Category: Uncategorized
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Late Blooms, a Haiku Poem
Across a vast crowdYou wave, smile. Rushing, franticI couldn’t reach youThe dream came for yearsI couldn’t find you, or myselfIn my own soulNow I can, MommaTangled complexitiesUnraveled by TimeSurviving seedsFlowers unfolding, smilingBeckoning with voice Wild forget-me-nots
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A Haiku Tribute to a Mockingbird
I posted these haiku as tweets several months ago, but my mockingbird experience was so amazing it deserves a blog of its own. If you’ve ever had a mockingbird singing outside your bedroom window, you’ve asked the same question—how can such a small creature have such a booming voice?! Singing all night long Operatic, undeterred…
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“If I’d a knowed what a trouble it was to make a book …” Reflections of a first time novelist.
The quote is from Mark Twain, in the voice of Huckleberry Finn. Having spent about three years editing my own manuscript, skimming through probably hundreds of literary agent profiles, and sending out a handful of query letters, I came to feel some of Huck Finn’s frustration. My novel Heartbeat of the Marru is a magical…
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The Chatham Albatrosses
These handsome seabirds, so named for the Chatham islands east of New Zealand, are medium sized albatrosses with wingspans of about 9 feet and body length from tip to tail of about 3 feet. When not nesting, these birds forage over the entire south Pacific ocean from Australia all the way east to Peru and…
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The Galapagos Albatross
Today I want to introduce you to some of my albatross cousins who live at the equator, but first … My pride demands that I share an update from here on Bird Island in the south Atlantic. Ilupa and I have been working hard to keep our new chick Lukarri well fed and safe. Lukarri…
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World Albatross Day
Saturday, June 19 will mark the second annual World Albatross Day, an event organized by the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels to raise consciousness about the struggles we Marru (the name by which we albatrosses refer to ourselves) face for our survival. There are 22 species of albatrosses in the world. Most…
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Chernobyl, the Wildlife Refuge
It’s hard for me to believe that 35 years have passed since the Chernobyl disaster. I was a callow graduate student listening to the news when there was a mysterious story of radiation alarms going off in Sweden. Diplomatic inquiries were made. Very slowly, the grim details and images began emerging. Soviet state television and…
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C.G. Jung on Eternity
Humanity has been confronting mortality more intensely than ever during this horrible pandemic. I find some solace in the ideas of Carl Jung, one of history’s greatest intuitive thinkers. Jung was cagey whenever he was asked if he believed in god. “I do not believe, I know.” he always said. He elaborated his views somewhat…
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The Art of Kawase Hasui
If you love nature, you’ll love the beautiful mid-twentieth century wood block art of Kawase Hasui. Gorgeous tranquil images … A few favorites, with accompanying haiku. A Moonlit Bridge Spring exuberance Leap across! Into the moon’s Maternal embrace Lotus Pond Psyche’s mysteries The infinity beneath The flowered surface. The Magic Woods Deep thoughts soar skyward…
Haumanu Speaks/PoetiCalli 