070 family ties

the sweetest sensibilities

of hearth and home

are cherished

and nurtured

in many forms

©Kim Magennis 2015

069 icy seas

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what will people

make of ancient images

will they disbelieve?

will they marvel or grieve?

when this world grows hot and dry

will they dream of snow and ice?

©Kim Magennis 2015

068 carvings

we give great honour

to carvers of wood and stone

we admire proportions

and texture and tone

forgetting

that nature was the first

master carver

with subtle tools

and infinite patience

she outdoes the least of her creatures

©Kim Magennis 2015

067 icefall

we look to the stars for mystery and grandeur

when right before our eyes

the miracle of water

becomes

a crystal sculpture

of light

and

ice

©Kim Magennis 2015

066 mother-love 04

how precious

to this one's heart

is her child

how pure

is this one's love

That she is not like me

can never devalue

the currency

of her mother-love

©Kim Magennis 2015

065 beauty aloft

we take the things we

know

for granted

and assume our experience of them

is

all there is

even those things we

deem

beautiful

are wondrously strange 

if we see them

as really they are

©Kim Magennis 2015

064 gentle conversations

gentleness and affection

are not

exclusively human conversations

mankind is apt

to think

it created

the finer emotions

©Kim Magennis 2015

063 storm

as a storm brings rain

so

chaos brings change

©Kim Magennis 2015

062 clouds

Great cloud sculptures

adorn the sky

unperturbed by human scurryings

Like vast pillars of  ocean foam

they drift,

coagulate and then dissolve.

Sometimes 

they shiver with power

and bless the land with their tears.

©Kim Magennis 2015

061 habituation

The thing about beauty-perceived

is that 

when there is a lot of it 

we become blind to it.

Because it is not rare

we forget to care.

©Kim Magennis 2015

060 lovers

Lovers on the dance floor

- a universal mating ritual -

Observe the intricate steps of

defense and attack

and ultimate surrender.

Lover and Loved

parry and block

regroup and engage again.

©Kim Magennis 2015

059 water ballet

Context is everything.

If we offer the right environment,

anyone can be 

graceful, elegant, and beautiful.

The converse applies.

Even the most magnificent soul

can be diminished

if it is out of place.

©Kim Magennis 2015

058 What You See Is What You Get

Humankind's greatest foolishness

lies in thinking that

with Nature

What You See Is What You Get

©Kim Magennis 2015

057 wild

feral friends

are a window to a different reality

they remind us

what it is to be free

feral friends

are a mirror for our souls

they show us how 

we have sold ourselves for security

©Kim Magennis 2015

056 bliss

to reach beyond the cramped confines of now

into the unlimited breath outside of ourselves

is to know the bliss

of a really good stretch

©Kim Magennis 2015

055 odd couples

relationships

are not only

about give and take

who are we to judge

the rightness of a union

on the basis of our

unenlightened opinion

©Kim Magennis 2015

054 necessity

It can be tough

trying to hold it all together

but necessity is the most

elegant

source of innovation

©Kim Magennis 2015

053 potential

it is only when we give up the idea

that events have 

an intrinsic value

that we are free to see

the beauty in desolation

and the wisdom in death

©Kim Magennis 2015

0052 the right way

There are many ways

to reach

the same destination

What insanity is it

to imagine

that we have the only

right

way

And that our destination

is the only place

worth going

©Kim Magennis 2015

0051 Mother-Love 03

we do what our mothers did before us

tempered with instinct and intellect

we make the same mistakes

we set the same patterns

and yet, 

our children make something

wonderful of it all

they mould their children in a similar way

and their children, like ours, will be our salvation

©Kim Magennis 2015

0050 white swan

somewhere

in the recesses of my soul

an idea is planted,

a thing of beauty,

which unfurls its glorious wings

and takes off

from this mortal plane

to fly with the gods

©Kim Magennis 2015

0049 all that

how wondrous is natures imagination

how varied her expression of life

how arrogant are the least of her children

who assume

they are the pinnacle of her creation

©Kim Magennis 2015

0048 symphony

The universe

Plays its symphony

Across our sky

To ears that are deaf

And eyes that are blind

Its songs

Are reduced by the mind

Of the beholder

©Kim Magennis 2015

0047 cosmic crumb

All the universe

magnified

in this single drop

This single crumb

of cosmic dust

is all there is

Infinity

in perfect

balance

©Kim Magennis 2015

0046 harvest

Rivers of life

flow through

the leftovers of my youth

Wisdom and experience

litter my mind

in gold and red and rust

Now is the time

to harvest

©Kim Magennis 2015

0045 partners in crime

you need

-always-

to have that 

one friend

you need

-often-

to indulge in

hilarity

you need

-always-

to completely surrender to 

joy

©Kim Magennis 2015

044 getting on your groove

There are times when you just have to dance! 

When you need to surrender to that beat. 

When you just close your eyes and let it flow.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0043 song

The songs of our planet

Weave wild magic around us.

But, to feel safe, we become deaf.

In becoming deaf, we die to magic.

The songs of our planet

Remind us how it could be.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0042 Mother-love 02

Sweetness and affection

Without the sharp edges of life

Yield a gentle harvest

©Kim Magennis 2015

0041 bathing beauty

Returning to water

My soul

Regains its balance.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0040 children's faces

Our younglings 

Observe.

And slowly

They learn domestication.

All the magic,

All the wildness,

Gone.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0039 to kiss a frog

To kiss a frog

Is to yield to whimsy.

To catch a butterfly

Is to hold the secret of joy.

To fall in love

Is to go somewhere magical

And make it home.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0038 cave dwellers

Primordial dwellings:

Humankind's first hearth and home.

From Earth's most sacred womb

We were birthed

To hunt and forage

In veld and vlei.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0037 hyaena

Hyaena

Mythical creature of the sun

who's ancient gift of warmth

brought life to this cold earth.

From gift-giver to child-stealer,

the chill of your voice

draws from humankind

a visceral response.

Maligned, revered, 

all before breakfast.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0036 island soul 01

Dragon Trees of Socotra Island

This alien grandchild
writes her own story.

Sometime hostess
of Ancient Mariners,
Always a harsh mistress.

No false promise
of lush, sweet meadow, 
she bares her strange and arid soul.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0035 greatness

Atitude

is 

Everything.

Not always to the lordly

go the spoils

Not always to the lowly

fall the foils.

Greatness

is in

the daring.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0034 window 01

the most 

solid intention

is powerless

against the flow of life.

change creeps up

and flows through the cracks

to make

a window

for the universe to peer through.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0033 great heart

Friend,

to rest in your understanding

is the sweetest gift.

To know

Friend,

that the beauty of yourself

chooses myself.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0032 son of nobility

Lord of the Forest

of impeccable lineage.

A son of nobility.

Evader of Knight and Villein,

O ancient observer of 

human folly.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0031 fossil

Helioceras heteromorph

Serenely survey from your

crenelated castle,

denizen of a long gone deep.

How strange

was your world?

©Kim Magennis 2015

0030 serenade

Raise your voices with me little ones.

Sing of the wildness that flows in our blood.

Declare our spirit to mountain and forest,

let them know

we are free.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0029 tree sisters

How long, sisters dear, have we stood together on this blackened slope?

How many inconsequential moments have bent and shaped us?

With wind and rain on our skins, and rough earth under root, does it even matter?

©Kim Magennis 2015

0028 aurora borealis

In painted skies

we hear the music of the universe,

we feel the cosmic pulse of life.

Never once alone, 

in this vast realm of light.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0027 leopard

The queen of the desert

rises to deepening shadows.

Masterfully self sufficient,

savagely independent.

Asking no mercy of the burning African Sun.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0026 Serengeti Spring

Splendid Serengeti Spring

redolent with new life and sweet grass,

thrumming with wildebeest song.

An epic journey

of incomprehensible proportions.

Driven by ancient memory

countless hooves

crush the soil,

The eternal pulse

of vibrant abundance throbs.

Splendid Serengeti Spring

remind my soul of nature's bounty,

connect me to my roots.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0025 beluga beauty

Ghostly water dancer.

Sweetly sing

of mermaids 

and castles 

of sparkling ice


©Kim Magennis 2015

0024 fascinated fish

Point of view

is everything.

What marvels 

do you choose to see?

©Kim Magennis 2015

0023 zebras

On grassy plains

of future uncertain

two heads are better than one

©Kim Magennis 2015

0022 Serengeti Sunset

Serengeti sunset

not always

dry and crowded with 

bustling animal life.

Open 

with endless possibilities,

Time and place 

are only human constructs.

©Kim Magennis 2015

0021 sun-child

What better way

To luxuriate

Than to bask with your belly

 In African Sun?

What better way

To grow wise

Than to watch the ebb and flow

Of her Tribes?

©Kim Magennis 2015