Autumn Prairie Colossus

Brisk autumn airs, azure skies and withered prairie pulchritude greet Cooper and me on our morning outing. With current closures of National parks and monuments on my mind, Emma Lazarus’ sonnet inscribed on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty soon bouys the rhythm of my steps and breath. In my mind’s eye I find myself once again riding silver wings in a steep, sweeping bank into our aerial port of debarkation in New York City, America. Lady Liberty with kind countenance and raised torch welcomes our homeless, tempest-tossed immigrant family. We yearn to breathe free.

As Cooper and I traverse vast Llano Estacado tablelands my heart and soul yearn for solace from the fearsome times and vitriol that have beset our Nation. The prairie does not disappoint. Every glance across the sea of grass finds autumn treasures. False Boneset  dominates the terra cotta hues of parched soil. Its delicate flower heads remind me of the aureola radiating from the head of Lady Liberty’s gentle colossus. My imagination transforms each bloom. Each becomes a prairie colossus and together they are innumerable icons of freedom and our great country. Their dance on the prairie breezes reassures me the essence of our Nation lives in the hearts and spirit of her people. We will weather this tempest.

© Ilija Lukić  2013

Yearning To Breathe Free
(brickellia eupatorioides aka False Boneset)

Lamp On Terra Cotta Plain
(Yellow Spined Thistle)

 Golden Door Welcome
(brickellia eupatorioides aka False Boneset)

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor

Tempest-Tossed Shore
(Buffalo Grass)

Teeming Coral Seas

I Lift My Lamp
(False Boneset)

Huddled Masses
(brickellia eupatoriodes aka False Boneset)

Sunflower Bud

Pray tell the worth
Of modest flower bud
Upon the grassy plain.

It moves ordinary hearts
To muse ‘bout beauty and
Lifts the breath of life anew.

It embodies high hopes

And spunky notions
Of glory days untold.

It speaks of both
The past and future
In the same breath

And gives substance

To the whispers of God

Adrift on prairie winds.

    

© Ilija Lukić 2013

Just Before
(helianthus annuus, aka Annual Sunflower)

Autumn Gold

Clear skies and cool breezes greet Cooper and me as we meander through burnt orange and golden hues of withered prairie vegetation. We find recent monsoonal rains have drenched a wide swath of New Mexico and have brought a revival of greenery. The mix of summer straw and emerald green creates a dreamscape. Aromas of wet soil, grasses, and sage permeate the morning air. The ambience relegates tedious summer months of heat and drought to fading memories. Human high plains dwellers embrace the upbeat mood. City folk let loose gleeful hip, hip, hoorays while cowboys chasing cattle below distant mesas echo their sentiments with hearty yippie ki-yays. Forces of autumn marshal to the north and portend crisp mornings, kaleidoscopes of foliage, and more tranquil rhythms of life.

Autumn gold surrounds my passage through the early morning prairie. The landscape invites my senses to feast on splashes of yellow flora. The hardy survivors of weather extremes insist on sharing their age old dances of celebration. I partake willingly. They flaunt their showy garb. Their beauty emulates the sun. My spirit rises on the distant song of a meadow lark into the azure, ethereal canopy of New Mexico sky. I am reborn.

© Ilija Lukić 2013

Golden Crownbeard

Forbidden Fruit
(euphorbia heterophylla, aka Wild Poisettia, Toothed Spurge)

Lemon Kisses
(haplopappus ciliatus, aka Wax Goldenweed)

Larger Than Life (Cooper)

Sunflower Moth Larva On Wax Goldenweed
(haplopappus ciliatus)

Snakeweed Gold
(gutierrezia sarothrae, aka Broom Snakeweed)

Hairy False Golden Aster

Ready For The Harvest
(opuntia macrorhiza, aka Prickly Pear Cactus)

Buffalo Gourd Beetle
(diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi, aka Spotted Cucumber Beetle)

Rocky Mountain Zinnia

Corymbs
(brickellia eupatorioides, aka False Boneset)

Broomweed Autumn
(guterriezia sarothrae)

Wild At Heart
(euphorbia heterophylla, aka Wild Poisettia)

Nose-To-Nose With a Diabroticine Beetle

Farewell To Drought (Cooper)

Equinox Moon

Morning light on the day of the 2013 Autumnal Equinox finds the waning Moon in the western skies over the Llano Estacado tablelands and Clovis, New Mexico USA.

Summer blazes cut ‘n run
Waning Moon smiles with delight
Autumn frolics upon winds

    

© Ilija Lukić 2013

Equinox Moon

Paragon Of Eternity

Rain storms on the Llano Estacado can wreak havoc but also create artful aftermath and lyrical glimpses into eternity.

Alluvial deposits of soil

Left by torrential runoff

Paint prairie arroyos.

The treasures of sand

Cast in silent swashes

Whisper of rivers wild.

Each grain rollicks

With kindred specks

And longs for purpose,

Till their chaotic rambles

Become artful footprints

In the eternal sands of time.

© Ilija Lukić 2013