Spare us

 Spare Us

john clare stokes

spare us 

this new found hobby

of photography

running about the yard

snapping everything not

bolted down and that too

if it does not elude 

moving rapidly from being

a hobby to a full time

venture to then retiring

after a month long career

of being a top notch 

photographer of everything

in the yard perceived dear

but to others simply

drear

famous for the time

in the mind

accolades coming our way

as everyone simply is amazed

at the meteoric rise we made

from a yard hobby to the

cover of National Geographic

all in the month of August.

Purple tint

 In tint of purple 

Let me wing 

But once again

Helen

 "Mr Roussey, it's your daughter Helen's hand I ask. You see, we sat beside one another all year long. We plan to live in Sopchoppy in the play house out back. John Lloyd is going to be our best man, and her sister Dawn the maid of honor. We plan to invite our teacher Mrs Townsend. We learned so much from her in second grade. I've yet to break the news to Debbie McKenzie, maybe Daniel will break it to her gently. My daddy we will ask to do the wedding, we hope Nena and Randy will sing. We have arranged for my Uncle Jimmy from Mississippi to pick Helen up in Panacea, drive her over to meet the family. I have an older sister, she is best friends with Joan and Jackie and Henry,  we have a dog named Bobo and my mom she teaches the fourth grade at Sopchoppy Elementary, so you see, I hope you agree with the plans we have made and by third grade we can marry. Sincerely, John Stokes.

Scars away

 Scars away

Johnclarestokes 

The twentieth was your birthday

Willie Mae

You would of been a hundred and seven

Willie Mae

But you only got sixty-six

Sadly

You held the little scalded boy

Willie Mae

Pulled that cord on the stove

Willie Mae

Full of boiling water he did

Sadly

Wrapped him in that gauze 

Willie Mae

Made them scars never go away

Willie Mae

Made that little boy shy

Willie Mae

Doctor said he wouldn’t use that arm

Sadly

What did Doctor Head know?

Willie Mae

The little boy became an artist

They say

Used the scalded left

Willie Mae

Doc Head drowned in Lake Ellen

Sadly

Inner tube fishing

They say

The little boys now sixty seven

Willie Mae

One more year than you lived

Willie Mae

It seems just like yesterday 

Willie Mae

He thanks you for keeping him

Gladly

He thinks of Sopchoppy days

Willie Mae

And those scars just fade away

Willie Mae Porter

20Aug1915

17Sept1981

Patient

 To the patient 

Yesterday we must have sat two hours waiting for the hummingbird to feed on the trumpet vine. One of the few times she came, I was focused on a chicken in the yard. It’s akin to waiting for an airplane to bisect the moon.

Difficult to stay focused. Hummingbird at Trumpet Vine 

Thursday with D7000

200-500 5.6

f5.6@3200

On being Bob

 He wanted to read his bible

More than talk to me

I could tell he wasn't listening

Wasn't interested in me

Oh I babbled on a bit longer

But finally just shut up and

Apologized

Went my way 

So he could get back to his word

What a spiritual guy

He is.

There he sat with the far away hollow face

Offering little in the conversation

Wondering what was I doing in this place

I imagined him reeling back at my inspiration.

City logo

 We talk about the Cracker Barrel logo sanitizing, I recall how Lake City butchered the logo I designed in 1981.

Align Dance

 Align dance

In the year 2025

Of the month August

The day Friday 

God said I shall give 

My heavenly bodies

A day to dance 

And so they aligned danced

The day away

While upon the terra firma 

We held our magic lens

To see some of the pirouetting 

Thinking dancing only occurs 

In darkened ballrooms

Others shunning it all

For surely God does not condone 

Dancing 

Oh those pesky people 

With the retinas of imagination 

And wonderment seared.

Gallery

 Redid the wall space at the Gallery. Added 36 5x7. Added some new on the wall. Was getting stagnant.

500pf

 Ordered the 500 5.6pf Nikon Sunday. It came Tuesday from B&H. 2000,! Is it worth it? So far my early results mixed. Like that it is much lighter than the 200-500 I had.Challenge will be when Mel finds out to keep it. 

Fall call

 The Call of Fall

Always around this time of mid August, when the talk of SEC is in the air, and our pumpkin and gourd plants are languishing in the Florida heat, there is a tinge of fall wafting down from Kentucky, and I long to follow it to the source.

Oh well

It was always be. I’m no 1000 like with replies person. Face it. What I do is basically for me only. The forums at the Gallery, ignored. Johnny Bullard who used to use my photos. Ignores me. Posts on FB. Maybe a few. I get as much views here and I can’t see or know who’s seeing, for no one ever comments.