very happy to report as the academic year starts back up that i’ve got a number of small pomes up at _the anchorite_ in the second issue.
i’m particularly pleased that they took my two-liner on winter tire tracks!
have a look, and at the other folks’ too. the first issue has poets i dig in it as well.
the arbor ridge segment of the ice age trail (wisconsin’s state-wide trail more or less along the terminal moraine of the wisconsin glacier) goes thru my hometown of janesville. found out a few years ago that the ‘arbor ridge’ segment runs thru land that used to belong to my wife’s great grandfather. they used to run cattle there.
a beautiful walk on easter, tho the rain started coming down pretty good about half-way thru. can tell they didn’t plough due to the rue anemones all over–though i suppose you’d know from the steep ravine anyway. first id of carolina wren, and fun to realize that her great grandfather knew these trees (at least one massively old oak) and marsh creek.
a.
rue anemones
in full bloom
while the others rest
b.
carolina wren
singing out
beyond the railroad
well, we’ve crossed the line over 150 state natural areas visited. hadn’t thought we’d get here when this began, especially when this project started slowing down after things picked up once the worst of the pandemic was behind us. but here we are. a trip to door cty last week put us across the 150 line.
north bay sna in door cty is a varied site with undeveloped shoreline on lake michigan (rare in door cty), wetlands, springs and seeps, mesic and boreal forest. i only walked thru the coniferous woods at the beginning of the site from the dead end road, but was pleasantly surprised by the variety of plant life, club moss, et alia. got some weird vibes about a half hour in and trusted it since i was alone and turned round, but a fine afternoon jaunt nonetheless.
first id of pearly everlasting, spurred gentian, northern bugleweed, and red baneberry!
a.
so many ferns here
too few names
birch limbs all around
b.
this lune is for you,
dear lorine—
everlasting bracts
c.
how to put in words
the texture
of club moss and fir?
d.
such small minutemen
on cypress
is bear lurking near?
first day of the new academic year, here i come.
as a follow-up to our independence day hike, we stopped at two spots for some walks on our way to pick up the kids in the rock river valley. first up was the sprawling (in a good way) whitnall park in mke cty—prairie, woods, pond, so many plants—then newark road prairie sna as we got to the rock. good day.
first id’s of american germander, tall hairy agrimony, black cohosh, leafcup, broadleaf enchanter’s nightshade, queen of the prairie. (!)
at newark road prairie sna (entry a while back) saw some other first id’s: prairie woundwort, spotted joe-pye weed, virginia mountain mint, michigan lily, and eastern prairie fringed orchid(! again). aside from disturbing a redwing blackbird family, a brilliant short stop.
a.
from a sun-soaked snag
a clear call
indigo bunting
b.
forming culver’s root
pentangles
walking with my wife
c.
in late morning sun
the year’s first
goldenrod blooming
d.
goldfinches calling
by swaying
queen of the prairie
been a while. but after a visit with family, me and the kids headed west to this dry mesic prairie remnant just past the terminal moraine in the driftless area (where the last glaciation didn’t touch). mostly situated on a dramatic hill, this prairie was grazed but not plowed, according to the wdnr’s website. lots of native species still inhabiting, a small oak proudly taking up the hill’s crest as its home.
many first time id’s and a few old friends hanging out. first id’s of wood lily, seneca snakeroot, blue-eyed grass, flowering spurge, prairie phlox.
first day that a walk in the sun got uncomfortably hot this year. could have sat on the hilltop all day long.
a.
bright lamp of the hill
bolt upright
in dane cty breeze
b.
above the valley
delicate
puccoon blossom stands
did our early-spring visit to seminary woods at st. francis seminary in st. francis, wisconsin again last weekend. one of our two old-growth stands here in milwaukee county.
trout lilies and early buttercups coming up in all the usual spots; skunk cabbage leafing out in the stream bed and low areas, mayapple along the trail; a barred owl snoozing up in the leafless canopy. a good day.
a.
great horns craned to scratch
vernal sun
shines on buttercups
it’s difficult to see b/c i don’t have a good camera, but there is in fact a great horned owl toward the center (bit to the right) of this photo about a third of the way down.
a gem. moonlight bay bedrock beach is a dolomite beach that is sometimes covered by water and sometimes not. we had a fabulous time walking along the shore, in and out of the water, onto dolomite boulders looming out of the water, rock hopping, etc. an incredible habitat, very unique.
first ids of painted cup paintbrush, hidden spike moss, low calamint, narrow-leaved loosestrife, little green sedge, american three-square bulrush, and meadow anemone.
a.
hopkins’s flame-catcher
here and there
hunting on the bay
b.
a spare claw pale blue
gulls feeding
dolomite island
c.
just me and the toad
admiring
wind-waving paintbrush
mud lake is a marl-bottomed lake that drains into lake michigan via rieboldt creek. i had my family drop me off on the side of hwy 57 to tromp in, but quickly ran back to the van to get a hooded sweatshirt for the deer flies—such swarming i couldn’t take it. but w/ only partial face exposed, i got back in and the sun and breeze were doing a real number on the swamp: water and cattails undulating, dragonflies everywhere, and new forbs. too short a visit, but a blessing nonetheless.
first id of bladderwort, swamp milkweed, deer flies, and smooth saw-grass.
a.
moth on swamp milkweed
and deer flies
all over my hands
b.
land of dragonflies
and monarchs
the swamp’s yellow mouths
c.
beneath tamaracks
saw-grass sways
flowering july
we’ve driven over the late-1800s causeway thrown across marl-bottomed kangaroo lake heaps of times. but we’ve never stopped to walk around, until a couple weeks ago. it was hot, and the bugs were starting to come out, but it was a fun time nonetheless. ovenbirds singing in the trees, new plants, the lakeshore, a narrow path leading thru cedars, and dryad’s saddle almost as big as my 6-year-old!
first ids of sensitive fern, and sulphur cinquefoil,
a.
the ovenbird sings
her sun song
walls of juniper
b.
blue-tongued shoreline spike
a tower
for mud-bodied frog
c.
a six-year-old pack
on my back
running to laughter
wedde creek savanna is a black oak savanna, a formerly characteristic habitat in southern wisconsin. open-grown black oaks, jack pines, so many oaklings, and lichen everywhere underfoot!
a good evening walk, tho’ so many ticks. first id of pixie cup lichen, lyreleaf rockcress, and sundial lupine!
a.
marquette westering
whip-poor-will
last night’s memory
b.
red-tipped pixie cup
stretches out
under oaken shade
Jacob Riyeff 