Matin for Winter

Good morning, angled window light

from east and south,

my ear and neck are warm,

my shoulder to the north is cold.

The thoughts inside my chest

are herded close like cashmere goats,

so thoughts become a single thought,

a blanket in the dark.

The molecules of winter sing

and vibrate well.  They flow

in tightening rings, from warm to cool,

in blurring streaks of white to red

around a core of resting joy.

My breath is melted air,

the air is tiny, weighted notes,

each halved in light by winter’s crease.

 

 

–Anacelie Verde Claro © 2012

 

I don’t want sharp things today,

glazing circles with my brush and ink onto thin paper, let it run.  I don’t want to

see edges today, or angles, or hear any pitch above G.  Sustained, tied whole notes

nestled within the staff, slow-changing minor chords to diminished sevenths.

I don’t want stillness of sound today.

I don’t want dry things today, mist flowering to snow in light, spinning orbs

floating down, as it happened in my dreams.  I don’t want clearly seen things today,

no glasses or high-resolution photography taken with

a zoom.  Windows filmed with ocean salt, my eyelids a blurry, crystallized

border to my vision, a fog softens colors.  I don’t want boldness today.

If my heart asserts itself I will say with my hands, Stay within the ribs.  If my voice

speaks too loudly I will show it pictures of that deep blue we have seen before, which

is bigger than life.  And if my hands want to make squares, I will dip the brush in a

glass of gray ink wash—I will not wipe the brush’s sides on the edge of anything

first, I will not set cardboard beneath the paper to protect the table from the

seeping, the water, may it keep speaking through

.

.

–Anacelie Verde Claro

 

Oranges & Apples

A filmstrip of the journey of oranges and apples.

Journey of sweetness.

Journey of patience.

Journey of gratitude.

Otoño (Fall)

Poesía de otoño.  (A little fall poetry.)

Cálido y frío.  (Warm and cold.)

Unos claros.  (Clearings.)

En capas.  (Layered in.)

Above photo by Jason O’Connor

Dura.  (Continues.)

Nuevo, conservado.  (New, preserved.)

El camino.  (The path.)

Finalmente, lo hicieron.  (Eventually, they did.)

Liberado. (Released.)

Etéreo, flotando.  (Ethereal, floating.)

Érase una vez…(Once upon a time…)

el Amarillo quiso al Azul.  (Yellow loved Blue.)

Todo.  (Everything.)

This just in from the garden

Color has returned to the May House landscape.

I waited awhile for it…sometimes patiently, sometimes pleading with the petals to unfold.

And then, while staring at one flower, another one blooms.

It seemed as though the apples reddened overnight, unbeknownst to me, and very-well-knownst to the red finches.  They have been sharing with me, a few apples here and there.

The yellow roses are the sneakiest of all the flowers in the May House garden–and always a sweet surprise.

These friends have been enjoying making shooting stars.

Sometimes I imagine a world of blanket-sized rose petals that I get to sleep under, fragrant and sun-warmed.

All photographs by Anacelie Verde Claro © 2011

All water droplets created by the hose (though it has been raining here).

Mica and Mountains

The place.

Lichen and petroglyphs.

Wildflowers.

Flowers with a view.

Mica and granite.

Quartz with mica flakes.

Moss and lichen.

Guardians of the mineral rocks.

St. Water

“Water is a being.”  That’s what a friend said.  After that was said, I took these.

Vertical Landscape

This beautiful place I explored in Northern New Mexico was, to me, a vertical landscape.

At the time, I wasn’t aware of this–I didn’t even realize that I had my camera turned 90 degrees until later, when viewing all the photographs together.  In the photos was the evidence:  this landscape has been built from the top down, from mesa to hills to fields…all the way down to the footing of the homes of those who lived here hundreds of years ago.

And still further down.

Ladders and low clouds also lend a hand in verticality.

Exploring ruins may bring out the archaeologist in me, who sees things in cross-section.

I don’t like to fight with a door.  I’ll frame what it’s framing.

Sometimes the camera just follows the contours.

And because I believe in balance, and because I love the panorama, the eyes may now sweep…

…and take in this luscious place.

 

© Anacelie Verde-Claro, 2011

 

 

 

 

When in Drought, Drink Water

Nose kiss water

and mouth drink,

eye keep hold

of rippling sky

and ear tell us how low

the water sings,

throat be a river

and mind, world

of cascades,

move to your stillness.

–Poem & Photographs by Anacelie Verde-Claro © 2011

Steps to a Gate

This is a special moment in May House history:  a gate has been born and raised, in a matter of months.  It is a great gate, with a sturdy foundation.

Here is a poem-sized corner of it.

This is also a special moment in The Friday Poet’s history:  it has collaborated with another blog, OC Metal Solutions, to bring you dear readers a double-post on the gate’s making and installation!  That means two unique perspectives, as well as many more photos.  So please visit here  to read more about the May House’s newest creation.

Steps to a Gate:

 

MATERIALS & TOOLS

Post diggers, wet saw, hose to make the wet saw wet,

wheelbarrow, cement, round steel, square steel, pry bar,

corrugated tin, cedar planks, trowels, levels,

a welder (machine), a welder (person), chop saw,

cell phone, screws with a funny tip,

brush and stain, sunscreen, water

 

1. X MARKS THE SPOT

The scoring.

 

2.  JASON’S PART

The wet saw (aka saw with a hose).

 

3. MY PART

Concrete removal by pry bar.

 

4.  JASON’S PART

Post digging.

 

5.  MY PART

Transfer of dirt to backyard via wheelbarrow.

 

6. GATE POST SETTING & LEVELING

Many techniques and measures were used to set the posts straight, permanently straight, in the cement.

A.  Modern-day levels.

B. The Ancient Egyptian technique of water leveling.

C. Another classic way:  with string.

 

7.  JASON’S PART

The troweling.

 

8.  MY PART

The gate inscription.

 

9.  JASON’S PART

Making a gate skeleton.  It was a lot of welding:  5 panels, plus a walk-through gate.  Go Jason!

 

10.  MY (FAVORITE) PART

The cedar wood preparation.  I used 3 things:  exterior wood stain, brushes, and an inspiration photo from one of my favorite home magazines (published in Albuquerque!), called Su Casa.

Introducing, the wood.  Before:

After:

 

11.  WOOD, MEET STEEL.

The layout, cutting-to-size, and screwing-in of the boards into the gate panels.  I held the board in place while Jason encouraged each screw through the wood, into the steel.

This is my favorite panel.  By “accident” I laid out the boards in rainbow order.

The walk-through gate.  It needs a handle and deadbolt.

Sabi’s new door, since his driveway is now closed in.

 

12.  THE GATE, ALTOGETHER NOW.

It has been a stripe-y celebration.