👁️ Detail of an elaborately carved and painted wooden chapel in the Scandinavian style 📍 Norwegian Chapel, Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ22, -0.7 ev, 1.6s (long exposure)

Tree rings

Forest of tree stumps where old growth once teemed.
Carved wooden chapel on a cemetery green.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #cemetery #church #chapel #moody #photography

ii.

Green blast shoots high
and soon mirrors the sky —
a bright gold fireball
until it resumes the downfall
with new shower of shells
that scatter, propelled —
but no bringer of strife,
this sign of new life.
A sunflower blooms.

✋🏼🧵

👁️ A closeup of a sunflower blossom 📍 Potsdam 📅 10 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 2000, ƒ4,5, -0.7 ev, 1/60s

Fireball
A #poetry thread

i.

A shell, hard core,
drops down, cracks soil.
From cloud it drops,
carves crater. It stops
where it fell into mud
with a dull thud,
explodes, seeks light,
expands through cold night.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #naturephotography #flowers #bloomscrolling #photography

👁️ An elaborately carved neo-Romanesque stone mausoleum from the early 20th century 📍 Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ4.5, -0.7 ev, 1/50s

Mausoleum

Carved stone. Noble house.
Family of bones.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #moody #mmonochrome #blackandwhite #photography

👁️ A closeup of blackthorn blossoms emerging through a steel fence 📍 Potsdam 📅 10 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ5, -0.7 ev, 1/640s

Borderline

Blackthorn flowers flow through a fence.
A border post bears windblown dust.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #naturephotography #flowers #spring #bloomscrolling #photography

iii.

Fading shadow of the ribs —
they return from whence they came,
stone Eve gave back her bone
to join the earth’s ribs again.

✋🏼🧵

ii.

They linger, can’t remain,
waiting for the final drip
of raindrops in their cracks
that lets their structure slip

into the sand and grass below
to join the strata of the soil
where moss and lichen grow,
working their gentle, patient toil.

🧵👇🏼

👁️ Stone arches of a modernist family mausoleum deliberately echoing the ruins of a church 📍 Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ22, -0.7 ev, 0.6s (long exposure)

Resurrexit
A #poetry thread

i.

Stained sandstone ribs,
chest open to the sky,
grey traces of a vault,
stone ghost, a paused goodbye.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #moody #monochrome #blackandwhite #longexposure #photography

iii.

A far-off day, these arms will fall,
worn out at last, bent by a squall:
at last the cross will find its rest,
and bask in warmth of sun in west.

✋🏼🧵

ii.

from dots of rain. Each wind’s brief gust
that tugs at lichen — which clings like rust —
peels one more speck of sand and lime
from stony limbs that hold up time.

🧵👇🏼

👁️ A closeup of a tombstone shaped like a Celtic cross, with moss and lichen growing on it 📍 Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 250, ƒ7,1, -0.7 ev, 1/125s

Rest
A #poetry thread

i.

In sinking sun, a Celtic cross
of sandstone dressed in cloak of moss,
grey arms bedecked in pale green furs
while its engravings softly blur

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #cemetery #moody #monochrome #blackandwhite #photography

👁️ A closeup of blossoms on a cherry prune tree 📍 Potsdam 📅 10 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ4, -0.7 ev, 1/100s

Plum

A rosy cheek from late spring frost.
Damp eyelash: glance at childhood lost.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #naturephotography #flowers #trees #spring #bloomscrolling #photography

👁️ A closeup of a tombstone with metal letters, some of which are missing 📍 Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 800, ƒ8, -0.7 ev, 1/50s

Dad

Remnants of an epitaph
on a mossy stone.
Echoes of a belly laugh
from before I was alone.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #naturephotography #cemetery #moody #photography

👁️ A closeup of purple and yellow pansies in a bright blue pot on a porch with a brick wall 📍 Potsdam 📅 10 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 400, ƒ4, -0.7 ev, 1/320s

Viola

A purple bunch of pansies
in a pot of cobalt blue
on a porch. Their blossoms dancing
to light up the face I knew.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #naturephotography #flowers #spring #bloomscrolling #photography

👁️ A closeup of a tree root system resembling a claw or hand 📍 Potsdam 📅 10 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 400, ƒ4, -0.7 ev, 1/160s

Roots

An old tree root, an oaken claw
digs deep in the soil. Winter thaw
exposes talons in the earth
seizing water from the deeps — twigs give birth.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #naturephotography #trees #forest #spring #macrophotography #bloomscrolling #photography

Forsythia and witch hazel are different species. I miss American witch hazels. The forsythias I see in Germany remind me of them.

One kind of witch hazel blooms about the same time as forsythias.

The time both blossom in early spring can be used to know when roses should get their spring trim.

iii.

And then her spell is broken
for another anno’s time,
’til her truest words are spoken
and call forth red roses’ wine.

Golden hazel witch,
Forsythia speaks her name,
bursts forth from lingered frost
and tosses golden mane.

✋🏼🧵

ii.

She peers into the future
when her vernal spell is cast,
her wands, the twigs, will twitter
while roses bud at last.

🧵👇🏼

👁️ A closeup of blossoms on a forsythia tree 📍 Potsdam 📅 10 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ4, -0.7 ev, 1/1600s

Foresight
A #poetry thread

i.

Golden hazel witch
with her wooly mane
blossoms in late frost,
rekindles yellow flame.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #naturephotography #flowers #trees #spring #bloomscrolling #photography

👁️ A closeup of blossoms on a cherry prune tree 📍 Potsdam 📅 10 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ3.5, -0.7 ev, 1/320s

Prunus

A fog of pink in stretching days
along dark twigs and supple limbs
that seek the warmth of first gilt rays —
a foamy tide when late frost brims.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #naturephotography #plum #cherryblossom #spring #bloomscrolling #photography

iv.

Then black woolen blanket's laid
from horizon to her feet,
her sable bed is slowly made
as the stars call her to sleep.

She waits.

Until morning's jewels of dew
adorn her marble face:
new dawn's gilt brushes drew
a new expression of her grace.

✋🏼🧵

iii.

I see her by her tomb
where she looks down and sighs
in slowly waxing gloom
under resurrecting skies.

She waits.

Dusky sun’s fingers trace
a different light upon her brow,
brushing shadows ’cross her face —
she takes on a pallor now.

She waits.

🧵👇🏼

ii.

Her milky marble skin
shows the cracks of time:
some shoots have grown within
her, curling ’round like vines.

She waits.

Ten decades whispered past
since she took her repose,
where old bones lie ’til the last,
where the ivy's fingers grow.

She waits.

🧵👇🏼

👁️ A neoclassical white marble female statue on an early 20th century stone family tomb 📍 Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 160, ƒ4, -0.7 ev, 1/100

Phase
A #poetry thread

i.

A Mary stands in stone,
wrapped close in marble veil,
keeps watch from granite throne
until her bones turn brittle, frail.

She waits.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #moody #monochrome #blackandwhite #photography

iii.

The lonesome flame
turns fire, red light:
A crucible —
reforge my night

from all the dross
I've kept with me.
Iron tongs — I toss
the slag and breathe.

✋🏼🧵

ii.

An archway through
pavilion's dark.
It leads me to
a furtive spark

to light a pyre
for my past self:
no song, no lyre,
no drink to health.

🧵👇🏼

👁️ A pavilion of stone with a slate roof covered in old fir branches; an arch leads to a stone fountain beyond 📍 Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ22, -0.7 ev, 1.3s (long exposure)

Crucible
A #poetry thread

i.

I walk through woods.
They're filled with graves
that lean. My hood's
pulled up. Sky's grey.

Roof on arches,
a lonely bench,
a place that watches,
dark, entrenched.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #naturephotography #cemetery #moody #mentalhealth #longexposure #photography

👁️ An early 19th century stone family grave with a rhododendron bush partially obscuring it 📍 Southwest Cemetery, Stahnsdorf 📅 1 Apr 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 2000, ƒ9, -0.7 ev, 1/160s

Fugit

One person’s life,
a puff, a breeze
at altar of time
where stars bend their knees.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #nature #cemetery #tombstone #photography

👁️ A window tinted blue in an orange brick wall and neoclassical arch 📍 Orangerie, Park Sanssouci, Potsdam 📅 22 Mar 2026 📸 Nikon D5600 ⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G 🎞️ ISO 500, ƒ22, -0.7 ev, 1/160s

Come November

Blue window in a great orange wall.
Behind orange bricks, cracked temple falls.
Beyond the wall, a red dusk sky
above orange sand. Blue tide rides high.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #symmetry #photography

ii.

Beloved with
her oils and herbs.
She sees the stone
and finds no words.

A gardener
calls out to her:
Whom do you seek?
To her, a blur.

But then he says
her name: Mary.
She looks at him —
and sees unburied.

Not gardener.
She knows his guise.
A heart returns.
The sun, arise.

✋🏼🧵

Happy Easter!