Terra, my six-year-old, tags along behind me on the trail to Peek-A-Boo Springs. She makes up and tells stories aloud. Glamding, who I gather is an elf, seems to be having trouble with goblins who are in the small cave to our right.

My job is to listen, but I drift in and out, enjoying the sandstone pinnacles, an occasional claret cup cactus in bloom, the trill of a canyon wren. From time to time, I insert an "uh, huh" or "wow, that's interesting."

"So, what do you think Glamding should do, Dad?"

"Um, maybe he should fight him."

"Dad! Glamding is a girl."

"Well ... she should fight him. Elf against goblin."

"Dad!! Buckwart is a dwarf; he's her best friend."

"Ah, yeah, I meant they should fight them."

"Dad!!! They're trying to help the feather people find a new home."

sweet vetch--
just emerging from
a bare patch of sand

Ray Rasmussen is a photographer who lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He spends a good deal of his outdoor time in Canyonlands National Park, Utah and in one of Canada's most remote and untouched provincial parks, Willmore Wilderness just North of Jasper National Park. He writes haiku poetry and its related forms haibun [prose plus haiku]. He is also active in creating haiga [haiku plus images]. In a previous life he was a University Professor. See website.