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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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dog statue

April 14, 2026 by Dave Bonta

Sun through thin clouds on an unseasonably warm morning. A carpenter bee inspects my aging porch. Next to the old broken dog statue in my yard, the white narcissus is in bloom.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags carpenter bees, clouds, dog statue, narcissus Leave a comment
February 26, 2023 by Dave Bonta

Daffodils are out of the ground around the old dog statue, the surrounding yard moldy-looking from the light frost. A distant bluebird.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bluebird, daffodils, dog statue, frost
March 31, 2021 by Dave Bonta

The sort of rain that makes the world puddle-wonderful. Around the broken old dog statue, the daffodils have drawn their yellow hoop.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags daffodils, dog statue, rain
April 21, 2020 by Dave Bonta

Among the faded early daffodils, one white narcissus blooms in the round flower bed with its broken statue of a dog, still holding point.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags daffodils, dog statue
February 29, 2020 by Dave Bonta

Leap day. The sun comes out while snowflakes still circle the house. Around the old ruin of a dog statue, daffodils’ green fingertips.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags daffodils, dog statue, snowflakes
February 21, 2019 by Dave Bonta

The remains of last night’s ice drip from the trees. A fine lacework of lilac shadow rocks back and forth beside the broken old dog statue.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dog statue, icestorm, lilac
March 27, 2018 by Dave Bonta

Under a low cloud ceiling, the keening calls of waxwings. Daffodils have raised their green spears all around the broken statue of a dog.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cedar waxwing, daffodils, dog statue
June 11, 2016 by Dave Bonta

Everything moves in the wind but the broken dog statue, the dead rosebush, and the five-fingered cherry stump raised as if in surrender.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cherry tree, dog statue, multiflora rose, wind 3 Comments
April 3, 2015 by Dave Bonta

Two deer wander through the yard, coats wet with rain. The scrawnier one samples the daffodil sprouts, then startles at the old dog statue.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags daffodils, deer, dog statue
March 18, 2014 by Dave Bonta

The tips of daffodil sprouts around the broken dog statue are starting to look a little worse for wear. The sound of a distant mob of crows.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags American crow, daffodils, dog statue
November 21, 2013 by Dave Bonta

Weak sunlight from a whitening sky. A flock of juncos comes twittering into the lilac, hopping on and off the old, broken statue of a dog.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, dog statue, juncos
April 4, 2013 by Dave Bonta

Soft light filtered by a film of cloud. A squirrel carrying a freshly exhumed walnut bounds under the broken dog statue and into the lilac.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, dog statue, gray squirrel, lilac 1 Comment
October 31, 2012 by Dave Bonta

A wet, white fur on the fallen elm limbs and the statue they destroyed. A squirrel scrambles up the snag and disappears into the den hole.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dog statue, elm, gray squirrel, snow
October 30, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Calm. Sandy’s center must be close. The top half of the dead elm tree has blown down, breaking the back of the old dog statue.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dog statue, elm, hurricane, wind 3 Comments
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On This Day

  • April 27, 2025
    The sun climbs through blossoming oaks whispery with wind. Pileated woodpeckers exchange volleys of thunder. A downy woodpecker rattles like a beggar with a cup.
  • April 27, 2024
    Under a white sky, the rambling old white lilac is beginning to bloom. Half an hour past sunrise, the first, tentative raindrops on the roof.
  • April 27, 2022
    Cloudy and cold. One of the local redtails is hunting along the woods’ edge, flying from branch to branch​, head swiveling all about.
  • April 27, 2021
    Overshadowed by the sprawling French lilac like an opening act, the old bridal wreath bush keeps sending out white sprays.
  • April 27, 2019
    Bright and cold. The wind sounds different from the last time it blew this hard, more hush and rustle—tiny new leaves’ ambitious whispers.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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