Gavilan laughs

The river coursed and screamed

like a hundred angry stallions

the recent storms

filling its muddy chalice

with the 

collective fruit and power
of a hundred earthly streams.

It has been many years since the Santa Margarita roared

back in '93 for sure

we are reminded of its immense strength

during wonderful weeks such as this one
still a comparative whisper

The trees leaves have turned a burnt brown, the tall sycamores once again
 succumbing

 to the inevitable near monochrome of winter. Nature, lacking chlorophyl

 looks toasted
yet 

vivid and wet, hyper attenuated

imbued with the magical

power

of repeated thunder and storm.

The hawks are starting to reappear

at distinctly new vantages, a signal of a new cycle, priming,

listening for a quiet distant chime

waiting to begin the familiar baillar de primavera 
yet one more time again.

Saw two Cooper hawks together on the phone wire yesterday 

and let me tell you
that's rare.

I feel this land's particular brand of magic, 
I can see it in the early morning air,
 I smell it in the mold of decaying leaves, 
I hear it in the rush of the Santa Margarita,
 I taste it in the evening chill.

The nights were cold and frosty

before the rains

the fields by the mailbox

covered with bright icy crystals

as I drove out of the winding river valley at dawn.

Now it's just wet.
El Niño. The capricious child.

Got hailed on today in Carlsbad.

Thankfully the rain keeps the bitterest cold out of our fair valley.

The mockingbird sat under the palm by our window

this morning

after the deluge

smart and now out of the rain

repeating all sorts of petty gossip

most certainly better left unsaid.

The weightless little birds scamper too

 along the yard

once grass, long dirt

turning up little burnt offerings

left by last night's soaking.

It is a new year

and while things can always get worse

they can also get better

and so we hope, a vision of victory defeating a strategy of disaster approximately 83% of the time
at least according to the best available experts.

Good luck to you my friends

my fair and able shipmates

together we will navigate

and conquer any storm,

rupture or personal failing.

And even should the worst occur
please know
it will still look splendid in our life's biography
once polished and shaped up
 by a nimble and decent editor.

Best wishes this new year. Good health and good cheer.

Robert Sommers