The poppies are blooming! We went out to antelope Valley to the Poppy Flower Reserve. I love that the flowers have their own reserve area–and people came from far and wide (it took over an hour just to park the car)… but how beautiful the hills looked covered in blooming wildflowers. Outside the reserve people were sitting among the blossoms deep in orange flowers –The western meadowlarks were singing also so beautifully! Jiayan Mi share this poem with me on facebook:
Here is the short poem "To Poppy Flowers" I wrote in 2002 before I moved eastward to Princeton. 罌栗花–加州感怀之一
POPPY FLOWER
-CALIFORNIA RECOLLECTIONS, NO. 1
绽开Bursting forth
飞翔的姿式— Into a gesture of flight
如梦的水流Like dream of flowing water
在柔软的触摸中With a soft touch
涌现, 吟动It rises up and chants
一只萤火虫点灯A firefly lights a lamp
天空奏响The sky plays
盛大的音乐Grand music
斑斓, 亮丽, 晕眩—Colorful, bright, dizzy—
群鸟扇形般窜起A flock of birds flees in fan formation
叶片纷纷舞蹈Leaves dance around
心脏鼓满赤潮The heart fills with the red tide
茂盛的沃土Luxuriant, fertile soil
根茎蔓延Roots spread out
白色的天使A white angel
在幽暗的边疆At a dim frontier
叩门Knocks at the door—
海涛翻卷Ocean waves spinning around
船舟逆流而上Boats go against the current
告别土地Farewell to this land
告别腐烂的季节Farewell to this decaying season
告别有限实在Farewell to the limits of the Real
告别循环轮廻Farewell to karmic samsara
空灵纵队Ethereal column
飞翔Soaring —
风景啊Ah, landscape—
请展示你诗意的无限山水吧! Reveals yourself as an endless poetic scene!
（2002. 6 UC Davis) (English trans. Matt Turner)
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We also got up at five in the morning two days in a row to go out to bear divide, which is a migratory hot spot during spring migration not far from Pasadena . It was pretty slow on both mornings but it was nice to see so many people out in nature. I can’t ID a bird in flight to save my life so I wasn’t even trying to ID the birds I just wanted to experience this interesting place where thousands of birds funnel through what is a narrow pass in “dawn flight”
Dewdrop World 
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