TEN THOUSAND THINGS - PART VIII: FENCELINE (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/GwSlFkfXCV New original poems weekly. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. A break from the noise.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - Part VI: SELF (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/5XyI1zHknV New original poems weekly. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. A break from the noise.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - Part V:WE/US/YOU (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/yhFP4gvtdV New original poems weekly. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. A break from the noise.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - Part IV: ASPEN (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/bLtBHpt0YU New original poems weekly. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. A break from the noise.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - Part III: BLUE (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/KyJetRdiNU New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from BLUE 16-20 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/nTYhNR5QCU New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from BLUE 11-15 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/aJqDBucLBU New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from BLUE 6-10 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/02wWLew4pU New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from BLUE 1-5 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/aUIBQAiApU 5 original poems every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise. Like an installment? Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - Part II: MOON (all 33 poems) (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/EVtRWqkGfU All 33 of the MOON poems in one location. Coming Monday installments of Part III: BLUE. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative.  A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from MOON 31-33 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/SuCeYXV6dU New poems. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature. Read all 33 MOON poems in tomorrow’s installment. A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from MOON 26-30 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/iLp8Ng433T Currently #4 in Contemplation. New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions. Short. Precise. Provocative. A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from MOON 21-25 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/mSw40wSk2T New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise. Go WAY down the page to continue to new installments.

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from MOON 16-20 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/gJryNTHsST New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read all 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise.

Passionate moment, passionately written. Love the “outsidedness” felt from inside.

1-25-19

Meanwhile, I continued to grope for some kind of future in the Mile High City. My sister had left Denver, returning to the Northeast to live with her new husband. I drifted back to a Denver college, studying at various times drawing, community service development, accounting, computer science.  I worked as a bookkeeper, bus boy, janitor, handy man, cab driver, computer operator. I lived merely from day to day, never imagining leaving Denver.  I dated many women, had flings with several, yet never found one to whom I was willing to open my heart.  Until, that is, my fondness for country-and-western music eventually led me to a class in such country dances as two-step, schottische, line dancing, and waltz. There I met a woman, a long-time Coloradan, with whom I fell in love.  Her career as a physician was soon to take her to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Before long, we were agreeing to join one another there.

Prior to meeting Linda, I had seen Albuquerque only once, while driving between Denver and Arizona.  Cities witnessed only from interstate highways have never left impressions upon me, and Albuquerque was no exception.  Now, however, I was looking forward to calling Albuquerque my new home. While Linda rented an apartment in that city and pursued her career, I remained in Denver, working in data processing while seeking work in Albuquerque long-distance.  My job search took eight months.  

During this time, Linda and I periodically rendezvoused in Albuquerque and northern New Mexico.  I observed my first Christmas in New Mexico while staying in her third-floor apartment.  Of course, everything in my life now was sweetened by first love.  Yet there were aspects of Albuquerque during that visit that would have delighted me under nearly any circumstance.  I grew up in a typically verdant New Jersey town where many street names were not only figuratively but literally wooden: Linden, Maple, Chestnut, Spruce, Arbor, Sherwood, Beechwood, Edgewood.  Even the many Denver streets on which I lived over the years had similarly dull and predictable names: Clarkson, Lafayette, Pearl, Gaylord, Race, Vine, First, Seventeenth. The names of countless Albuquerque streets, on the other hand, were not only lovely─Linda lived on Madiera Drive─they were literally saintly: San Mateo, San Pedro, San Rafael, San Luis Rey, San Lorenzo, San Patricio, and, of course, San Felipe.

And then there was a night of thrilling Albuquerque weather over the holiday. On Christmas Eve, Linda and I attended the eleven p.m. service at her church.  The city was buffeted by winds that night.  I imagined them launching off the sheer western face of the Sandia Mountains to the east, or accelerating off the vast and empty plateau that marks Albuquerque’s western edge.  Whatever their origin, the gales shook the great sanctuary of the church as the pastor―who would one day marry Linda and me―delivered the sermon of joy and hope.  At the end of the service, the congregation lit candles and sang “Silent Night.” Certainly, “all” was not “calm” in Albuquerque that night. Yet the dramatic weather seemed fitting for the night’s great religious significance.  Driving home, we saw strands of colorful lights, strung on the city’s trees and shrubs, dancing in the wind.  And there was snow in the air.  Yet in the dry, brute wind the flakes were remarkably light, reluctant to adhere to or even meet the ground, more spirit than substance.  Meanwhile, our car seemed borne upon the undulating veils of sand that proceeded up the asphalt streets before and beneath us. Snow and desert, I thought, what a strange pairing.  Later that night, one of Santa’s helpers made the mistake of gifting Linda a Dirt Devil.  She’s never forgotten that!

It was on that gritty, windswept night that I first began to sense Albuquerque’s unique isolation on a sea of desert.  Albuquerque author Harvey Fergusson noted this back in 1944: “Like all Western towns seen from a distance, [Albuquerque] looks small and insignificant, completely dominated by a landscape that lends itself but grudgingly to human use.”  Albuquerque author V.B. Price updated this theme in the early nineties, noting Albuquerque’s most unique trait: a city of a half-million effectively surrounded by wilderness.

(“Wilderness,” indeed: In 2015, the National Wildlife Federation named Albuquerque one of the top-ten wildlife-friendly cities in America.)  Copyright © 2019 by Philip Jay Davis

I’m adding Powell to my reading list.

1-19-19: Meeting the Southwest in Music and Literature

During these years, the Southwest also reached me through music, photographs, and literature.  Growing up in New Jersey, I was never far from a radio, and I enjoyed, on the pop music stations, the country-and-western “cross-over” recordings of such artists as Roger Miller, Leroy Van Dyke, Bobby Bare, the Statler Brothers, and Tammy Wynette.  In Denver, I naturally gravitated to an AM station that played nothing but country music, and soon I was purchasing country albums.  I particularly loved listening to Marty Robbins’s ballads set in El Paso, Texas, the “badlands” of New Mexico, and the remote town of Agua Frio, Arizona; Johnny Cash’s “You Wild Colorado,” his spare acoustical paean to the major American river of the same name; Johnny Rodriguez’s musical tale of hitchhiking to Mexico; and tenor Freddie Fender (born Baldemar Huerta) singing, in Spanish as well as English, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.”

Professional and artistic photography had interested me ever since I was a child and first opened Life’s Picture History of World War II, which stood tall and weighty on my parents’ bookshelf.  So, one day at the main branch of the Denver Public Library, I marveled at Ansel Adams’s Photographs of the Southwest─109 black-and-white “plates” that reveal the strange landscapes and rugged peoples of the Southwest from Texas to California and Mexico to Utah. Yet, for me, a more lasting feature of this book is Lawrence Clark Powell’s introduction, entitled “An Essay on the Land.”  It is an evocative, poetic piece that is particularly sensitive to the Southwest’s fragile natural beauty and threats to said beauty by blind development.  A librarian as well as a writer, Powell also identifies a number of authors─lesser known, certainly, than the authors I’d read as a college English major, but, in Powell’s estimation, often no less talented─who had for over a century produced memorable fiction and non-fiction about the Southwest.  Later, in New Mexico, I would read Powell in depth; no writer wrote with greater love, knowledge, and eloquence about the Southwest than he.   Copyright © 2019 by Philip Jay Davis    

TEN THOUSAND THINGS - from MOON 11-15 (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/zOE0w0rQQT New poems. 5 every Monday and 5 every Tuesday. From D.B. Snow. Celebrating the Nature Writing traditions of Merton, Lao Tzu, Bassho, Mi Fu, Sappho, Rexroth. . . .Short. Precise. Provocative. You've already experienced these poems and you remember the moment, or you will. You can read all 5 in 90 seconds. A break from the noise.