Prairie and pines

Yesterday, early morning, we had clear skies, a waning crescent moon and a bright, shiny Venus right next to it just before sunrise. What I didn't have was my camera on a tripod, so all my shots are streaky due to the amount of time the shutter was open, even though I bumped the ISO up to 1600. This morning, I had my camera on a tripod and very cloudy skies. Sigh. At least it hasn't rained (or snowed) yet today.

back yard prairie, flowers and grass seed heads       © harrington

If this were a forest, the flowers would be understory. I'm not sure if the same terminology applies to grasses and prairies. The different forms the seed heads from different grass species are taking is amazing and, to me, delightful. I'm also in awe that, on the same small (relatively) patch on Minnesota, we have prairie and pines within shouting distance (or less) of each other.

pine trees next to (in?) the prairie           © harrington

Is Karen An-hwei Lee trying to convince us pines and grass are mirror images of each other?

Dream of Ink Brush Calligraphy

By Karen An-hwei Lee

In prayer:

quiet opening,

my artery is a thin    

shadow on paper—

margin of long grass,

ruderal hair, sister to this

not yet part of our bodies

your lyric corpus of seed

in rough drafts of pine ash,

chaogao or grass calligraphy  

in rough drafts of pine ash—

your lyric corpus of seed

not yet part of our bodies:

ruderal hair, sister to this  

margin of long grass,

shadow on paper,

my artery is a thin

quiet opening

in prayer.

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