Up in Ontario

Cherry Blossoms Blown Away

Every spring here in Vancouver we get a gusty day that blows all the cherry blossoms off the trees and papers the streets, sidewalks and boulevards with their tiny pink petals. Yesterday was the day for this year.

I tried to capture a few of the more interesting collections I came across, and these cherry blossom photos are the result.

And, if you're interested, a little poetry to go with the photos...

At rest in a coffee shop
on the day the cherry blossoms
fell from the cherry trees.

Through the air they floated,
across the roads, swirling in between building.
Pink petals covered roads and sidewalks,
made lawns appear
as if weddings waited to be performed.

A beachball rolled across the street,
wedged itself between the curb
and the back bumper of a parked BMW.
The BMW driver kicked the beachball
out into the street again
where a press of air from a bus
lifted the spinning ball into the air,
across the street
bouncing in front of an organic produce stand.

And everywhere,
cherry blossoms tumbled like torn tissues.

Out on English Bay
wind rolled the water
until whitecaps popped up over the surface.
Dark clouds formed
over the mountains
to the north
dropped shadows over the big houses
clustered on the slopes

An eagle fidgets in the high wind
above the roadways
and buses, heading west, out to the ocean
where the fish swirl
their silver bodies
in the froth
of the whitecaps.

A parking meter is about
to run out.

Babies: the new black.
Pregnant mothers
their athletic gear
come and go,
talking michealangelo,
of strollers and doctors appointments.
Strollers roll past with
their bundles insulated
apprehension and wonder.

A tornado of cherry blossoms
flushes past,
the tiny flakes making visible
the rising motion we cannot see.