turkey vultures
finessing the wind—
   figure eights
Elizabeth A. Wells 04/05/09

paper words
penned beneath the junipers-
        windswept

Elizabeth A. Wells  04/05/09

jagged and hollow
walking on broken dishes
the limestone path
 Karen Weehler  05/03/09

spring rains seep into
winter’s sullen crevices
summer fills them up
 Jennifer Manley  05/03/09

lichen limestone crust
strewn juniper leaves and rain
a hog trough then
 Dianne Simpson 06/06/09

thrill-a-minute trail
cannot see around the bend-
rattler-lizard tug of war
 Dianne Simpson  06/06/09

hidden nursery,
lace cacti wedged between rocks-
thumbs up!
 Mobi Warren 06/06/09

brushed by last night’s moon,
miniature limestone craters
dimple the path

 in a cup of rock
the dung beetle
naps
Mobi Warren 02/06/08
  
Patient boulder waits en pointe,
The trail remains clear–
Blind rubble chattering alongside
  
A thousand spider sisters sleeping–
As the air warms,
Honeybee awakens first
Meredith Sterling 02/03/08

Ribboned grass tickles the soul
the wind tastes like purple dew
the sun warms
Janel Bacote 03/02/08
 
 
inhospitable
rocks orange, green, yellow, black
clings tenacious life
Laura Henley 03/02/08

 
Sudden yellow flash,
A bumblebee’s swift commute
Explodes the silence.
Natalia Wieczorek 04/06/08

dappled sun dancing
around chartreuse pannicles
a glimpse of spring’s pulse

undulating waves
of dormant brown grasses feed
rain lilies rising
Nancy Heneghan 04/0/08
 
 
Rock pivots and
cactus pricks while mud slides;
every step careful.

A cicada harmonizes
with the rushing wind;
a mother holds her breath.
Elyzabeth Earnley 07/06/08

Celebrate the beauty when poetry and nature photography meet. Follow the link below to see samples from our monthly Haiku Hikes set against images found within Government Canyon State Natural Area. http://issuu.com/jmpublishing/docs/haikuhikesgcsna?viewMode=presentation

There’s even some haikus from Coyote, Raccoon and our “Fowl weather friends!”

The red-tipped cactus,
Hidden among the grasses,
Fails to seek us out.

Grasses cast shadow
Over whisper-quiet rocks,
Starving for rain
Tanya R. Gutierrez 08/03/08

 
I quiet my breathing
in order to hear
the silence of the trees.

The cicada’s hum
is abruptly cut off–
did the power go out?
Adriana Sanchez Alexander 08/03/08

Scat on the trail
Much more than a fart
Who'd ever a thought
It could look like art?
Alma Marks, October 5, 2008


White glistening limbs of a tree
Outlined by dark evergreen
Glow as if illuminated bones
Vicky Lockwood, October 5, 2008


Ghostly, tipped with green
Bleached white trunk
wrings to the sun
Wrinkled, odd man out
Mandy Muniz, November 2, 2008


Blue sky splashed with white
Falls into a sea of green trees
With breaking waves of gold
Rey Muniz, November 2, 2008


A ground web flutters there
A golden leaf inside the web
Its fall not yet complete
Rey Muniz, November 2, 2008


A ruffle of leaves
Zips open like a bean pod
Spilling from yellow flowers
Megan Stacy, November 2, 2008

Insistent bird
Talking to himself
Nagging the woods
Megan Stacy, November 2, 2008