Cazadero

Art as Complement at Origami Poems Project

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 46 Comments

My micro-chapbook, Art as Complement, is available as a free PDF download at Origami Poems Project. All poems are printed on one sheet of paper that when folded, following these instructions, creates a palm-sized chapbook. The six poems are inspired by the Cazadero Nature and Art Conservancy, which is tended by Margaret Fabrizio in the mountains of Sonoma County, California.

It’s an honor to have my poetry placed with the many fine poets who can be found at Origami Poems Project by hovering over the “Poets” tab and clicking “Find a Poet.” Many thanks to Editor Jan Keough for accepting my poems and creating this micro-chapbook.

Cazadero Moss

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 17 Comments

Cazadero Moss

Beside a leaf-scattered trail
that winds beneath Douglas fir
and redwood, massive
granite boulders lie, almost a wall.
High, relative to a terrain
that continues to rise
above the valley below.

Moss covers the wall,
the crevices between boulders,
as if married to the wall.
A soft blanket of green
where fallen needles and thoughts
collect, thoughts of those
who have stopped to relish
the beauty of this moment,
any moment in this place.

A late response to earthweal weekly post: THE NATURE OF ENCHANTMENT, i am sharing this poem with earthweal open link weekend #88.

Photos: Cazadero Nature and Art Conservancy, in Sonoma County, California.
(click images for larger view in new tab)

My other Cazadero poems can be found here.

Cazadero Beauty

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 18 Comments

Cazadero Beauty

Gently touching a madrone,
marvel at the beauty of its skin.

Follow trails through meadow and wood
to find works of art at every turn,
flowers that mirror the beauty of this place,
living in harmony with nature.

Follow the line of tracks left by wheels
that lumbered through here decades ago
and find a yurt sheltered beneath
the grand canopy of its surroundings.

Sit within a natural amphitheater of stone
that has heard lines of poetry
and seen the smiles of children.

Lie in the forgiving moss
that carpets a stone outcropping.

Witness a massive oak
embracing a giant granite boulder,
a marriage for the ages.

Kneeling before mighty redwoods,
shed tears of joy at their majesty.

Look down into a valley of green
and know that a river rushes
through its depths to the sea.

Feel the warmth of candlelight,
the late evening sun filtered through the forest.

Experience all of this on the land,
Cazadero’s gift as envisioned by a true artist.

 

This poem is my second response to The Sunday Whirl – Wordle #518.

land – carpets – line – down – kneeling – tears – flowers
late – wheels – living – touching – candlelight

Cazadero Nature and Art Conservancy – owned by Margaret Fabrizio and known as The Land – is a 40 acre property in Sonoma County dedicated to the preservation and respectful honoring of natural habitat with non-invasive art works. Pictures of the art installations can be seen here, and the buildings here.

My other Cazadero poems can be found here.

From a Meadow

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 42 Comments

From a Meadow

edged with bay trees
and madrones, past mighty oaks.
Into the heart of the redwoods,

past stone outcroppings
covered in moss, on a carpet
of age-old needles.

Listen.

Who would speak above a whisper,
when The Land whispers
in a voice heard by poets?

Cazadero, that expansive house
of nature. Each meadow or glade
a room. The air of redwood

and fir a cathedral of contemplation.
Who could pass through here
and not become a poet?

This is my response to Poetics: Make some room, from Laura at dVerse Poets Pub, with the prompt to “conjure a room in the literal, functional, metaphorical, imaginary and/or fantastical sense.”

The poem is derived from one of my earliest poems here, at WordPress, Cazadero Whisper. Margaret Fabrizio has been the sole steward of The Cazadero Nature and Art Conservancy in Sonoma County since she acquired those 40 acres in 1986, retaining the natural setting while introducing art installations throughout the forest and meadows of The Land. My other Cazadero poems can be found here.

 

Cazadero Sunlight

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 25 Comments

Cazadero Sunlight

True color revealed
in the filtered light
of Doug fir and redwood

Vibrant moss on stone walls,
outcrops that speak
of time

Madrone on meadow’s edge,
bark peeling to reveal
a grain of survival

A bay tree’s carpet of leaves
beside hundreds of years
alive in an oak

A vista of beauty
under the watchful eye
of the keeper

Centuries old oak embracing moss covered granite,
wrapped with yarn to symbolize “Marriage”

The Cazadero Art and Nature Conservancy is cared for by my dear friend, Margaret Fabrizio. Since 1986, she has maintained her 40 acres of redwood forest and meadows above the Russian River as a site where art is in harmony with nature. At eighty-nine, this artist and musician continues to make the two hour drive from her home in San Francisco to tend to it, clearing fallen branches and cutting the grass of the meadow by hand with a scythe. She is as one with The Land, and she is a marvel.

I’ve also written about Margaret and The Land, here
(click images to open larger view in new tab)

Margaret Fabrizio 2011

Art as Compliment ~ haibun

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 22 Comments

Art as Compliment

Fallen branches, arranged to frame a path, guide us through the redwoods and Douglas firs that cover a majority of The Land. Rising and falling with the terrain, we pass trees that tower hundreds of feet over our heads. Since leaving the meadow, I have been at awe with the sight before my eyes, aware that, as she walks beside me, Margaret is watching my face, registering the surprise and delight that must show there. From the three-hundred-year-old oaks at the edge of the forest – one laced with colored yarn and twine that marry it to the giant granite boulder seeming to grow into its side, the other strung with fist-sized beads of colorful, fired clay placed by an artist friend – to small plaster masks nestled into the moss-covered shelf of a solid stone wall, there is evidence of her mission to keep her art, and that of her friends, from intruding on the natural beauty of the surroundings.

art as compliment
the sanctity of nature
humble reverence

Carpe Diem #1053 worship (Jane Reichhold’s Legacy)

As my first haibun, I’ve written about my introduction to The Land, The Cazadero Art and Nature Conservancy, by my dear friend, Margaret Fabrizio, in 2011. Since 1986, she has maintained her 40 acres of redwood forest and meadows above the Russian River as a site where art is in harmony with nature. At eighty-six, she continues to make the two hour drive from her home in San Francisco to tend to it, clearing fallen branches and cutting the grass of the meadow by hand with a scythe. She is as one with The Land, and she is a marvel.

Haibun ~ prose, often about a journey and in the first person
~ followed by a haiku or tanka

art-as-compliment

In Search of a Muse

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / Leave a comment

Search for a Muse

World traveler

Skilled artist, musician

Drawn by enrichment

Time after time

Art

Music

Culture

Year after year

Her own years a minor obstacle

Guatemala

Italy

Vietnam

Sri Lanka

Bali

India, with the strongest pull

and on…

A life rich in knowledge, experience

Seeking a richer depth in her craft

In search of enrichment

 

Margaret Fabrizio has channeled her artistic talents in many directions, including video, photography, painting, mask making, collage, quilting and as a composer and concert harpsichordist.  Her current passion is the creation of kawandi, a native form of quilting attributed to the Siddi, African-Indians living in Karnataka, India.  During extended visits with the Siddi in 2011 and 2012, Margaret gained hands on experience in the craft behind this particular method of quilting, and has gone on to give it her own distinctive, signature style.  Her quilts have appeared at various galleries and museums.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPtu2ILuw2s&index=2&list=PLFuFehKak9t_ZuGPTwxwauwyyglG5RCgC

Two of my poems here at WordPress  (Cazadero Whisper and Cazadero Remembered) are in regards to my two day stay at Margaret’s Cazadero Nature and Art Conservancy, or as as she calls it, “The Land,” among the oaks and redwoods north of San Francisco.  I consider her a valued friend.  At eighty-five, Time may have slowed the step in her walk, but her mind is as quick as it ever has been.

Ken

 

Cazadero Remembered

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 1 Comment

Cazadero Remembered

Late October, gazing up from
a meadow in the mountains
above the Russian River,
embraced by Doug fir,
oak, bay, madrone and redwood,
I relive a day spent
walking trails and witnessing art
subtly married to its environment.

Led by the hand to this sanctuary
by a friend who spent decades
bringing to fruition a concept of
art honoring its surroundings,
each turn, each rise,
brings an appreciation
for the eyes that envisioned this.

Now, at the end of the day,
with city lights a world away
and a blanket of stars overhead,
Jupiter brilliant in their midst,
the experience is magnified,
and I am humbled
by my surroundings.

 

Cazadero Whisper

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 3 Comments

Cazadero Whisper

Walk from a meadow
edged with bay trees and madrones,
past mighty oaks,
and, finally,
into the heart of the redwoods.

Stand on a floor carpeted
with age-old needles,
beside stone outcroppings
covered in moss,
and listen.

A shout here could be a whisper,
but who would know?

Who would dare to speak
above a whisper,
in a land that whispers
in a voice heard by poets?

A land that has heard poets speak,
heard poets write of that whisper,
that voice that says,

“A millennium could pass,
with no sign of all who pass through here,
if only they would see this world
through the eyes of a poet.”

And who could not be a poet in that world?

 

NaPoWriMo2014_18