Life among the Prickly Pear
Rain’s twofold curse: not enough
too much. Still, I take comfort
even among the thorns.
There is much to like here.
Its moonlight flowers.
Paddles fried with minced garlic.
Wren’s jubilant shriek.
The fruit’s red nectar.
I wake to distant screech owls
purring their desires on separate
slopes. Late spring, storms looming.
I close my eyes and the creek rises.
* * *
A draft of this first appeared here in June 2015, and I posted this version in May 2016. It seemed appropriate to this stormy weekend. On a personal note, I’ll need to inspect a flood-prone creek on Monday. I wonder how it will be…
In the meantime, two of my guitar heroes:
Nice poem! Hope you are surviving Harvey’s big BLOW!!
Dwight
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Thanks, Dwight. We’re away from the worst of it, but folks to the east and south of us have been hard hit.
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It is sad to see the devastation that is happening on the costal cities!
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It is indeed.
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I like the screech owls purring….
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Their song is rather soothing.
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Not enough or too much, indeed. I hope you are well and dry, Bob.
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Well and dry, Cate. Thanks. The wind is something!
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Brilliant yellow flowers on a spiked bed
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They are beautiful!
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I love this one in all its versions – and a perfect accompaniment with Stevie & BB. Naturally worrying about you with the storm so I’m glad to hear you’re relatively secure down there. Hope that creek stays where it belongs!
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Thanks, SJ. I couldn’t resist that video. The wind is scary, but otherwise we’re fine at our Austin home.
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Seconding my enjoyment of the purring owls phrasing. I didn’t know prickly pear can have yellow flowers. It seems (if I remember correctly) all I saw was pink flowers on them in Arizona. Maybe they are a different species, though.
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The local screech owls purr or trill their songs. Quite nice. Our prickly pears have pinkish buds that open to yellow flowers.
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That is some excellent music! & the poem is so true: much to like here….
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Thanks, D! Hard to beat SRV and BB!
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Hope you’ve weathered the storm Robert, and loved your song selection, definitely a fan of B B King.
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We’re fortunate to be located west of the worst weather. And BB!
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And I neglected to mention Albert Collins. What a line up!
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Im so curious Bob…is creek inspection your other job?
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I help administer a writers’ residency program – each year two to three writers are paid a stipend and live on a 250-acre ranch on the outskirts of Austin. Their only responsibility on the ranch is to write. It’s a competitive gig, to say the least. The latest resident is due to begin his tenure on the 1st, but if the creek is flooded that won’t be possible. So I’m monitoring the creek.
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So administration and creek monitoring to enable a writer to do nothing but write…sounds like a noble thing to do. Do you divet the water if it reaches a certain level? You have solved the mystery of why i don’t do nothing but write…I’m 227 acres short! 😂
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A little administrative work, a little maintenance, a little trouble-shooting. It’s fun and sometimes a pain in the butt, but I’m mostly retired. 🙂 Seems I have odd qualifications – familiarity with rural properties, writing and university administration AND, most importantly, proximity. I live about ten minutes away from the ranch. No, I don’t divert water. We’re at the mercy of the creek. I merely suggest that crossing is or isn’t feasible.
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Plenty to inspire your writing. Maybe add bridge building to your resume?
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Yes, plenty of inspiration. My poem “Gulf” refers to the ranch. I believe I’ll leave bridges to the engineers. 😁
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What could go wrong? I’ll have to go read gulf although I may already have
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Ha! Just everything! And I’m too lazy to build a bridge. I might write about it…
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In Gulf you write about a bridge planked with truth so maybe you have the preliminary design all done, just get a structural poet to review it. 😂
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I’m willing to build a metaphorical bridge…
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In case you were wondering, the creek has subsided and is passable. At least it is after I removed the debris. 🙂
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How rude of me not to ask! I got distracted!! Glad it’s passable and the lucky writer can do nothing but write. I hope he appreciates the way people and the stars have aligned to make that possible and gives it his best.
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Nah! You could not ever be rude. As you might expect, the participating writers have all been extremely grateful for the time and space, not to mention the exquisite setting.
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Yes, I guess even so, sometimes we don’t know all the behind the scenes effory that go into what we enjoy. Or maybe those writers do. Anyway- crossing is safe and the wroter shall write- hurrah! 😊
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