friends & strangers

green praying mantis
This photo of one of the stranger bugs I have had the pleasure of meeting up close is dedicated to the friends – and strangers – who read this blog and occasionally leave comments or click the ‘like’ button.

July noon

parked cars in bright mid-day sunshine

Cars crouch low, jealous
of their shadows

A swallowtail dallies
among flower-bright trash

Wasps crawl terraza tables
where frosted glasses stood

Stray dogs sprawl
laughing in the heat

The city trembles

flights of fancy

Yesterday I wondered whether the dusty old magic carpet could still fly. Shortly after posting, I realised it didn’t really matter if it couldn’t, as I found this marvellous creature, who offered an equally valid mode of transport for any flight of fancy I might want to make:

Aquamarine /blue-green coloured moth
Continue reading “flights of fancy”

case closed

In fact, not just a case, but a whole lot of baggage.

Two old trunks and a suitcase
It was an old case, although, given the weather, not a cold case.
Continue reading “case closed”

Europe

The lady in the photo is, of course, Europa. She’s sitting outside Madrid’s main airport, clearly enjoying the sunshine.

Botero's Rapto de Europa statue; Madrid Airport
She gives me an excuse to revisit a poem-in-progress – The three body problem – from which this phrase is taken:

[…] You’ll find persuasion – just


a little gentle bull – can found a continent


of opportunity. […]

 
It probably helps if the gentle bull is ruler of the gods on Mount Olympus.