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Jack Groundhog 📸📝

@jackgroundhog.bsky.social

2.2K followers 570 following 4.9K posts

I post a poem and photo daily All content © me 🇺🇸 from VA and MN In 🇩🇪 since 1993. 📍 Potsdam/Berlin ♿️ Invisidisability 🚫 DMs 🚫 Follow for follow 🚫 AfD/MAGA 🚫 AI Tried building a God detector, but kept setting it off

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · Sep 2

My apologies to my followers:

Due to ongoing mental health issues and problems with my work, I've been unable to make my deadline for publishing my first book of poetry.

I'll post a further update as soon as possible.

Thanks for your support and interest.

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · May 1

Dear followers,

This #poem is a repost from a year ago.

👉🏼 I did so to announce that I will be publishing my first-ever #book of #poetry and #photography by 31 August 2025. 👈🏼

Will post details, previews, and updates as work progresses.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your support! 🙏🏼

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · May 1

The dogwood
A #poem in three parts

—

i.

A dogwood I planted
back when my dad died
reminds me of my home
that I had to leave behind

🧵👇🏼

#poemaday #poetry #death #virginia #flowers #bloomscrolling #photography

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 8h

Deus ex cathedra

Stone Gothic arches
soaring from shadow to light —
In stillness, a breath

#haiku #poem #poemaday #poetry #cathedral #monochrome #blackandwhite #longexposure #silentsunday #photography

👁️ A view of arches and windows in a Gothic cathedral with organ pipes visible
📍 Cathedral of St. Paul, Münster
📅 17 May 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ22, -0.3 ev, 0.8s (long exposure)

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 1d

For Elise

When Beethoven’s ears slept,
within the silence he heard
how music had crept
into his mind like a bird

that took soaring wing,
then came softly to nest
where silence wakes and sings
between crescendo and rest.

#poem #poemaday #poetry #photography #music #poetrysky #blueskypoets

👁️ A wooden doorway in a pink Baroque house emblazoned with the name ‘Beethoven Palace’
📍 Palác Beethoven, Prague
📅 9 Jun 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 400, ƒ11, -0.7 ev, 1/60s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 2d

Mist

The little bronze boy
looks over the edge of youth —
Waterfall flows, foams, fades

#haiku #poem #poemaday #poetry #monochrome #blackandwhite #photography

👁️ A bronze statue of a little boy looks over the edge of his pedestal and smiles
📍 Charlottenhof Palace, Potsdam
📅 26 Apr 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ1.8, -0.7 ev, 1/320s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 3d

Crooked

Medieval houses
leaning over narrow street —
Tilting trees shed leaves

#haiku #poem #poemaday #poetry #cityscape #photography

👁️ A jumble of medieval and Renaissance era buildings in a narrow street
📍 Prague Old Town
📅 10 Jun 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 400, ƒ10, -0.7 ev, 1/1000s

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 4d

ii.

Their helmets uplifted past stardusted lee
that soared to the sky, impossibly high
in Gothic defiance of Moon’s gravity,
tall forests of columns reach past the sky.

Above, Orion rose with shining belt
to bless space children where they knelt.

✋🏼🧵

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 4d

Stargaze
A #sonnet thread

—

i.

An astronaut family left home to pray
at the lunar cathedral by Earthrise morn,
which bathed grey valleys with light of day
against deep black where stars are born.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #poetry #window #blackandwhite #monochrome #photography

👁️ Looking up a spiral staircase at a round window with a star pattern
📍 Schwerin Castle
📅 20 Aug 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 5000, ƒ6.3, -0.7 ev, 1/500s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 5d

Olympus

Bee bumbles, feeds on
aster nectar, dappled sun —
god sips ambrosia

#haiku #poem #poemaday #poetry #autumn #fall #flowers #bloomscrolling #naturephotography #photography

👁️ A bumblebee sips nectar from a bloom in an aster bush
📍 Havel River, Berlin-Kladow
📅 28 Sep 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 400, ƒ4, -0.7 ev, 1/2500s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 6d

Flying south

Sailboats glide along
the river past swans at rest —
Drifting white feathers

#haiku #poem #poemaday #poetry #autumn #water #naturephotography #sailing #photography

👁️ A sailboat on a river near the bank, where a swan is resting in the water
📍 Havel River, Berlin-Kladow
📅 28 Sep 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ6.3, -0.7 ev, 1/1250s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 7d

ii.

He prayed, “O Queen, my heart renew,
my sin be washed, my pride be slain.”
The cherubs wept — their tears were dew
that blessed his soul, if not in vain.
He rose, absolved by sculpted stone —
although her voice had been his own.

✋🏼🧵

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 7d

Ordo
A #sonnet thread

—

i.

A bishop knelt with trembling grace
before the Virgin crowned with light,
her gaze serene, her sandstone face
looked down at him from pedestal’s height.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #poetry #satire #prague #silentsunday #architecture #photography

👁️ Statue of the Virgin Mary with cherubs, the Cross, the Veil of Veronica, and a bishop kneeling
📍 Charles Bridge, Prague
📅 8 Jun 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 1250, ƒ22, -0.3 ev, 1/1000s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 8d

ii.

Tilt camera high
to bright blue sky
and gilded gables
as I am able.
Camera lens,
the light bends,
shutter speed,
f-stop to feed.
Now pacified
by angle wide
I pan above —
White dove.

✋🏼🧵

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 8d

Dove
A #poetry thread

—

i.

Walking through,
full streets in view.
Red and gold
on a house of old
near Prague town square
where tourists there
mill about.
It's far too loud,
can't take a shot —
crowds in knots.

🧵👇🏼

#poemaday #poem #travelphotography #symmetry #gothic #photography

👁️ Ornate late medieval façade of a multistory house in red and gold
📍 Prague Old Town Hall
📅 8 Jun 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ16, -0.3 ev, 1/80s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 8d

Definitiv. Habe ebenfalls viele Fotos davon gemacht. Auch von St. John’s und St. Mary’s Cathedral 😄

Überhaupt ist Edinburgh sehr fotogen!

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 9d

iv.

For while she lingers, shoppers pass, unknowing what her vigil means;
She sees her lost beau’s face in glass,
her young self by him in her dreams.

The baker’s widow thinks of him
and smiles as day’s first light begins.

✋🏼🧵

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 9d

iii.

Once, through that glass, her face had glowed by morning’s scent of yeast and rain;
across the counter, a young man had shown
her that she'd found true love again.

🧵👇🏼

1 1

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 9d

ii.

She waits: her arms are gently crossed, a warm coat, time, her only weight — long years behind her softly glossed, the hours ahead a patient gate.

🧵👇🏼

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 9d

Baker’s window
A #sonnet (thread)

—

i.

Beneath a bakery’s arched embrace, a window gleams with bread in view; The reflected street in placid grace holds echoes of the life she knew.

🧵👇🏼

#poem #poemaday #poetry #prague #windows #streetphotography #photography #poetrysky #blueskypoets

👁️ An older woman stands in front of the large glass window of a bakery
📍 Mostecká, Prague
📅 9 Jun 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 400, ƒ11, -0.7 ev, 1/250s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 9d

Looks familiar 😄

1 2

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 10d

ii.

contrasting with the moonlight
that glows in porcelain,
its lunar glaze — not bright —
but born of starry heaven.

I find it in a dusty manor
hard by the Baltic Sea,
its celestial glamour
now eclipsed posterity.

✋🏼🧵

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 10d

Eclipse
A #poem in two parts

—

i.

Barehanded potter turned
hard paste to fantasy.
A sculpted porcelain urn
in rich chinoiserie,

two dragons writhe around
its many colored sides,
with a goddess in gold rays crowned,
this sunburst, splendor’s bride

🧵👇🏼

#poemaday #poetry #photography

👁️ A fanciful chinoiserie urn by a corner of walls paneled in wood and blue silk tapestry
📍 Schwerin Castle
📅 20 Aug 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 4000, ƒ5, -0.7 ev, 1/125s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 11d

Cumulus

High castle yet stands,
shadow of long-lost kingdoms —
Clouds drift on the wind

#haiku #poem #poemaday #poetry #history #travelphotography #palace #castle #clouds #photography #poetrysky

👁️ An ornate gold-colored neo-Gothic stone palace under a blue sky full of clouds
📍 Schwerin Castle
📅 20 Aug 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ5.6, -0.7 ev, 1/1250s

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 12d

iii.

in quiet kisses touched by the dew.
As winter comes in silent chill,
the leaves wear frost that glitters new,
a wedding gown ’til spring’s first thrill.

✋🏼🧵

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 12d

ii.

to softly land on reflecting pool
where they rest. A drifting silver mist
now blankets them, moist and cool
for moonlight slumber, quiet tryst

🧵👇🏼

1 2

Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 12d

Gown
A #poem in three parts

—

i.

Two light-clad leaves in autumn dance —
un pas de deux? Yes, if you please —
their moves afloat, flight, airy trance
as they spin, embrace beneath the trees

🧵👇🏼

#poemaday #poetry #autumn #fall #bloomscrolling #garden #nature #trees #longexposure #photography

👁️ Autumn leaves in a pond reflecting the sky, trees, and a house
📍 Dr. Max Fraenkel Country Garden, Berlin-Kladow
📅 3 Oct 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ16, -1 ev, 1/8 (long exposure)

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Jack Groundhog 📸📝 @jackgroundhog.bsky.social · 13d

Red dwarf

Dahlia bursting,
a blossom, a ball of flame —
Supernova blooms

#haiku #poem #poemaday #poetry #flower #bloomscrolling #nature #photography #naturephotography #flowerphotography

👁️ A bright red-orange dahlia blossom
📍 Dr. Max Fraenkel Country Garden, Berlin-Kladow
📅 3 Oct 2025
📸 Nikon D5600
⚪️ Nikkor DX 35 mm ƒ1.8G
🎞️ ISO 100, ƒ4.5, -0.3 ev, 1/100

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