Greetings, and welcome to my blog. Please check back occasionally to read my most recent musings. More from the mind of that mystical Celtic Bard of Maryland, “The Poet-Provocateur” ....
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Hatch, Match, & Dispatch
September 22, 2020
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Here, today...
In the chilled dawn air,
The sun arises,
And with it,
The autumnal equinox arrives.
The juvenile bluebirds come
Early for their morning meal,
As their parents did months before.
The last of the ruby throats buzz through,
Before their long journey southward.
As time drifts onward,
And the observer observes,
The natural cyc...
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In Search of Sharpshooters On Video
September 17, 2020
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The following is a somewhat contemporaneous rumination of my participation in the movie “Gettysburg”, written one and a half years after the filming of this popular Civil War movie that was completed in the early Fall of 1992 (Released October 8, 1993). The cast of characters in the movie referenced to below were played by:
Colonel Joshua Chamberl...
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Only If This House Could Talk
July 16, 2020
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It is the summer of the third year
of The War Between the States.
And a white clapboard house sits on a wide flat hill,
With a budding oak tree firmly rooted nearby.
The hilltop overlooks the Gwynns Falls,
Just a bit out of range,
for a heavy artillery shot from the Baltimore harbor.
Strategically situated a half mile away from the house,
S...
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The Devotion of Momma Wonky
May 09, 2020
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The April night air of the Big Sky country is filled
with an assortment of nature’s callings.
The Lonely Loon beckons with a haunting wail,
Mourning doves coo,
Canadian geese honk,
And the Ring-neck Pheasants squawk.
Off in the distance, Mr. Hootie Calls: Wha-hoo, hoo-hoo.
Nearby, Momma Wonky Answers: Hoo-hoo-wha-hoo, hoo-hoo.
These are the...
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Dolly & Molly
April 01, 2020
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The “last” Great War has ended.
And two months later,
Little Dolly plays with her little dollies,
serving them pretend tea in the family dining area.
Oh, how she was born to care for her little ones!
Her older brother would tease her.
Her younger brother would gaze
with wonder at the teatime ritual.
But the ghostly presence of a black carri...
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An Ode to Jeffers
February 22, 2020
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The soulless, cold-hearted ghouls are amongst us,
sucking the life from everything we cherish.
And they are our children, parents, and siblings.
Driven by greed, careers, and vanity, they rape Mother Earth,
like locusts on a binge, devouring all on its pathway to hell.
Drugged with entertainment and unenlightened, they shuffle on,
unaware of...
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Who are the Cowards?
January 28, 2020
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It is 1963.
A Man is born.
A Buddhist monk is ablaze from self immolation.
Western eyes are stunned and aghast.
Must he do this to protest persecution?
Can he not fight back with all his might?
It is 1941.
A Child is born.
The infirmed, afflicted, and those contrary
to status quo beliefs are led naked
to death pits to be executed in mas...
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The Sylvan Palace
December 27, 2019
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Trees endure, and during their
life and after their death,
bring life back to many.
As a steady stream of autumn rain
descends from the sky,
A crashing sound suddenly permeates the
stillness of the early evening air.
A grand senior tree has fallen.
Not just any tree, but one with
special meaning to a father and son.
On a sloping hill,
re...
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What He Knew
August 31, 2019
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The old man knew he would
be the last of his kind.
He had traced his German and Irish
heritage back several centuries.
He even knew of their life’s
trials, misfortunes, and pandemics.
He had walked in their battlefield footsteps,
and stood beneath their Presbyterian altar.
His father did not know.
His mother did not know, nor his brother....
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What I Will Miss
August 24, 2019
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It truly is the little things in life that fulfill us with the greatest joy. Our senses drink in the daily sights and sounds of the beauty that surrounds us and fills our soul with the wonders of life. So it is how the daily activities of our canine companions enrich our lives with their love and constant devotion to us. When they leave us, we real...
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The Corruption of Beauty
February 01, 2018
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The celebrated and renowned 13th century, Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, pontificated that the “Characteristics which define beauty are wholeness, harmony and radiance.” Seven centuries later, the American poet/environmentalist, Robinson Jeffers, eloquently chanted that "The greatest beauty is organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and thin...
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Light In August
August 26, 2017
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As a photographer, I have always appreciated good light. But exposure to a copious amount of light is also soothing to the soul. When we are outdoors, communing with our natural surroundings, I am not certain that out of all the ways our senses are being stimulated, that we fully understand how important exposure to sunlight is to our joyful mood....
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The Influence of Ansel Adams
October 23, 2016
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Many nature and landscape photographers of today have been influenced by the images of the American West created by Ansel Adams (1902-1984). I too have drawn inspiration from Adams' works taken of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range and the Yosemite Valley. Adams most famous is an image taken in 1941 titled "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico", known to...
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The Ascent to Mt. Whitney
September 03, 2016
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"The best camera is the one that you have with you" are words of photographic wisdom that were never more true than on Labor Day weekend, 1970. On that bright Saturday, I was ascending the Sierra Nevada Mountain range on my way to the top of Mt. Whitney at 14,505 feet, the tallest mountain in the continental USA.
Mt. Whitney (Source cannot be attr...
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Maddie, Sweet and Loyal Companion
June 21, 2016
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She had me as soon as she flashed those beautiful baby blue eyes at me while curled up in my lap as a 6-week old pup. In two more weeks, I would soon begin a 14-plus year relationship with a special canine that only a few dog owners ever will truly understand. After decades of Weimaraner ownership, I knew instinctively that this pup had a very peac...
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My Blog & Poetry
The Poet-Provocateur
”The Man who sees well beyond the day-to-day Bullshit”
~ D. W. Orr
“To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one”
~ John Ruskin
© D W Orr