Living Inside a Poem

Some days when I go out with my camera I feel as if I am

Today’s poem was about the color green and the yellow color of bright gold finches gathering at the feeder.

Invitation

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

— Mary Oliver

The poem was the pale peachy pink color of geranium flowers ready to blossom and the white of hydrangea blossoms opening on the tree outside my office window.

But mostly this morning the poem was about the color green. With our recent rain (thank you! thank you!) everything in our neighborhood is looking bright green and happy.

I wanted to go somewhere special to make photographs this morning to take advantage of the filtered light from the cloudy skies. But I couldn’t decide where to go. So I simply walked around my yard enjoying the poetry of its beauty.

And surprise! It turned out to be somewhere special. Right here. Right now. In my own front yard.

So many people believe that they need to go to some special place to photograph beautiful things. But in my experience you can find beauty anywhere—even in your own front yard.

Are you also living inside a poem today my friends? Are you enjoying the greens of summer and the soft kiss of a summer breeze on your skin?

May you walk in beauty.