Friday, May 8, 2009

early may

On my commute, I ride through neighborhoods, looking at houses and yards. Different parts of Anchorage are at various stages of springtime. I may ride the same route twice a day a few days in a row before noticing something is different. A tree whose leaves are budding, flowers where there were none before, a new piece of yard art. Since I'm on my way someplace, I don't often slow down much, but I guess that's part of the beauty of the commute - it allows me to go slow enough.

In Anchorage, while our creeks are mostly ice free, farther north, on the Yukon and other rivers, there's some very bad flooding as ice jams push through the villages. Spring has so many faces. Normally a time of optimism and maybe a little relief at having made it through another long winter, this spring has been hard for the communities. These are just some things that are on my mind.


springtime and each day
is more green as leaves open
release their sweet smell


daffodils unseen
before rain woke their slumber
bright stars of spring lawns


under my bike tires
gravel crunching, giving way
rolling under tread


Ice floes at flood stage
pushed through another village
winter beauty, spring awe

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