December 31: New Year's Eve

Pondering impermanence--

glass of fine bourbon

with Buddha ice cubes.

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December 30: Driving in winter

That moment before
car tires finally grip the ice--
how sweet, this short life.

December 29: First snowfall

long-awaited visitor--
awakened by
the patter of snow's feet

December 28: Year-end

Holiday's over--

sweeping up fir needles

after he takes out the tree.

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December 27: Cold rain

Within the cold rain

as we trudge into the gym--

cardinal's insistent chip.

 

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December 26: Boxing Day hike

We took advantage of the continued unseasonably warm weather to hike up Mount Battie today, grateful that it's just a short walk from our house to the trails of Camden Hills State Park.

Hiking Mount Battie
under Raven's beady eye--
we can see our house from here.

December 25: Christmas moon

Full moon on Christmas

made magical by dawn mist--

I miss my family.

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December 24: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve morning--

window cat and river

both unsettled by rain.

December 23:

Two days to go--

earthworms in sidewalk puddles,

pea soup fog hides the star.

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December 22: First day of winter

Cold rain falling

on the first day of winter.

Grateful for cookies.

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December 21: Museum of Fine Arts

Portrait by Rembrandt--

her curls so clearly painted

with the end of his brush.

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December 20: Sunday afternoon

Holiday pageantry--

Bolshoi Ballet's Nutcracker,

Patriots game.

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December 19: Christmas Bird Count

We saw some rare birds today during our annual Christmas Bird Count in the Rockland (ME) area (errant Yellow-throated Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, possible Pacific Loon--check the range maps to understand our excitement), but to me the coolest spectacle of the day was coming upon a crow roost just before sunset.

Swirling masses of crows
gather at their evening roost--
thus darkness falls.

December 18: Climate change

Lingering warbler.
Bright yellow-and-green pool toy
caught in an eddy.

December 17: Theory of Relativity

wet highway at night

chain of unending taillights

let's call it festive

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December 16: Advent

Tree lights plugged in, candles lit,

December moon waxing--

each night a gift.

December 15: Christmas stollen

Marzipan Christmas stollen--
I still miss my Nana
gone thirty years.

December 14: Purple

On the compost pile

uprooted kale, bright purple

almost a flower

 

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December 13: High tide

 

 

brimming harbor high tide

we skirt waves both ways

on the edge of green depths

 

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December 12: Warm spell

Sunlit morning,

shadows of crows passing over

the still-green lawn.

 

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December 11: Update

Noticed a friend had changed his relationship status this morning to "In a complicated relationship." That phrase can sum up so much in this complex, confusing, and ever-changing world.

 

December dandelions--

status update

to "it's complicated."

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December 10: No Trespassing

So much depends upon

the grey-shingled shed

full of firewood.

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December 9: Howe Hill

deer track hieroglyphs

marking the blueberry field

the color purple

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December 8: Consolation

Sunset before 4,

glorious hot pink and gold--

light another candle.

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December 7: Day at the beach

This morning I birded with my friend Derek at Reid State Park, which features two lovely, long, sandy beaches washed by sparkling surf. At one point in our ramble up the strand, a very loud ship's horn sounded. We later learned that this noise came from a new stealth destroyer that had just launched and was headed out to open ocean from the Kennebec River. Earlier, we had seen people standing on the Bath bridge looking down on Bath Ironworks, where the ship had been built, obviously waiting for the launch. Derek had commented then that it cost over $1 billion to build; hard to reconcile a toy of war with such a bright and peaceful winter's day.

 

morning beach walk

we scan for sea ducks

new destroyer slips out to sea

 

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December 6: O Tannenbaum

Selling Christmas trees--

hands smelling like balsam sap

the rest of the day.

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December 5: Christmas-by-the-Sea

Harborside tree
full of yellow apples--
thought they were ornaments.

December 4: Birthdays

Today is the birthday of both my co-worker Susan and my best friend Susan, who lives in Vermont.

Eating chocolate cake
to celebrate one Susan,
thinking of another.

December 3: Five for silver

Making a racket

heedless of the pouring rain--

shiny, joyous crows.

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December 2: Dutch Masters

I've been reading the catalog for the current show at the MFA Boston, "Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer," which we hope to see in person in the next few weeks. I've also been engaging closely with several specific paintings from the Dutch Golden Age for a poetry project, soaking up the luminous light and rich colors, flirting with the complex symbolism of a past time and place, and becoming familiar with ordinary humans painted extraordinarily well.

Hours with Dutch paintings
transform the bleak afternoon--
chiaroscuro.

December 1: Flight

Over Hannaford

two herons flying to roost

while I lug groceries.

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November 30: Wood-stoves are lit

Neighbor's chimney-top glows

under the Big Dipper--

thoughts for a poem.

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November 29: Make a wish

Field of milkweed--

wishing on each drifting seed

for the Monarchs' return.

 

 

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November 28: The Goldfinch, that lovely muted winter plumage version

Spray of goldfinches

in the garden gone to seed--

pondering middle age.

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November 27: Beech Hill

Along the trail up--

sharing fragrant bayberries

with an amazed child.

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November 26: Thanksgiving Day

Before the family feast

I beat a nine-year-old

at the Game of Life.

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November 25: Frost Moon

Wearing a sleep mask

to keep out the moon--

feeling my age tonight.

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November 24: Almost full

Never satisfied--
this moon slowly climbing up
the cold mountainside.

November 23: First snow

Winter's first snowfall--

cardinal melts a red streak

through the cold morning.

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November 22: Driving home from Vermont

Several hawks in trees,
road-killed deer off 89--
this world's dangerous.

November 21: Night out with old friends

Moon a frosty blur

we stop and notice

before we share hot sake.

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November 20: Camel's Hump

Camel's Hump is the second highest mountain in Vermont's Green Mountains, and its peak has a unique shape visible over many miles and familiar at first glance after many months or years.

 

Beyond parking lot,

highway buzz, traffic lights,

Camel's Hump simply is.

 

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November 19: As I drive to Vermont

Flock of turkeys

gleaning in the cornfield

a week before Thanksgiving.

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November 18: Moon over Rockland

Moon reflection, high window.

Down here below: me

and my pizza.

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November 17: Job training

My new co-worker tells me

three deer live in the woods

around our office.

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November 16: White as a gull's sunlit belly

In the right light

backdrop of clouds, gull in flight

makes me think angel.

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November 15: Safe

I escape in a book,

the cat's in a box:

ways we make ourselves safe.

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November 14: After the terrorist attacks in Paris

Un vent froid du nord.
Je pense aux trottoirs de Paris
entasses avec des fleurs.

November 13: Meteorologist at Pecha Kucha

On the weather map--

El Nino's colors and swirls,

work of an artist.

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November 12: Driving home in fog

Sweep of the airport light

all bright then all dark

late night conversation

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November 11: At the gym

In the gym mirror

all of us sweating, trying

to be better selves.

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November 10: And he's smiling about it

Up to his neck in leaves

Buddha of the garden

waits for snowfall.

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November 9: Open to winter

cold as the new moon

I write about Snowy Owls

wish it were that easy

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November 8: Sunday afternoon, autumn leaves

Crow a black arrow

shot from the oak tree.

I think, Umber, sienna.

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November 7: Heat

Cat moves through the house

from one vent to another

communing with heat.

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November 6: Falling leaves

Small brown bodies of leaves

fling themselves at my car,

make me flinch.

 

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November 5: Owl visitor

Camden village green--

a dozen raucous crows mobbing

one calm Barred Owl.

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