Morning

Morning thoughts, of birdsong and optimism
Mist and dew drops collecting as the sun rises
Overnight, the mulberry tree is laden with fruit
Dispensing morning glory in bite-sized increments
Settle down, be thankful for these small mercies

A light breeze courses through - refreshing, a revival
Crepuscular beasts vaguely going about their routines
Before humanity's predatory imposition visits these lands
Sensible, these early adaptations and background activities
Triumphant foraging, observe the contours of these proceedings

For if, for mankind, morning is a time of beginnings
To perceive the reverse of the coin, on coming to an end
For our counterparts, it is the dawn of our modernity
A stillness in time, a weighted pause for deliberation
We make to savor these quiet sparkling moments
Full of careless comfort and fleeting joy
Before, like them, we fall back down to earth

Morning, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note, one of my favorite playlists - there's something about the theme. (spotify version)

• Good Morning by Gregory Isaacs
• In the Morning by Omar
• Morning Glory by Jamiroquai
• Morning by Amel Larrieux
• Happier than the Morning Sun by Stevie Wonder
• Greatdayndamornin' by D'Angelo
• The Morning Papers by Prince
• The Morning After by Alexander O'Neal
• I Think I'll Call it Morning by Gil Scott-Heron
• Good Morning Heartache by Billie Holiday
• Morning Loving by Carleen Anderson
• Morning Sunrise by Twennynine featuring Lenny White
• Joy in the Morning by Alton Ellis
• Early in the Morning by The Gap Band
• Morning Bird by Sade
• Good Morning Blues by Count Basie

This note is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: culture, observation, perception, life, nature, sensory, lyricism, covidious, poetry, toli

Writing log: September 17, 2022

Celestial Visitor

Venus would appear in its first guise as a morning star
Paving the way for the sun to rise a few hours later
And casting a faint shadow in its greatest illuminated extent
A waxing crescent state in the predawn hours
The liminal twilight before sunrise

In modern times, adjustments were needed amidst the man-made glare
To favor eyes unaccustomed to discerning such distant objects
How best to perceive its shape during the fleeting apparition
The advice was to first stare at the receding horizon
To habituate the senses to behold the roving vision
For the eye to truly gather a full glimpse
We had to learn anew how to see the wonders of this world

Still, the ancients would take its journey as an omen
In their urge to understand the paths of nature's higher bodies
A reminder, in its elliptical motion, of the proper order of things
Mankind's gaze recorded that Venus would precede the sun

Thus it was their practice to wake at the crack of dawn
To savor the quality of the light of the early morning sun
And they would make sure that those bearing the very young
Would be shielded in the shadows from the later burning sun

And the word was passed down, the stories were retold across the ages
Grandmothers would explain as they called you in, mine would speak in this way:

Spirits are often contemplated in the dark, messengers of the night
And Venus, in its full grandeur, visits humanity before sunrise

Venus, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Morning Star by Stan Getz
• Venus Rising by Wallace Roney
• Morning Star by Jack DeJohnette's Directions
• Cumbia de Venus by La Sonora Norte
• Morning Star by Sarah Vaughan
• Venus by Lutan Fyah
• Morning Star by Johnny Clarke
• Venus Rising by Barry Osbourn
• Morning Star by The Scientist
• Venus Sunrise by Pranatronic
• Morning Star (Live) by Stan Getz
• Elliptical by Wallace Roney

Bonus beats: Happier than the morning sun by Stevie Wonder

File under: life, myth, culture, observation, perception, astronomy, appreciation, tradition, nature, poetry, toli

Writing log. June 9, 2022

Incipient Signs

Before the stray, early blossoms
Before the green shoots announced themselves
It was the birds, dozens of them that morning
That descended on the bare tree branches
The small ones this time, inquisitive at once
Their colors indicating the southern provenance
Tentative at this stage but the tweets confirmed it
Modulo a final freeze, spring was coming

Spring, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Spring is Here by Kenny Dorham and Cannonball Adderley
• Suddenly It's Spring by Stan Getz
• It might as well be spring by Sarah Vaughan
• Blue Spring by Kenny Dorham and Cannonball Adderley
• Spring is Here by Bill Evans
• It might as well be spring by Kenny Dorham and Cannonball Adderley
• You must believe in spring by Bill Evans
• Poetic Spring by Kenny Dorham and Cannonball Adderley
• Younger than springtime by Amel Larrieux
• It might as well be spring by Jacky Terrasson and Cassandra Wilson
• Passion Spring by Kenny Dorham and Cannonball Adderley
• It might as well be spring by Ahmad Jamal

File under: culture, observation, nature, life, poetry, toli

Writing log: March 10, 2022

Coyote Sighting

Quoth The 9 Year Old after the coyote passed us by,
Strolling down the middle of the street,
Imperious, and barely bothered by our presence:
"I saw the cat running away very quickly."

Indeed. We, all four of us, caught our breath at the near miss
The kids were not the only ones alarmed at the roving beast.
Added The Wife, "That's true. We didn't see the rabbits today."
Ask questions later, they followed nature's advice and ran away

After a pause (it felt like forever) to let the coyote disappear,
We continued down the road on our morning walk.
The kids held on tight to their mother, they stayed near.
For the next twenty minutes, none of us talked.

Later The 9 Year Old added, "I also didn't hear any chickens today".
When a proverbial fox approaches the henhouse, its intent is not to play
Observant child, she'd make a good witness on the stand
Her recall of the smallest detail showed a high command

The coyote had darted out of what we now call Coyote Alley
It is only a block away from Poison Ivy Lane, by that little valley
Where water collects when it floods just by Deadly Nightshade Corner
Where the Asbestos House lies unoccupied and derelict - catacorner

Throughout this pandemic, we've treasured our morning walks
Even as they've sometimes devolved into an urban obstacle course
We'd seen the sign at the start of the Boggy Creek trail: Coyote Warning
Back at the community garden, some ways off from this, our first sighting.

But this was our street, we thought we owned the town
Now we were seeing the effect of the pandemic lockdowns
That was returning wildlife to reign over their former haunts
The coyote might have been silent, but its very presence was a taunt

Beast of Burden, a playlist

A soundtrack for this wild thing. (spotify version)

• (Oh No, Not) The Beast Day by Marsha Hunt
• Wild World by Maxi Priest
• Coyotes by Don Edwards
• Coyote by Mako
• Beasts of No Nation by Fela
• Beast of Burden by Donald Byrd

This note is part of a series: In a covidious time

File under: life, nature, wildlife, urban, culture, observation, perception, covidious, poetry, toli

Writing log: Sighting: July 1, 2020; May 3, 2021

Backyard Bioprospecting

The birds have become positively giddy in the backyard
They seem to like the new plants that I sowed
But I just realized that perhaps it was the poppies
That were the present I shouldn't have bestowed

Beasts of burden, they start to flail awkwardly
Their movements are quite like a drunken sailor
Among the plants, you see them crashing around willy nilly
Even disturbing the squirrels along the perimeter

Initially I thought that it was some large nocturnal animal
That was laying waste to my poppies, leaving only the petals
But I started to observe the daytime routine of the birds
That had become the new repeat visitors to my house of cards

Altogether intoxicated by the sweet nectar
They were rather enchanted by the recent discovery
Of this new variant of the Gods' elixir
A taste of life, perchance to escape daily miseries

The packet of seeds I'd obtained before Amazon
Had brought that trade to a full stop
Was showing the potency of what could happen
When you reap the Wuhan crop

Punch Drunk, a playlist

Sometimes addiction is escapism, anaesthesizing the bearer from a surfeit of reality, sometimes it cannot be helped. A playlist on a loss of inhibition. (spotify version)

• Only When I'm Drunk by Tha Alkaholiks
• One More Drink by Jaguar Wright
• Punch Drunk by Sade
• Drunk As Cooter Brown by Cassandra Wilson
• This World is Drunk by Raphael Saadiq
• I Want to Take You Higher by Sly & The Family Stone

I keep wondering if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ought to investigate the kind of controlled substance that has been elevating the minds of my backyard birds. Alternatively, a cartel might pursue a forensic examination. We'll see what the growing season provides next year.

This tall tale is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: humour, life, observation, nature, odd, culture, perception, addiction, garden, poppies, covidious, poetry, toli

Writing log: April 19, 2021