This has been the most successful year for my red lily yet. The last couple years it always got choked off by the lavender and never even got to bloom much. But as of today, there are now 4 in bloom, with two more on the way soon!
Here they are, basking in the afternoon sun as the shade moves in.
These are simple photos taken on my phone from an airplane some several thousand feet above someplace in the middle of the United States. The clouds were what made me take out the camera.
Happy first day of summer! I woke up this morning to find the first of my lilies blooming in the garden, so here are some photos of this gorgeous flower, plus my poem “The Lily Notion.” Enjoy the solstice!
THE LILY NOTION
the lily notion
a passed thought before unveiling
medium earth
vivisecting a color
light infiltrating the wilted garden
the lily notion
nothing but velvet bloom
porous jelly blossoms
a lack of evil regeneration
the garden of time is stillborn
only this static moment
the lily notion
at last a fortunate accident
a green mound shattered
cold bone wrapped around the finger
in shaking confounded death grip
the engine heart screams
sour succulence
igniting teeth
digesting carbon
shapely curves in the bile
a fine slice of degradation
these fireworks at glacial speeds
the gradual shriveling of our pastime moons
fading away once again
hammers heading for the hills
with stifling tornado indulgence
maniacal quivers are exposed
stopped in the back
dead in its tracks
crystal coils are spidered together
energy halted in fetid reduction
the treetops are fogging concave mist
laid before the void
familial vanquishing in another latitude
these spectral images are a foolish bet
scanning darkness for understanding
the lily notion seems to be fading
a hardened imagination
hearts pumped with poison
the Dead Sea of the body
the bee drowns
a slave of thirst
a dark wilt on a young face thrown on the ground bending a distant memory reduced to nightmare, metal frames holding infections, pooling stagnation in the eyes down the spine outward across sinews, snapping muscles perpetually decaying, fermented in overthrown zeal, a renaissance invasion dancing on vertebrae, fusing together tainted blood to stop breathing in buckets of clouds, embracing liquids vaporized in smoke, the smoke is a billion fragments en route to ruin, howling for the pistol still naked on the table syphoning a corpuscle of carbon, dreaming in this field of disorientation dripping off tongues throughout the times a sting a twinge a stellar entropy
the vessel tense after living
intravenous arsenic on the carpet
the bones rearranged
oxygen returning
home in the autumn
sinking in the mud
perfections of progress
the patented noise of elm
running psychotic through the plaza
drunk on distilled letters
lost in the first frost
lavender takeover
stained fibers welded together
stitched by common bonds
the vulnerable root
ripped apart at the differences
colonizing the experience, the great gasp
handcuffed to the story
a specific puncture
weaving a submerged miracle within the conversation
a different wound in kidnapped fluid
the monster close to the muscle
a moment of clarity
in the land of the bodies
no absolute chime
the lily notion is dead
barking from across the fence
lost to desert strangling
the dragonfly shatters
and the crickets freeze
only the wrinkled dirt remains
There are many cool add-ons to mobile phones these days, including lenses for the camera. These photos were taken in my backyard with a mobile telephoto lens clipped onto my phone. They reveal the subtleties of light and depth and can create fantastical worlds.
This image is an overlay. I created a geometric kaleidoscope shape from squares and circles and filled in some of the spaces with solid color. Other spaces allow the picture underneath to shine through. The picture underneath is of clouds at sunset.
These were taken from Tenney Park, overlooking Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. Yes, they are your typical sunset photos, but they are still gorgeous.
It is very hot today here in Colorado. So to help cool off, here are some pictures of ice covering a lilac bush.
Photos taken at the Denver Aquarium.
This is a mixed media self-portrait on metal. Materials used include ceramic tile, glass tile, photography, clock parts, and acrylic paint.
Zeal in Wit 