A Year of Days

By James Just

Through this evocative collection of poems we spend a year with poet James Just, his wife Irina, and their two dogs in the mountains of Costa Rica. We feel fresh rhythms of sun and rain and wind. We discover exotic plants and animals. We connect with fellow adventurers from all over the world. We meet Tico friends, patient and generous with outlanders bringing strange customs and a foreign tongue. We sample local foods and savor an enchanting culture. We learn to relax and relish la pura vida.

The book is a collection of over one hundred poems, arranged by month, beginning with March because that's when work on the book began. Through the poems we experience a different change in seasons than found more northern climes, from the dry season through the rainy season and then back again, living the good life in a laid-back tropical paradise.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Just
• Release date: Nov 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370663514

James Just

James Just writes and lives with his wife Irina and their dogs in the mountains of Costa Rica.

Book preview

A Year of Days

James Just

Copyright © 2016 James Just

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Illustrations © Gesa Emde, Rue de St Colomban, F-70310 Ste Marie-en-Chanois tel.: [phone] www.gem-design.de

Published by James Just

First Author's Edition

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank the writers of Salon Cajón -- Lenny Karpman, Joan Hall, Mike Crump, Janet Crump, Marilyn Stevens, Paul Hastings, Mark Hunt, Irina Just – for their invaluable advice and help. I especially thank Mike for his encouragement and steadfast faith, Paul for his appreciation and constant prompting to dig deeper, Lenny for embodying a successful published author, Marilyn for editing suggestions, and Irina for sharing in the work and for her unwavering love and support.

Heartfelt thanks to Gesa Emde for contributing her awesome cover and interior art.

This book is for Irina

my Lebensgefährtin

Contents

Introductory Note

March

El Cajón, another day

End of the season

Waiting for la lluviosa

Doris and Bernd passing through on their way to Peru

Five Verano Haiku

Coffee Blues

Wanderers

Maria

April

Greytown, plane won’t start.

Five haiku of the changing season

Just a Moment

In an instant

Lullaby

Whole pork loin

Viernes Santo

No nothing

First rains

A haiku for Mike

For Lair

Making Pizza in Debi's kitchen

May

Emergence

What a find

The San José bus

Lluviosa afternoon

Oblivious

Planting

Joy of cooking

May, early morning

The girl with the patch on her pants

Dreams

Nothing special

Light show

Planting coffee

June

Hounds

The gardener

The practice

Mañana

Saying goodbye

Sunset

Summer solstice

Pura vida

Little summer

Cordero

July

La Sele

Green morning songs

Walking the dogs

Bird's nest

The garden wall

End of little summer

Isabel

Mourning

Vögeln

Recycling

Cloud forest

August

La fiesta

El canicula

La Virgen de Los Angeles

Drifting

Dreams

Eye of the poet

A recess rhyme

Sunday dinner with ticos

Taller Barrantes

Morning clouds

Jack's veranda

September

Dog days

Viveros

Eucalyptus

Scrolling landscape

Spanish lessons

The road to Zarcero

Los ladrónes

Pamela

Roasting bones

September morning

La Feria

Luncheon on the patio, Rincón de Salas

October

Poás phreatic

Untimely

Weeding the coffee

Orquídeas

Pizza on the barbie

The doldrums

Through the night

Afternoon thunder

The moth

Bananos

The walk

November

Lenny

Irina's birthday

Summer in November

Dog dung butterfly

No time

Ants

Diving

The other side

Shifu

Changing of the season at sunset

The day following el dia de acción de gracias

December

Sidewalk

Letting the dogs out to pee

The dry season

Meanderings

Christmas winds

Owl butterfly

Wall flower

Chicken farm road

Slim pickings

La víspera de Navidad

Morning in the sun

January

Luneshadow

The wind

La misa

La Peste

Birds

Cloud forest

Harvest

Buen provecho

Orchid

February

Nothing happened

Madrugada

Coral tree

Justa

Summer day in winter

The winds

Buds

Anole

Mornings

Estalló

Ancient chorus

Hot

Introductory Note

This collection of poems depicts a year of life in El Cajón de Grecia, in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica. My wife Irina and I, along with our two dogs Zooey and Capo, live on the a ridge snaking