Photograph Shot with an iPhone 6s on noir

Grey slides down the sky
covers the whole I can see
and colors the world in damp.
Stark black relieves the grey
and bare tree shapes shrouded by fog
create aliens in the dark
but the drought rides along
on the alien ships
secure in its grip and certain in its place.
Years of rain may banish it. Still

snow climbs high in the mountains
and green pushes up through the mud
on the hills. In the dog park
the bark tries itself as sinkhole
and the dogs, grateful creatures of the earth,
share it with responsible dog
parents who walk endlessly around
the dog park multi-tasking
as both humans and canines
exercise in the last minutes
before the unseen sun sets.

Day hums through the fog
to its closing. Peace comes to tired
bodies that sink down into night.
At the last trip outside before bed,
I paint the frosted moon into a
picture inside my mind.
Inside our warm house,
I quietly acknowledge another day
of moments savored. The soft chorus
of their harmony follows me to sleep.

Janice Eskridge 2016