Mirror In the Grass

What was that, glinting in a front yard near the sidewalk? There, in the winter grass, were the remains of a mirror, frameless and shattered into pieces. I bent down to look more closely, multiplying my own reflection for a moment. As cars rolled by, I looked at the blue sky and lacy tree branches overhead captured on the surface of each shard. 
The broken mirror offered up hundreds of slightly different versions of the world above and around me. This may be a metaphor for something about how we can or do see the world...

Heart Shaped Chocolate Boxes

Ten days before Valentine's Day, there was no doubt that the family-run shop was ready. More than two dozen heart shaped boxes lined the candy counters, ready to be ordered and filled with a customized assortment for your sweetie. I wondered if there was any heart-patterned wrapping paper left in town. It all seemed to be neatly covering the rest of the chocolates, stacked behind the counter, ready for those who lacked the foresight to order the fancier boxes ahead of time. Hopefully they have all gone to new homes, spreading love and deliciousness along the way.

Snowdrops On a Cloudy Day

A stretch of very warm days had left me worried about the swelling buds on flowering trees all over the neighborhood. Now we are back to chillier, more normal weather and the snowdrops are flowering. Something about them seems closer to fauna than flora. They are a pack of little white floppy-eared dogs, heads bent, tracking something. Perhaps it is the approach of Spring. The snowdrops will disappear soon, but somehow they know that Spring is coming.

Graffiti and Winter Underbrush

During the summer, I caught glimpses of this graffiti-painted culvert through the greenery that obscured my view. Now the leaves are gone and the bare limbs of the underbrush form an ambiguous tangle of lines and colors. Surely this would be the setting for a punk version of Sleeping Beauty. A rock and roll skateboarding prince would appear, ready to release her from the colorfully tagged prison. I suspect she would thank him then go on her way, a few new cans of spray paint in hand.