Big Sur, California: Art in Nature


"Pink and Blue"

Pink Belladonna lilies
in the embracing bosom
of nature’s retaining wall,
Content in the company
of the blue water pool.
Waves shuffling the rocks below
  forming a spiraling mist
caressing the petals
like the skin of a lover
They belong
in their own magical little world,
A world without rain!

McWay Falls @Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
photo and poem by Alice Odena
**********************************************************
 “Emerald”

Waiting beside the sea
Across the waterfall
A wavering mist lifting its lacy veil,
Sagebrush dots the rocky slope.
The evergreen extends its arms
to the Ficus and the Sycamore
forming a harmonious green.

On the beach below
the waves run through foaming streams
Gathering seaweeds and kelp
creating a poetic symphony  
of a strangely soothing emerald,
inviting, bewildering me
 with beauty.
McWay Falls @Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
Photo and poem by Alice Odena  
**********************************************************
                            
“Blue Reed”

High upon the hills
Waif-like, luxurious
Stands in royal dignity
  outlives the ferns and the violets.
Thirsty for rain
Grows a deathless beauty
Learns the rituals of vanity
Swings with the wind
Embraces the dawn of youth
Brightens the summer landscape
With hope and joy,
Breathes the air and prays for rain!
                                      
@Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park 
photo and poem by Alice Odena



***
PLEASE REMEMBER TO CONSERVE WATER, IT'S A PRECIOUS RESOURCE.

From Art in Nature Series
The Meeting of Land and Sea
Photos and Poems 
Copyright 2014 by Alice Odena

Comments

Post a Comment

NEW POSTS

The Banaue Rice Terraces: A Living Cultural Landscape

Image
My interest in exploring the northern part of the Philippines started from looking at a piece of art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California.   Among the display of ceramics and pottery engraved with gold and other decorative stuff,  a wooden carving of a male figure squatting on a platform with the lower arms on top of each other, resting upon his knees, caught my eye.  According to the docent, the wooden sculpture was called "Bului" which literally means "granary guardian" in the "Ifugao" tribe dialect. The carved wooden sculpture was set on a platform on top of another platform, a mortar.   Our docent explained the significance of the wooden mortar (which was used with the pestle, to separate the husk from the rice, sort of rice mill) and linked the story to the Rice Terraces in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines built 2000 years ago by the “Ifugao” tribe. So two years and three hundred kilometers north of Manila later, we explo...
Read more

Transylvania, Romania: The Land of Dracula

Image
When we hear the place Transylvania, we almost always think about Dracula, the bloody vampire, that always makes a good Halloween story. So, when I visited Transylvania early this year, it's hard not to associate the places, like the Bran Castle to the famous novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.  It’s said that Bram Stoker’s inspiration for the Dracula was a historical character Vlad Tepes or Vlad III, the ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century. During Stoker’s research on the region of Transylvania, he came across the brutal accounts of the atrocities committed by Vlad III, also known as Vlad Dracul, aka Vlad the Impaler. He was known for committing brutal acts of war and was under constant threat of attack from the Ottoman and Hungarian forces. During his infamous retreat from the Ottoman forces, Vlad the Impaler had the bodies of his enemies and his people alike impaled on large spikes in the field surrounding his county.   The inspiration for the made-up character ma...
Read more

Poland: The Wieliczka Salt Mine

Image
One of the most spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Sites I visited this year was the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow, Poland. It was founded in the 13th century to mine the rich deposit of salt. Salt mining stopped in 1996 when the low price of salt on the world market made it too expensive to mine and the mine was slowly flooding. But miners did more than just extract salt. They left behind them a breathtaking record of their time underground in the shape of statues of mythical, historical and religious figures.  Part of the salt mine became an art gallery, chapels, cathedral, and underground lakes. Today, Wieliczka Salt Mine is one of the most visited National Monuments in Poland. For safety reason, less than one percent of the mine is open to visitors, but even that is almost four kilometers in length. There are 20 chambers to visit and 800 steps to climb of which 350 at the beginning take you down into the mine. You can’t just visit and wander around on your own. All of t...
Read more