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Monday, February 29, 2016

Life's A Rush

blur lake caroline gerardo
Life's A Rush  Caroline Gerardo
Day break
Life's a rush
passing lane 
robin fell from cloud
red breast signs of cheer
a greeting of spring
  boys are prettier
 digging the front garden 
What got him?
 a crow 
West Nile 
 drought
peaceful, 
yes full
Robin poem Caroline Gerardo
saving cibachrome 
appears less sad
iphone 4 is my camera
shopping for a drone
to fly.

Soar
dart and carbon wind
speed will stabilize
high above the lake
where gnats swarm
my robin need only
open his beak
to enjoy
a fill of 
mossy
life


lake kaweah poem

lake kaweah poem rush caroline gerardo

lake poem
Caroline Gerardo copyright 2/29/2016   Lake Kaweah

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Snow Creek Trail


yosemite ice poem

yosemite ice poem

bandy leg hike snow poem


















Bandy Leg Hike Yosemite

By Snow Creek Trail
Bears won't bother
Busy camp trash cans
Breath ice air azurite
Balsam warm views
Beauty feeds souls
Bottom river blue

Caroline Gerardo
2/26/2016
Copyright

snow creek trail poem

Felton Bridge Poem


felton bridge poem
Paradise Park Bridge

Smell Fulton sulfur.
Hercules blew a fuse.
Willow, madrone, alder 
render black powder.
Creek of wood,
ache of river,
wind dry below.
Char the past.
Bullet light halos
recall 
leave trace elements
in the ground.

Caroline Gerardo 2/27/2016 copyright


felton bridge light poem

felton bridge creek poem

felton bridge wood

Friday, February 26, 2016

Good and Bad Passes Fast

almond orchard bloom

He's sick miles away ~
roads, trees, steps ~
He's in college ~
doesn't want me to drive ~
flying is expensive...
Arranged rental car
to arrive the morning
of his Doctor Visits
Say a prayer
not for  traveler
but for 
good kind son.
Worry's an achy nag
bits of sand and petals
in walking shoes.
Keep eyes
on positive horizon.
Almonds bloom for a week.
Good and bad passes fast


Caroline Gerardo copyright 2/26/16




Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Mourning 6th Street Bridge

sixth street bridge before demolition
Mourning Sixth Street Bridge.
Grabbed days to hike in Sequoia - a poem - story to follow.
No equipment at REI everyone expecting local snow- wrong- Drove route around Los Angeles to Burbank Sport Chalet. On the return trip, dread grew approaching the intersection of Interstate 5  60 and 10 Freeways. The crowded part where traffic slows at the Brewery made me hold my breath as if in a tunnel wishing. I moved forward in my seat to view a pile of rubble. Thought about taking pictures, did not, I grabbed rocks. Display them as relics, Holy Foreskin in a vitrine.
You think that sacrilegious before Easter. It is not. I will have them blessed  when I'm back.

In 1983 I lived above LACE on Industrial Street. L.A. now has a District name for everywhere. Art District, K- Town for samples. Back then Little Tokyo didn't have condos or fancy hotels. I drove a 1970's Corolla with no radio and a bit of bondo- nothing worth stealing. Sunny days I rode my bike across the bridge to work in Boyle Heights. After painting at night for hours I met friends for a night cap at Yee Mee Loo's, also gone to rubble.
You think it strange for a tiny girl to ride about. It was not. I carried a permit to pack.

Is nothing sacred or beautiful? Could we not have bolstered it up with patches of wire and
called it a pedestrian path? The Walking District. The bridge connected East Side to the Fashion District (glorious name for seedy Santee Alley) and the shrinking Flower Market.
Aren't there jobs there? Maybe not important. I miss the 6th Street Bridge.

Who gets that bronze plaque?








Monday, February 15, 2016

Marshmallow

roasting marshmallow poem

Marshmallow Memory Poem



High School French Teacher asks class,
"Any word you need translated?"
"Professeur de Madame s'il vous plaît dites-moi 
comment dire marshmallow en français?"
She looks at me strangely.
"Ask another question," is her answer.

There is a french word.
She never enjoyed the sweet
smoky taste of perfect roasted
guimauve.


Joy of beach palette fire.
Fetch near the dumpsters.
Haul hangs out of the trunk
pray Sheriff doesn't spot with
the wood bumping in the back.
Seven girls and five seat belts.
Before videos of crash dummies.
Friends protect sugar from fire.
Sparks flash to the night sky.
Chic hand me downs.
Tissue pad the bra.
Pray Valentine arrives.
There's a Saint for that.
Posse jammed in a Plymouth Valient
are Princesses in their own right
makers of finest Parisian guimauve.
marshmallow french guimauves
Caroline Gerardo Guimauve Poem 2/15/2016 Copyright



Bee Waterfall




waterfall poem video caroline gerardo
Road trip past.

Recognize what
haunts mind.

A daylight
koi circle, as
fountains with
no font head or end
can't change.

Answer doubt
with planned fixes.
Return puppy
understand
delphinium isn't
poison foxglove.

Reunion perfume attracts bees
light, exercise, healthy
pollen and positive self vision kicks in change.

Stray hops in car for a ride, confused and cold.
Worker male bees sleep out in open.
They dream while snoozing on flowers.

Open window fly ~ fearless soul of sweet honey ~ you can do it too.

Caroline Gerardo 2/17/2016 Copyright #haiku #poetry and #photographs

delphinium flowers poem caroline gerardo


bee poem

Follow Caroline's board Organic Gardening on Pinterest.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Valentine



Sunset Valentine ~ seaweed instead of flowers ~ sending lots of love.

#haiku
Caroline Gerardo 2/13/2016
this card



Happy Valentine's Day




Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Grove Haiku


grove cut down haiku caroline gerardo

Grove cut to bare stumps ~ roots call hardwood to return ~ branches ignite sky.
#haiku
Copyright 2/ 2016 Caroline Gerardo




Follow Caroline's board Organic Gardening on Pinterest.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Glacier Carving


Glacier Carving Poem

Can you see a glacier carving?
Red tailed Hawk nabbed bunny in the garden
leaving orphaned rabbit.
Nub of fluff prefers radicchio to arugula.
Wouldn't mind if it was the other way around.
Arugula is a wild weed in my yard.

For now I'm letting it happen.
Wife with a cheating husband.
Been there done that.

Never check financials 
bit by bit one loses faith.

Liquidate stocks before the crash.

Hear that screeching of rocks moving.
Listen with heart open to
 liquid of boulder passing through.

red tailed hawk

glacier carving poem
Caroline Gerardo Images and Poetry Copyright February 2016

glacier carving caroline gerardo

Monday, February 8, 2016

Apple for the Pony

apple pony story
My last novel in progress Soothsayer is in the submission stage.
I'm waiting for answers from Publishers.
Query is not fun. My pitch is simple and straight.
Buy this book.
Put that coffee down C G - coffee is for closers.

Meanwhile I'm working on two short stories and
about 20000 words into the next long form novel.
The next novel, working title Missing is about
life after suicide.
One short is completed - the other just a draft.
By the time I have heard back from publisher
I will have the next book first draft and five short
stories for an anthology.

Images taken on Tejon Ranch. The landscape is
like the Great Drought the location of Soothsayer.
This brown pony found me hiking on the wrong
side of electric fences (also like the novel).
A Golden Pippin apple was in the bottom of my day pack.
I cut it in half thinking we would share then along
trotted another full sized mare. She got the other half.
Rather than hear solo footsteps echo I was joined by the
pals for about three miles until the end of the gate.
They let me give the horse a soft rub down the
ridge of her nose, a stroke and a nose to nose
with the pony.
As I walked on I could hear them call me to
return.
Wish I brought more than one treat for myself.

pony  drought novel
horse drought book caroline gerardo

pony drought book

Drought Book Gerardo

drought landscape ranch














apple extinct
Caroline Gerardo
Copyright 2/8/2016

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Fog Lifts


donkey tail plant
Seed Catalogs pile on the coffee table. 
Not throwing them out with the clutter purge, yet.
By this time of year I clone roses, clematis vines, 
and hydrangeas. Winter is seeds purchasing time. Start them in sunny
kitchen windows, then move gradually to the "greenhouse." 
Greenhouse doesn't have heat. Normally in Coastal California nights
don't freeze. Last couple, however; harsh dry winds and 
cold threatens to burn tender projects. Mild freeze turns chartreuse new
sprouts to red. Frost makes the cells turn to mush as if desiccated
then liquidated. The tingling feeling in fingers when exposed
to snow too long. 

Since the plan is in pen to sell and move I haven't traded seeds on
heirloom seed swap and garden web seed exchange. 
In the garage sit paper bags full of smaller brown parcels of seeds. 
An idea came to mind to plant them in my Mother's 
and sister's gardens in hopes they bloom
and produce seed for 2017 
when I plan to be settled in a new home. 
I'm downsizing from a huge high maintenance castle. 
I plan to rent for six months to a year.
Find the ideal cottage with a small yard. 
Everywhere I lived I changed an ugly plat or acreage into a stain glass church of flowers.
Come over before the smell of paradise disappears.
Will I stay here? Perhaps renting is a change that frees time.
No longer will I be weekend warrior.
Scrubbing the pool tile, painting ceilings or repairing plumbing. 
Did I tell you about the six foot glass panel shattering over the
pansies Sunday? I'm still picking up bits. 
Save Honey (Golden Retriever) from harm with tangled contraptions.

Will this give me the desire to fly? 
After living in suburbia and owning a ranch to give my children a great
life start maybe I will move to New York or back to London or Mumbai?

My necklace clasp hits cross and hair entwines. 
It's a sign.
Morning fog lifts. 
Time to pray for all.

Cells below fingernails have minuscule shards of glass.
Becoming a part of my spirit
It's not like sand in eye scratching.
It's that missing feeling when I think of my son at college.
Or when someone mentioned Lacrosse on Facebook.
No more running to High School games to work the stats.

But it's in my heart.
fog yosemite hike story
Fog before hiking Yosemite 2016 Caroline Gerardo

fog lifting yosemite
morning Yosemite snow and fog Caroline Gerardo

fog fence story
Chain link fence and morning sun

Caroline Gerardo Copyright 2/6/2016 
Empty Nest Thoughts


icon fog downsize