I see horses galloping like saffron wind
Across the sunset prairie sky;
With manes and tails aflame like streams of fire,
Bright steeds of cumulus design,
White-winged and wondrous;
Wrought of clouds and molten gold -
They draw the chariot of the Sun
Through violet canyons of the coral-cave sea
Where Neptune’s treasures lie.

Warriors of godly mien upon these stallion wraiths
Appear to ride,
With cirrus cloaks embroidered by each shaft of light
Full billowing behind curved sunglanced swords,
Their prancing wake paints mackerel patterns
In the tide.

Then the wind lies down along the beach
As purple slowly prisms crimson’s hue
Through indigo’s unfathomable black.
Soft shadows sigh across the haunted sea,
Then darkly rise ……
Velveting the vaulted vesper heaven -
Where only Godesses may linger, scattering their jewels
Among the aeon-counting stars.

© Indrani Ananda
Brighton, UK

A Cloud Appreciation Society cloud talk,
London, 19 May

Cloud Appreciation Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, is very excited to be giving an illustrated clouds talk at the first ever Words in The Park festival that is taking place over the weekend of 19-20 May in London’s beautiful Holland Park.

The talk will take place in the marquee for Opera Holland Park, which is situated right in the middle of this small and perfectly formed city park. Gavin will be giving a crash course in cloudspotting, showing some of the many different types of cloud formation, as well as showing some of the best clouds that look like things sent in by members of the Cloud Appreciation Society, some of which appear in our new book ‘Clouds That Look Like Things‘.

This will be a great opportunity for London members to get together. Gavin will be around after the talk, and would love to meet any Society members who come up to say hello. He will also be signing copies of all the Cloud Appreciation Society books, which will be available at the event.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney: an illustrated talk about clouds
2.30pm Saturday 19 May
Words in the Park
at Opera Holland Park, Holland Park, London
Box Office: 0300 999 1000 (Monday–Friday, 10am–6pm)
Book tickets online here…

The giant sky what a fun place to play,
Magical white forms to uncover today
A giant bear with paws high above,
Baseball bat, baseball glove

Faces abound in the boundless white,
Big scary creature, o’ what a fright!
Heart shaped cloud in a blue endless sky,
Tap dancing bear that goes tap dancing by.

So many objects never seen before,
A pot bellied man having a snore
Eyes staring down to the ground below,
if you never look up you will never know.

So gaze to the sky to see what’s to see,
Enjoy the search with others like me
Be amazed, don’t waste a minute,
Ya got to look up if you want to play in it

© Michael B. Davis

The Cloud Appreciation Society on BBC Breakfast

On Saturday 5 May, we were invited onto BBC Breakfast to chat about the Society’s new book, ‘Clouds That Look Like Things’. The BBC invited viewers to send in thier own photographs of clouds in the shape of things. Amongst the many great photos sent in was a great one of Margaret Thatcher. As is always the case on TV, they had very little time to show them. We could them on the presenter’s little computer screen, and wish they’d been able to show more. Many thanks to any members who took the trouble to send in their images.
Of course, you can always see the latest Clouds that Look Like Things on our gallery pages.

They enter on their own time
shifting eternally until called down to earth as rain
where the land
loses that moment of shadow drift.

People sing about them and dance
recite wisdom tales of accumulations
and watch for their return.

We are the children of their moisture
lapping their aftermath
and memorizing how the cloud cover
stretches across the vast plains

and smoothes all life into a gray world
shapeshifting our fears.

© David A Rachlin
Stow, Massachusetts, USA

The Sun Sets Over Bali

This month’s image is from the island of Bali in Indonesia. Unwind beneath the golden Altocumulus clouds. Bathe in the warmth of the sunset colours. On the horizon, the towering Cumulus are darkening in the shadow of the Earth, as the waves lap at your feet on the rippled sand of the water’s edge.

© Photograph Willem Tesselaar.

A geography of clouds drifts
across my sun-bed sky.
Tectonic plates shift
valleys split
form continents, deform,
sail into new-found-lands.
Chains of islands pass -
the sand-dune sines of Norderney
Juist and Sylt
the basking curves of Brac and Hvar
Korcula
Peljesac.
Now Corsica and lizard-Cyprus join
all the scorpion islands of the south.

Myth breaks in –
through tamarisk tails
Neptune rises headless –
great thighs stretching into sky.
A ghostly head, punctured with azure eyes
swells hydrocephalic with rain
turns feline grey, speeds on
till nothing`s left
but one fine eyebrow arching
in the clearest sky.

© Ann Segrave
Plakias, Crete 2010
visit her website here