Pesticides?

On walk with neighbors
Earthworms washed from grassy bank
Already dead, dried

Rain gush or toxins?
Afraid I know the answer
No rain here for days

~dkm 43/365

Photo credit: Sara Cushing

Photo credit: Sara Cushing

Photo credit: Sara Cushing

Photo credit: Sara Cushing

Ordinary Day

Staggering power
Propels ant across sidewalk
Toting food to nest

Energy for the
Impossible every day
Lesson of the ant

~dkm 42/365

Fungi Kingdom 4

Distinctive mushrooms
Doing their work in the yard
Changing every day

From a third domain
Neither plant nor animal
The Fungi Kingdom

Decomposers all
Could they be harnessed? Made to
Do their work on call?

Has anyone asked
If mushrooms could save the earth?
Decompose plastic?

~dkm 41/365

Brown Caps Day 1

Brown Caps Day 3

Toadstool Day 1

Toadstool Day 3

Candy Corn Day 1

Candy Corn Day 3

Flat Tops Day 1

Flat Tops Day 3

Fungi Kingdom 3

New fungi on steps
Another like it in grass
Consuming earth's waste

If their only work
Is to clean house, I wonder
Why the stark beauty.

~dkm 40/365

Backyard Path 4

Stone steps, feral fern
Conductors to The Wayback
Birthplace of story

~dkm 39/365

Natural Born Legacy

My grandmother prayed
My mother gardened, I sit
Outside and listen

One daughter knits, one
Daughter paints, one daughter takes
A walk in the woods

Husband goes golfing
Grandson makes up piano riffs
Granddaughter runs track

Did we learn it from
The grandmother, or is it
Our very nature

To need a daily
Ritual of slow quiet time?
Spiritual practice

~dkm 38/365

Grandson contemplating in leaves

Backyard Path 3

Solo morning walk
Archway to decomposing
Armed with pail, pen, book

~dkm 37/365

American Goldfinch

Male finch feeding young
Regurgitating his food
Pumps his throat, then stabs

How moving to watch
Responsible bird fathers
Tending their fledglings

~dkm 36/365

Reward for Stillness

A whir and a buzz
A hummingbird hovering
Beside my right ear

~dkm 35/365

 shortly after ear buzz

Fungi Kingdom 2

The morning after
One rainy night in Georgia
Two odd new fungi

Dull brown in green grass
Tri-color in brown compost
Summer surprises

~dkm 34/365

At Lake Jackson

Mayflies swarm from lake
To live, mate, lay eggs, and die
In just one day

Nymphs wait for a year
In mud at bottom of lake
Till adults emerge

Mayflies have no mouths
Don't live long enough to eat
Need only to mate

Mayflies on screen door
Indicate healthy water
Good news, Lake Jackson!

~dkm 33/365

American House Spider

Her work of one day
Choose place, weave web, wait for prey
Silk gauze on birdhouse

~dkm 32/365

Backyard Path 2

The lure of a path

Seduction to the unknown

Words yet to be found

~dkm 31/365

Backyard Path 1

Three short steps to where?
To cleaning out the birdbath?
To a basketball?
~dkm 30/365

Late summer

Round Peg/Square Hole

Holes left in his wake
Pileated woodpecker
Rectangular shaped

Pecked out at the base
Apparently healthy tree
Why the woodpecker?

Magnificent bird

Name has seven syllables
Perfect for haiku
~dkm 29/365

2019, old scar

2012, first sighting

Chosen Cloud

Existential angst

Life happens, restricting choice

Waiting for ice cream

~dkm 27/365

"Chosen Cloud," named by 11-yr-old Nick

Dawning Day

The art of morning
Could a painter improve this
Balanced harmony?

~dkm 26/365

Neighbor's oak tree with coffee

Daily Double Take

Through kitchen window
Perching on the banister
Little yellow bird
~dkm 25/365

Trick by Moe and Nick

Dear Baltimore Oriole

Cornell Lab confirms
That yes you breed in Georgia
That you stay hidden

That fruit will lure you
Orange halves, waiting, wasting
Forever hopeful

~dkm 24/365

Templeton Square

A study in three
Fresh, rotting, rotten & rich
Composting corner

Birth, life, death, decay
Again to nourish new growth
Earth's elegant plan

Rotten & rich pile
Sweet-smelling as summer rain
Ready for garden

Morning ritual
Burying the kitchen scraps
Nice start to a day

~dkm 23/365