ㅁ The ghost came around. There were things needing haunting. So she got to work.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1812 “Frozen river”
This tree attended a frozen river.
[daily log: walking, 4.5km; retailing, 5hr]
Caveat: Poem #2718 “The weather report”
ㅁ The world descended, slow, in tiny steps to chill its atmosphere, to render stark its stony landscape, so the trees resist a wind borne from the east, alight with stars.
– a quatrain in blank verse (iambic pentameter).
Caveat: Tree #1811 “Pending…”
This tree awaited the chilly dawn.
Thursday is shopping day. We went into town, but I ended up spending a bit of time moving some furniture for the store. It was cold today – not the recent “Alaskan tropic” clime.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 1hr]
Caveat: Poem #2717 “A cold snap”
ㅁ The continent came, exhaling its icy air against our damp trees.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1810 “Cloud envy”
This tree was jealous of the clouds at the summit of the six-mile hill.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Poem #2716 “Up there in the brain somewhere, lost to all”
ㅁ I'd planned some verse up in my brain... I failed to write it down. So now this morning nothing's there... no words: no verb, no noun.
– a quatrain in ballad meter.
Caveat: Tree #1809 “The City of Klawock”
This tree was in the City of Klawock.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Poem #2715 “Endogenic ice on the road”
ㅁ The frost congealed upon the road, that path where cars would go; the road itself engendered ice, it didn't need the snow.
– a quatrain in ballad meter.
Caveat: Tree #1808 “8:30 AM”
This tree was waiting for a ride into town, this morning.
Colder temperatures cause ice to build up on the gravel road, even without snow or rain… it just sort of materializes out of the air over the days, a kind of compacted layer of heavy frost.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Poem #2714 “Catching the car”
ㅁ A dog pursued the car with hopes of catching it at last. The driver stopped to greet the dog, the dog's surprise was vast.
– a quatrain in ballad meter.
Caveat: Tree #1807 “Frosty”
This tree saw quite heavy, world-whitening frost but still no snow in bustling downtown Rockpit.
[daily log: walking, 2km;]
Caveat: Poem #2713 “The demagogue”
ㅁ the smiling man took over my dream like a malign force of nature setting up a place to work with destructive machines up beside the road and then began a long rant about trees
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #1806 “Cold, blue”
This tree saw blue skies. This time of year, blue skies mean the temperature drops. Not seen in this photo: frost on the beach, frozen water droplets on the trees’ branches.
[daily log: walking, 1km;]
Caveat: Poem #2712 “Meditation”
ㅁ Detach your mind from local things and let it roam the world; a mind is made to do such stuff: abstractions come unfurled.
– a quatrain in ballad meter.
Caveat: Tree #1805 “The mossy-roofed shed”
This tree was near a shed with a collapsed, mossy roof at 4-mile, along the road to town.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 3hr]
Caveat: from the bones of the mountain
January, 5 Off Lindisfarne the waves shiver like monks at their ablutions. Under high horizontals of ice-cloud, the sky scrubbed clean as a dairy. The train darts north, hungry as a tongue. Only the exile longs for the words to name a country: either live it or learn, at a bare table, ancestral silence, like a rumble deep in the loch’s throat, the forgotten song of the curling-stone, the snow slipping like white meat from the bones of the mountain. - Alison Fell (Scottish poet, b. 1944)
Caveat: Poem #2711 “This winter”
ㅁ The snow continued failing to appear instead the rain persisted with its task. The trees received more water than they'd like, the sea was washed but surged, indifferent.
– a quatrain in blank verse (iambic pentameter).
Caveat: Tree #1804 “Snow, but not this year… rather, some previous year”
This tree is a guest tree from my past, but not as far in the past as most guest trees from the past. I took this picture almost exactly 2 years ago, on January 2nd, 2022. This is our driveway, here. Unlike this year, we had a lot of snow. This year… zero snow, so far.
Normally my guest trees from the past are from the time before I started posting tree pics. But I saw this one in my catalog of saved pictures and I had never become a tree pic.
[daily log: walking, 2.5km;]
Caveat: Poem #2710 “En la calle”
ㅁ I dream I'm in Mexico City, all mixed up with Seoul's suburbs; subways take me strange places; a stray cat follows me; I'm on my old street: federales in black cars, smoking, watch.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #1803 “Stairway”
This tree was beside the treehouse stairs at just after dawn this morning. The rain has returned, after a 2-day break.
[daily log: walking, 5km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Poem #2709 “Chthonic contemplations”
ㅁ A pilot's theory about the earth is likely oppositional: the earth is an obstacle best to be avoided, by necessity handled gently, touched lightly... solid fear.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #1802 “Flameout”
This tree is a guest tree from December 2007. I took the picture walking around Goyang City in South Korea.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 9hr]
Caveat: Poem #2708 “Early hours”
ㅁ I wake up at three and can't fall asleep again. No sheep worth counting.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1801 “A day of firsts”
This tree was in Arthur’s front yard.
I was lazy today. Though I did spend a couple hours this morning compiling user statistics for the map websites. Rather than cross-post here, I’ll just link to the other blog:
- December, 2023, User Statistics for OGF
- Full Year 2023 User Statistics for OGF
- Full Year 2023 User Statistics for Arhet
[daily log: walking, 1km;]
Caveat: Poem #2707 “Timekeeping II”
ㅁ Still, the world continues: the divisions of the calendar seeming arbitrary, assembled like children's blocks into precarious constructs, implausible in the face of time.
– a reverse nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #1800 “Small and boring”
This tree is small, and boring.
I don’t quite know how I got to an even number of trees on New Years Eve – especially since I started this daily tree thing on January 1st, 2019. So figuring 5 years at 365 days each, plus one included leap year, should give 1826 trees – not 1800.
I obviously messed up counting somewhere in there. I’m an incompetent enumerator of trees, it seems. Either that or there was an unnoticed time warp.
I had been contemplating stopping this tree-counting business, because often the trees feel repetitive. But I like the rhythm of it, and the way it forces me to review each day, even if most days I don’t offer much review: at least it gives me the opportunity and impetus to give a try.
So I’d decided to end the daily tree thing here – I liked the roundness of it: exactly 5 years. But, frankly, it’s not like we’re really out of trees on this planet – there are lots of trees, still. And… This Here Blog Thingy™ appreciates the regularity of it all. Off to another year, then.
[daily log: walking, 2.5km;]
Caveat: Poem #2706 “Timekeeping”
ㅁ The year tumbled along like other years, an aimless, intricate clockwork, the days its gears and levers, the nights its enclosure, until it wound down, ticked more slowly, and unsprung; digits flipped.
– a nonnet.
Caveat: Tree #1799 “Wet”
This tree was wet.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km;]
Caveat: 2023
I continued living in Rockpit, Alaska.
[This entry is part of a timeline I am making using this blog. I am writing a single entry for each year of my life, which when viewed together in order will provide a sort of timeline. This entry wasn’t written in 2023 – it was written in the future.]
Caveat: Poem #2705 “Drops”
ㅁ drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip this month's been a neverending drizzle
– a tetractys.
Caveat: Tree #1798 “Continuing precipitation”
This tree experienced continuing precipitation, while a quite high tide brought the sea closer.
Art had a doctor’s appointment today. Just follow-up and getting all the various specialists in sync with the local doctor, mostly – nothing new or revelatory, though he got a new CT scan of his head, to confirm no new major changes in his brain.
[daily log: walking, 2km;]
Caveat: Poem #2704 “To eat later”
ㅁ Pie awaits consumption, but I left it... ...in the fridge at work so I have to wait.
– a tetractys.