Print #3: Yellow Sky Poppy

Reaching towards the sky, this gentle yellow poppy reminds me about the amazing wonder of nature. The sun lights up this vibrant flower, charging it with its warmth. The blue sky with gently floating, puffy white clouds forms an uplifting background, providing a sense of spaciousness and aliveness.

Making this photograph was an interesting experience, as I had to get down really low underneath the poppy to capture the blue sky. I suddenly realized that most of the time we look down upon the earth. Being below the level of this beautiful flower made me feel humble and more intimate with it. The poppy kept waving in the wind, playing a game with me as though saying, “Catch me if you can.”

Inspirational Poems

Morning Poem
Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches ---
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead ---
if it's all you can do
to keep on trudging ---

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

~ Mary Oliver ~
(Dream Work)

A song about California Poppies

"Golden Poppies Good Night", words by Mary A. Lombard and music (midi and sheet music) by Leo Bruck. It appears on p. 192 of Smith, E.E. 1902. The Golden Poppy, Murdock Press, San Francisco.

Pret-ty pop-pies gol-den, In thy yel-low cup
Sun-beams bright, lend their light, Hon-ey bees doth sup.
In thy bed so dain-ty, Soothe to slum-bers deep,
Pop-pies, gol-den pop-pies, Flow-ers fair and sweet.
Pret-ty pop-pies gol-den bright, good night, good night.
Nod your lit-tle gol-den heads, good night, good night.
Nod your gol-den heads, Nod your gol-den heads,
good night, good night, and say good night!

Another song by Cynthia and Sylvia Typaldos and Natalie Abbott. Both the tune and words are reconstructed from memory (Bob Fox of the Cucamonga Renaissance Band wrote the accompaniment). It was sung in school in at least the Bay Area and Sacramento during the 1940s and 1950s.

Poppies, golden poppies, gleaming in the sun.
Closing up at evening, when the day is done.
Pride of California, flower of our state.
Growing from the mountains to the Golden Gate.

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