Summer Vacation Postcard Project

August 31: Horseback Riding, Kentucky Lake State Park

Mild, retired roan

or bay, the State Park

beast of burden takes

the bridle, rider, lump

of sugar with slow-

gaited patience, easily

as the the spur, the bit

of service.

 August 26: Horse Wranglers in Oregon

Questions of twilight

and stampede, the bite

of dust and rope

like a cyclone hard

on the horizon,

and the storm

of hooves, hired hands.

 August 18: Haystack Rock on a Beautiful Summer's Day

How postcard perfect!

The harmonies of blue

and green, the counter-

point of white gull,

gentle breaking wave;

the slick of surf, glassy

on the sand, the quaint

name: shape of land

and harvest, not

earth's argument

for brute geology,

ancient indifference

to change.

August 13:  Centre Family Dwelling,

Shaker Village

The gift to be

simple: sunlight

poured onto

polished floors,

staircases' spindled

symmetry of ascent,

descent, clock-

stopped analogy

of time, this gift.

Aug. 9: Candle-Writing,

Mammoth Cave

Essence made solid,

these smoke signatures

mute until

illuminated. Black

mark of the ages,

brave pilgrimage,

legacy traced.

Find it:

Your name here.

Aug. 5: Exit Now!

(World's Largest!)

These facts: discovery,

shape of teeth and

bone, proprietary

claim to display,

bragging rights to

our shocked witness

of some ancient thing

recovered, this next-

stop-rock-shop house

of curiosities, we tithe

summer's spare 

change to wonder.

August 1: Tours in the Cumberlands

Girl guide into

the Gap. Safe passage,

Traveler! Bridle path

past wonder-falls,

tall pines, sharp-

scented, the loamy trail

steep and soft into

the dark throat

of the gorge,

star-studded

with late blooming laurel.