Winter's End

Birdsong warms brisk air

Cheer tops blue daybreak silence

Heart hails Winter's end

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Winter's End

Last Christmas Cactus bloom (photo-impressionism)

Perfect Happiness

We pulled up roots

  Where sunny howdy y’all

Fits ranch hand

  And white-collared city hall.

Searched far and wide

  From daybreak to nightfall

For quiet place

  Without much urban sprawl.

Found laid-back ways

  And Carolina drawl

Mid summer dance

  Called Watermelon Crawl.

There put down roots,

  Before first wintry squall,

On wings of prayer—

  Love thrived above all. 

© Ilija Lukić 2024

God Bless America, Land That I Love

(self-portrait)

Mesa Redonda

Near the settlement of Quay south of Tucumcari, New Mexico—with layered sedimentary caliche bluffs of the 4,800-foot-high northern Llano Estacado Escarpment as towering backdrop—erosion-scarred sandstone cliffs of Mesa Redonda rise above the South Canadian River watershed.

Ghosts of Black Jack Ketchum still haunt these mesas and arroyos. In his heyday the Texas-cowboy-turned outlaw frequents this rugged wilderness with gang members to hide out between train robberies throughout the Territory of New Mexico.

After capture and trial in 1901, he pays for a life of crime at the end of a hangman’s knot in Clayton—about 100 miles north of his mesa stomping ground.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Mesa Redonda, c. 2010

Rockin' P Heydays

Except for precious relief by the few and far between summer thundershowers spawned by monsoonal weather patterns, Rockin’ P Ranch lands simmer in mid-August heat. Just a few miles north near the village of Broadview NM, these Llano Estacado tablelands tumble precipitously into the Canadian River Basin.

Across ranch territory its 4,500-foot elevation and low humidity help moderate temperatures to make life bearable for man and beast. Arid lands flora endures and scattered chainlink cholla reach into azure skies as symbols of defiance. On first glance the landscape appears benign, but is fraught with nasty surprises concealed by knee-to-waist-high grasses.

With names such as beargrass and Spanish bayonets, yucca clusters demand caution to avoid painful cuts by sharp serrations on the edges of dagger-shaped leaves and blood letting by their needle-sharp tips. The stealthiest adversaries to high plains travelers are prickly pear cacti. Concealed by grasses their clusters of paddles sport formidable weaponry—spikes that can penetrate truck tires, shoe leather and seriously injure horses. The impact of the rugged ecosystem on denizens and travelers rarely strays from pearls of wisdom by a weathered old-timer: if it doesn’t stick or sting you, it’ll bite you. The Llano is rattlesnake, coyote and mountain lion habitat.

Re-living heydays on the Llano Estacado in mind’s eye awakens yearnings of the heart—to roam one more day the wilds of New Mexico and discover a lifetime’s worth of adventure.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Rockin' P Ranchlands

South of Broadview NM (c. 2014)

Spirit Animal - Tasiwóo

Standing eyeball-to-eyeball with these majestic icons of the American plains is a primal experience—awe-inspiring, fearful, respectful, reverential and spiritually enlightening. Their powerful aura is an unexpectedly gentle reminder to tread lightly and let only your shadow leave footprints upon the natural world. 

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Spirit Animal

Bison bison aka American buffalo near Clovis NM USA (c. 2014)

Endless Horizons

Eastern New Mexico’s endless horizons and sea of grass known as the Llano Estacado speak of adventure. The arid 300-square-mile expanse—dotted by Cholla, Prickly Pear Cacti, Yucca and ephemeral playa lakes—oozes with storied mystique and tales of indomitable peoples and individuals.

One such notable was the Spanish explorer Coronado and his unsuccessful quest for gold in the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. Without doubt, the Quahadis band of Comanches hunted tasiwóo—American bison also called buffalo—on this nearly mile-high tableland and by the mid-1800s cattle barons such as John Chisum grazed, rounded up and drove their longhorn herds to railheads.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Llano Shade Trees

Llano Estacado north of Clovis NM USA (c.2014)

Vernal Reality Check

When Spring comes back to public square, 

Spirit rebounds from wear and tear,

Frame of mind turns devil-may-care

And builds rash castles in the air.

But then, the real world pokes the bear,

Sets right life’s fanciful parterre.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Daffo-dil-ettants

(First Narcissus blooms in a neighbor's fanciful front yard parterre)

Cautious Elation

Pleasing last swill of bitter winter ale

Lets the heart savor pinking daybreak skies—

Their graceful dance assuredly telltale

Of springlike seventh heaven in disguise.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Cautious Elation

Tall-Grass Prairie Daydreams

Withdrawn into mind’s eye

And daydreams by and by,

My heart soars given time to dwell

On bygone prairie day

And swift red dog at play

In knee-deep grasslands...raising hell.

Down dusty trail in search

Of Red-tailed Hawk’s elm perch

Beside iconic windmill well,

That sustains beast and man

On said windswept hardpan

And postpones lone homestead's death knell.

Cloud billows in azure skies

Winnow woes and stay demise

Of unconstrained dreams; and foretell

Long lopes in league with wild hare

And reward beyond compare,

Once boundless horizons bid farewell.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Arrow-Feather Trail

(Cooper enjoys La Copa De La Vida near Clovis, New Mexico)

Patchwork Harmony

Look for, accept for what it’s worth,

Your patchwork self of soul and mind

Wants cherished harmony with Heaven and Earth—

From said lifeblood of growth flows joy, unconfined.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Yinyang

Empyrean Inferno

Behold blue skies

  Where fierce hawk flies,

Casting a swift-winged ground shadow.

  Day’s end comes to pass,

  Ablaze, but alas,

He wings through empyrean inferno.

It’s time to roost

  And be seduced—

Rapt by nightingale lullabies—

  Under cloak of night

  And twinkling starlight

Lose sight of empyrean inferno.

But, truth be told,

  Soon dreams take hold.

They call to mind bright azure skies,

  Playful swoops on high

  And hunts gone awry,

Thrown off by empyrean inferno. 

Pensive…I find,

  That peace of mind

Requires rose-colored glasses

  To see life’s true hues—

  Though tinged with the blues—

Portrayed in said empyrean inferno.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Empyrean Inferno

Primordial Stardust

Born in age-old songs of the universe

In vast voids of space before time was time.

Said stardust whispers now sway mindful verse—

Be still my soul and let my heart spill rhyme.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Primordial Stardust

(colorized monochrome)

Sissipahaw Whispers

With audible breath of relief born of an exhausting day afoot, a Sissipahaw youth leans against a venerable Willow Oak. The wetland tree’s moss-grown surface roots, stately canopy and heaps of leaf litter strike said weary traveler as an affectionate invitation to take a breather. Broad beds of moss blanket the surroundings. Their soft radiance in the midwinter sunlight further encourages respite, as well as a few moments of reverie.

His tribe’s namesake the Haw River gurgles nearby with promises to guide him to downstream coastal villages. He and the People of the Haw are curious about rumors of strange, light-skinned people arriving in winged canoes at the shores of the great water expanse they know as sacred Mother of River Waters.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Sissipahaw Whispers

Midwinter Eventide

Late afternoon sunlight penetrates tree stands at Millbrook Pond. It creates lively streaks of shadow and light entwined across grassy knolls and paints bands of light onto placid pond waters—an age-old dance called midwinter serenity.

© Ilija Lukić 2024

Midwinter Eventide