INSOMNIA AND MUSE

Insomnia and nerve pain have me awake. I can hear the BNSF trains blowing their whistles in the dark downtown morning hours as they transport coal and cars and consumer goods from the Port of Tacoma to points unknown.

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And, as I lie on the couch, propped up on pillows, trying to achieve a minimum of comfort, her voice comes calling.

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Our Lady of the Celestial Seas speaks black psalms to me. She tells me of her eggs that hang in the night sky like stars. She tells me of the ships she has shattered and left on the shoals of various countries and coasts. She tells me of wearing others like rubber suits and stealing their final breaths.

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I try to gain a better glimpse of her and She inks and flees.

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I lie and listen for her sing-song as She calls from the night sky, from the cold shallows, from the unknown and unseen fathoms of the sea.

BLACK WALNUT

Black walnut tree. Puyallup River Valley. Puyallup, Washington.

FLORAL LANDSCAPES

This bumblebee was as thick as my thumb and half as long. She stumbled drunkenly about these rhododendron blossoms, coated in pollen, unconcerned about the proximity of the camera and hand to her person.

PARK LANDSCAPES

The Child and TWT wandered up to Puyallup's Bradley Lake Park to enjoy some spring sunshine and warm weather.


A great blue heron rests in the upper branches of a fir tree...


...before flying off once the pestering crows have left the area.


Walking around the lake.


Skunk cabbage!


Shadows getting ready to throw a Frisbee around.


An exaggerated catch!