Discovery Drafts

Between the pond and the brook is a road, And across that road once walked-- In the evening, I imagine--six turtles The size of silver dollar pancakes, Though they never made it from the pond to the brook.... One person coming and another, going Arrested their movement As old and secret as time itself I imagine From water to water under the full moon. And I imagine it's so easy to stop things. That same morning I stepped over A dead raccoon that was very young And garter snakes--young ones, yes-- And then there were these turtles That had become six Unrecognizable and almost imperceptible spots. Is it easy to stop things? I don't wear my shoes in my house. I won't wear them into yours. I know where I walk. I know the power and force of time, The coming and the going .

NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him. "It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP. "After it was swept and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hi

Photos taken by John Briggs at Aix en Provence, 2002. Part of a dialogue about creativity and graffiti. Click here for more about it. Click here for John's take on his photos.