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April 26, 2017

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Current Events, Photography, Poetry

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Wildflower Wildfire

IMG_4316

A wildflower wildfire
has set the California hills
ablaze in royal purple,
poppy-orange and
an exuberant yellow,
visible from space.

Van Gogh called yellow
the color of happiness.
He would have painted
an impasto* ocean of petals.
I leave the perfume of words.

Copyright 2017 Brenda Davis Harsham

Notes: If you haven’t seen the BBC’s video of the once-in-a-lifetime California Super Bloom, take a minute to click here. It’s as magical as van Gogh’s sunflowers.

*Impasto is laying paint on so thickly it creates a raised texture.

24 thoughts on “Wildflower Wildfire”

    • Yes! I expect “wildfire” might trigger bad memories in the drought-suffering California hills, but I am reclaiming the word for nature, which has more than one use for drought apparently. Who would have thought a super bloom would be the result?

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  5. Y’know … I take every bit as much joy from the dandelions and clover, and the tiny little I-don’t-know-what-they-are-called wildflowers each spring as I do the carefully planted rows of roses and hyacinths. I just love to see colour dotting the landscape after a dark, brown, dull winter. Love your pic!

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  6. I used to live very close to all the poppies. The thing I remember most about that time was that when the poppies were blooming baby rattlesnakes came out. I had small children at the time and lived in fear. The baby rattlers don’t have control of their venom and are deadlier than adults. And these were Mojave Greens.

    On the other hand, before children we lived near Sacramento where we could visit Daffodil Hill in the spring. It was so beautiful with all the greenery of pine trees.

    Thanks for the memories! 🙂

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