a cheap $150 mirror lens. Fun, but a fairly steep learning curve.

Mission Trails – A Walk in the Park

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In December, it will be ten years since I put this photo-book together. It was a labor of love for the regional park that has inspired so much of my photography.
It was also part of a charitable drive. Proceeds from those initial sales were forwarded to the Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation.
There are many projects floating around in my head at the moment. “Start painting again….finish mounting current prints…write more music….make more nature videos…create more nature videos with music….produce more instructional videos for photography.”
And now….update “A Walk In The Park” with “A Walk In The Park II.”
The cover photograph was made before I jumped into multiple exposures. It is a long exposure piece made with many filters to slow down the shutter. When this is applied to the work, light becomes clay in the hands of the photographer and the camera can be moved around at will (with intention, not hap-hazard).
The original is linked below for review.

Twilight

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We walk lightly
Among the driven
Out of place
Out of step
Perceptibly
Standing in place

Weak
Simple
Amused by the banal

Ignoring
The trends
Unglued
From the screen
Unchained

We understand
Happiness
Is a lie
Certainly never found
In another
Who should ever carry that weight
Of selfishness

Joy
Is not an outcome
Of circumstance
But of perception
A firm grasp
Of the reality
Of the human experience
And the application of perseverance
To grow something
From the smallest of seeds

I am old, (but not real old) and have found that the requirement of a positive happenstance for happiness is a ruse mostly perpetuated by commercial advertising.

Wild Buckwheat

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Days are warm and the grasses have faded to brown.
Such is the harbinger for the beautiful buckwheat bush plant.

It covers vast areas of flat fields and hillside chaparral and has proliferated due to the steady rains we received his season. These plants burst open with little pink/white flowers en masse. Their drought resistance empowers them as an environmental mainstay to the typical California climate.

Even more wonderful is how buckwheat support bees. The over-abundance of the flowers ensures busy bees have a good supply of nectar for their hives! The fields light up and bee support are a win/win scenario in my book.

As summer wears on, these flowers will turn a rust red. All stages of the colors make for some dreamy compressed photography.

California buckwheat is edible and was a staple for the indigenous Kumeyaay tribes within this region.