Happily the rains subside.
Mud turtle crossing the yard
to the swollen creek stops
stock still. Distracted,
I turn away
for a moment.
Turning back, he’s gone.
Two pipevine swallowtails,
turquoise flashing against black,
sipping the last of the monarda,
swooping again and again,
taunting a thrasher
on the ground
who snaps up at them.
One keeps flapping
like a wind-whipped flag
while the other nectars
as if distracting the predator,
the way a mother
bird will distract
you away from a nest.
Green frogs in the still
Dripping pond with
Big golden eyes.
We are watching
each other, too.
Laurie Lindgren
Thank you, you are a brilliant photographer and writer with such a keen eye and a loving heart. I appreciate your and all your richness of love and talent!
Betty Lou Chaika
Laurie, it’s those pipevine swallowtails that are are brilliant! Such a nice surprise to see them here in the garden for the first time. I’m so happy to get to share this love of nature with you.
Margot Ringenburg
Lovely! Special moments, delightful & amusing critters!
So happy to have your pond–and a joy for you, as well.
Betty Lou Chaika
Thanks, Margot. I know you take delight in special experiences in nature and sharing them with others, too.
Barb
So happy for your pond and all the life surrounding it, and thankful for your noticing.
Betty Lou Chaika
Barb, you have such a faithful practice of observing nature. I enjoy learning from your precious noticings, too! I had no idea that the pond would immediately attract such a diversity of frogs: bullfrogs, green frogs, Southern leopard frogs, and Cope’s gray tree frogs. The green frogs are our favorites because they come right up close, within inches of us, and watch everything we’re doing as if very curious.
sharon blessum
Oh dear visionary, your photos and words give me blessing
Betty Lou Chaika
Thanks, Sharon. I feel grateful to receive these kind words from such a deeply talented poet as yourself!
Marilyn Grubbs
Beautiful photos and beautiful words! Thanks for introducing me to the pipevine swallowtails!
Betty Lou Chaika
Thanks, Marilyn. Yes, the pipevine swallowtails are astoundingly beautiful. That flash of turquoise light from their wings is amazing. I’m grateful for their presence in this gorgeous world.
Ann Gayek
Sweet poem. I enjoyed it. Thank you!!
Betty Lou Chaika
You’re welcome, Ann. I’m curious to know what butterflies you’ve been observing in your gardens. I was worried that there didn’t seem to be many this summer, but now it seems like it’s raining butterflies! I’m happy and relieved
Jill Over
Nature keeps giving and giving and so do you, Betty Lou! with love, jill
Betty Lou Chaika
Jill, your generous appreciations as well as your open-hearted sharing of the beauty of your gardens form a mutuality of giving.
Donna
You are so talented! I love the photos, especially the butterfly.
Betty Lou Chaika
You have an eye for beauty, too, Donna! I first saw pipevine swallowtails landing on smooth coneflowers at one of the Durham diabase sites. We do have some Aristolochia (their host plants), but it was still a wonderful surprise to see them here.
Marsha
Beautiful verbal pictures. Thank you for sharing!
Betty Lou Chaika
Marsha, good to hear from you. Thank you for reading and for sharing your response!
Vicki
Lovely to observe these gorgeous creatures happily being gorgeous creatures. May their contentment drift into yours.
Betty Lou Chaika
Yes, Vicki, would that we all could be so fully and completely our real, natural, gorgeous selves.
LibbyAnn Capaldi
Beautiful, Bless YOU for Sharing
Betty Lou Chaika
Yes, Libby, it’s really about blessing, isn’t it. Blessing the creatures whose land we live in. Blessing the whole web of interactions and awareness these creatures share. Blessing them by stepping for a moment into that web of shared awareness. Blessing each other when we tell the story of such a moment.
Nancy Corson Carter
Dear Betty,
What a universe in your backyard, here shared so lovingly & beautifully!
THanks!
Betty Lou Chaika
Nancy, thank you. One reason I began seeing with poetic awareness is because of you. Your poetry has inspired me.
Amina Linda McMakin
Beautiful! Inspires me to start hanging out at our own “Turtle Cove” pond again!
Betty Lou Chaika
Amina, please do let us know what you observe when you hang with the critters at Turtle Cove. I love that name! My imagination is running wild with what you might find there.
Ralph Earle
Thanks for sharing, Betty Lou. I love your close observations and the way you stay with the scene, even while placing yourself inside it. The photos are remarkable!
Betty Lou Chaika
Ralph, yourself a poet of special moments, I can tell from your comment that I would love to take a class with you!
Diantha
Thank you! Inspiring again.
– Diantha
Betty Lou Chaika
Diantha, if I could somehow contribute to inspiring people to spend more time in and love nature again, the way we used to, even while all this destruction is taking place, I would be grateful
Riverdave
thanks betty lou for capturing that special moment! is that a mud turtle or a musk turtle? usually i find the mud turtle has a flatter shell than the one in your photo, but i imagine you did your research on this … rd
Betty Lou Chaika
rd, thanks for making me look deeper into the differences between mud and musk turtles. I wish we had looked at his lower shell. That would have really distinguished them. He was traveling overland, which musk turtles rarely do. Our definitive “research”, however, is that David did pick him up and he did not leave that musky “stinkpot” smell!