Tales from the Garden

This is Part 2 of the poem I wrote for the first "Arivaca Bards and Bratz" event on Oct. 1st 2023, accompanied by recent photos from our home garden and nearby natural areas: WHY AM I STILL HERE? Grey Hawks whistling overhead; Blue Grosbeaks and Lazuli Buntings; Coatimundi; Green-tailed Towhees and Summer Tanagers;   Roadrunners and Wild Turkeys on the patio; A coyote on the roof; Lucy’s Warblers; Hummingbirds by the hundreds;   Artichoke Agaves;      Purple Prickly Pears;      Monarchs and Milkweeds; Ginormous black bees and tiny black bees;               Good friends; Music in the dancehall; Gadsden Coffee every morning; Ebony’s jambalaya;         Thunder and lightning; Monsoon water in the big dip; Tall green grass waving in the wind;             Weathered grassland rustling in the wind; The open road; Sunsets stretching far and wide; Wall-to-wall stars; Baboquivari; And days like today.

The first Bards and Bratz event at the Arivaca Dancehall happened on the afternoon of October 1st, with the theme "How the Heck did I Get Here? and Why am I Still Here?"  I decided to write a poem for the occasion, and below is Part 1, accompanied by photos of the Arivaca Cienega taken in 1993 during the very first trip Uno and I made to this area: HOW DID I GET HERE?                   Frosty, pink dawns in the Cienega; Red-winged Blackbirds calling from the Cattails; Deer standing in knee-high March rain; New leaves on the Cottonwoods; Black Vultures playing with the wind; Ginormous Barrel Cactus; Mergansers and Buffleheads in the Willow Pond; Pied-bills in the Grebe Pond; Lark Sparrows darting in and out of the trails; White Kites and Northern Harriers hovering overhead; The warm warm sun, shining on Vermillion flycatchers; The bubbling of the creek over rocks and downed logs,   a ribbon of green along its edge; A Wilson’s Warbler la