Road Trip 2020, Day Six (Turtles and All)

a creek paddle day

brings every boat together

for swimming and grins

Road Trip 2020, Day Five

if only these pics were perfect

as perfectly peaceful as they appear

and no one lost a phone (and all the love attached) to a lake

and no one said they hated each other

and no one lied to their mother

and no one cried.

but life isn’t this lake

this quiet Kentucky fishing lake that we ruined with six screaming kids and one barking dog

this peaceful lake for paddling or praying or both

this swimmable, all-ours, wake-free lake.

Life is this lake, isn’t it?

Perfect and not so perfect.

Road Trip 2020, Day Four

Kentucky cycles:

you can find happiness in

rolling hills, horse farms

Road Trip 2020, Day Three

nothing like my park

and isn’t that so perfect?

vines, dogs, shade, creeks, peace.

nothing like my path

and isn’t that so perfect?

sun, hills, curves, town, bike.

Road Trip 2020, Day Two

not what i dreamed of

for our family vacation;

pretty all the same

you wouldn’t believe

how fire Kentucky is

sunsets, family, all

Road Trip 2020, Day One

Kansas welcomes us

for our pandemic travel

and his first crossing

Coronatine, Day Eighty-five

hiking out hurts us

(to face the world’s anger

instead of these trees)

Coronatine, Day Eighty-four

from aspens to pines
peaks and creeks guide our soft steps
toward tranquility

Coronatine, Day Eighty-three

the packing ordeal
of a backpacking journey
is so exhausting

for these quiet views
we walk into the forest
leaving all behind

(if only we could
forget the masks and all else
and escape this plague)

Coronatine, Day Fifty-three

we flew this beach kite

on this day seven years back

(a dream in life, Spain)

my daughter, then ten

still finding joy in small things

(as i still try to)

aspen trees at dawn

a pup always by my side

cats learning to love

the kite is gone now.

(i have ransacked every room)

locked down, we let go.