Love lost in summer evenings, too bright
to ignore, a lawn transforms
into a field of delicate, fiery stars.

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Firefly | Lampyridae | Photinus pyralis

Her story lost in a chain of plot twists,
she makes a sharp turn past unruly buds
into a theme park of cool light.

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Eastern black carpenter ant | Camponotus pennsylvanicus

In a tangled landscape of misadventures,
I’m blinded by beauty,
her silken purpose darker than dusk.

Songbird Theater:
An intimate moment brought to you by an avian private investigator:
“I don’t like you when you’re stoned.”
“I don’t like you when I’m straight.”

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Sparrow | Passer domesticus

Searching out rumors of light, a Night Heron
slips past evening’s commotion,
ignoring the hot and confused air,
emperor of the glade.

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Black-crowned Night Heron | Nycticorax nycticorax

The Night Market came to Detroit on May 12th,
“where trucks transform into interactive dioramas,
theaters for sublime & bizarre entertainments”.
No one knew the location until a few hours before
the somewhat-secret event.
Lots of fun: SmR, one of the organizers, shares his impressions
of the night to go along with some video snips.

Lost Horizon Night Market by SmR
The Trucks start out from their individual staging areas.
They have been worked day and night to realize a vision.
The clatter of the diesels maneuvered by rank amateurs who
feel silly or at least strange
sitting …

A mantis nymph maps traces
of evaporated dew, homeschooled
in the garden’s secrets as she ties up
the last bits of morning.
As of this morning, my mantids are off!

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Chinese Praying Mantis | Tenodera aridifolia sinensis

A slave to plant cryptography, she feels
the garden’s myths pass through stems,
a living alphabet of growth.

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Eastern black carpenter ant | Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Bent on misadventure, a streaming
squadron of bees dissolves into the sun,
unhooking their anchor to my garden.

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Honey bee | Apis mellifera

How cool! Step Gently Out is featured in the April 2012 Journal of the Arthur Rackham Society.
The greatest artist of the “Golden Age” of illustration, Rackham is one of my favorites, and it’s a real treat to see Step Gently Out amongst the wonderful Rackham art.
For more information, visit the Arthur Rackham Society.