August 31, 2012

For several nights now I have been watching the saga of the geckos, little, mostly green, with splayed feet and long tails.   Since they are climbing on the screen I see their undersides, a rather pale mixture of buff and green.  First there was only one, a nice long fat one, coming to the window because the light is on and all kinds of bugs are drawn to it.  He wanders around eating his fill of whatever is small enough for him to eat.  Then, he, the generic he, was joined by another one, not quite as fat, perhaps looking to cash in on this trove of edible treasures.  Last night there were four of them, three larger ones and one very tiny one that moved really fast and tried to stay out of the way of the others.  They all slithered, skittered, plucked the screen and made it thrum, and generally had what appeared to be a great time.  Tonight I am waiting to see if there will be more, word must be spreading through the gecko population about the Crowson smorgasbord!

Going Out To The Garden

Going out to the garden

this morning

to plant seeds

for my winter greens

-the strong, fiery mustard

& the milder

broadleaf turnip-

I saw a gecko

who

like the rest of us

has been

reeling

from the heat.

Geckos like heat

I know this

but the heat

these last few days

has been excessive

for us

& for them.

A spray of water

from the hose

touched its skin:

I thought it would

run away.

There are crevices

aplenty

to hide in:

the garden wall

is made of stones.

But no

not only

did the gecko

not run away

it appeared

to raise

its eyes

& head

looking for more.

I gave it.

Squirt after

squirt

of cooling

spray

from the green

garden hose.

Is it the end

of the world?

It seemed to ask.

This bliss,

is it Paradise?

I bathed it

until we were both

washed clean

of the troubles

of this world

at least for this moment:

this moment of pleasure

of gecko

joy

as I with so much happiness

played Goddess

to Gecko.

Alice Walker

Well, I guess by way of the light spilling late into the night from my window I may be a Goddess to Gecko as well. 

Today is the first day of my new class, the Artist Trading Card workshop.  Everything's ready to go and it's time to leave.  Always exciting to meet a new class!!