Tag Archives: Virginia

The Persimmons Poem.

I’m linking here to “Persimmons,” by Li-Young Lee, over at the Poetry Foundation.  It’s been a favorite of mine since college.

I believe I’ve linked to it here at the blog before, the subject of the poem came up again, as a friend of mine actually grows persimmons in his backyard and posted pictures on Facebook.  (Will the wonders of rural Virginia never cease?)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43011/persimmons

 

 

 

Into the Woods.

Roanoke, Virginia, May 2018.

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This spring is in full swing.

Roanoke, Virginia, May 2018.

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“LOVE” artwork outside Salem Public Library.

Salem, Virginia, May 2018.

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“Just look at the flowers, Lizzie.”

“Just look at the flowers.”

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A night scene.

It’s another blurry photograph; did you expect anything more at this blog?  But I still think it’s kind of neat and atmospheric — like maybe the rear of a book cover for a horror novel.

What you see at left are the moon and Venus, respectively.

 

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A brush with uncertainty.

Sooooo, I suppose this is one of the reasons they tell you to never hike alone — the disorienting, downright Lovecraftian plantlife that limits your visibility, confuses your sense of direction and challenges your sanity.  (I arrived at this insight hiking alone.)  I have recently come to understand that this is what the people from the South and the West sometimes refer to as “the brush.”

I am frequently surprised when walking through the hills at how uneven the terrain is.  (Probably why they call it “the hills.”)  But I’m gaining a new appreciation for how daunting mountain flora can be.

I also saw a white-tailed deer — it looked as big as a frikkin’ Clydesdale.

 

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Illustration of Alexandria, Virginia, from the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836

Detail of a slave ship at the Alexandria, Virginia (then Washington, D.C.) waterfront.  From broadside published by the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Original caption of the image: “View of a section of Alexandria, with a slave ship receiving her cargo of slaves.”

 

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I have come here to berry Caesar …

… not to praise him.

(Facebook friends, Roanokers, countrymen … lend me some money.)

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More flora announcing spring.

Roanoke, Virginia, April 2018.

 

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