Change in season

 

What

have I wished

away

yearning

for a change

in the season

For the sun's heat

to moderate

For rain

to stop

For the leaves

to change

For the leaves

to stay

flaming on the branches

not dry and skeletal

in a hot wind

not sodden

in gray puddles

Days are shorter

Winter

will have its moment

Stop wishing

today's season

away

Mid September

 

I walk away

from the glare of

safety lights

into the blue twilight

of mid September dawn

In the near dark

I play a game

What tree

do I see?

I know

oak, basswood, ash

by their shapes

Beneath familiar

pine trees

a scattering of cones

some palm sized

some no bigger

than a thumbnail

In the tall grass

an orchestra of insects strums

For a moment

the wind breathes

strong enough

to drown out

engines in the distance

The sky is lightening

to paler blue

with one star

winking

among

the clouds

The Price

 

The price of beauty

is labor

Beauty

must be tended

watered

worried over

We pay in patience

Seasons come

in their time

Autumn

cannot be pulled

or spring

pushed up

from still-frozen ground

We pay in grief

as floods wash away

our patient labor

our homes

our earth

crumbling

beneath us

because

we won't do the work

we won't pay

the price

Referred Pain

Of course

I didn't know her

never even heard her music

live

Maybe I laughed

at her impossible nails

and softness

before I knew

her many colors

But

as the world

began to feel darker

her light

finally

reached me

reading her life stories

hearing her wise words

the way her head would tilt

and her voice would

resonate

I do believe

This grief

I feel

We feel

holds so much more

than her loss

This grief is

every light

every kindness

we fear

passes with her

unless

it passes

to us

Dolly Parton August 25, 2026

Acrobats

 

Leaves somersault

Just a flip or two

as if stealthily

making an escape

from 

the newly melted drifts

Lanky oak leaves

and maple leaf hands

A ball

of hydrangea blossom

How far

have they tumbled?

Where will tomorrow's storm

carry them?

Fresh Snow

 

Like

a million

ice suns

scattering

from my footsteps

myriad mirrors

reflecting

blue sky

the air

a river of chilled

stillness

Yesterday's

gray day

and long

dark night

forgotten

A trillion stars

fell

leaving their light

behind

Myself again

 

I go

looking for

myself

and find

my father

wandering ahead

in autumn woods

camara dangling

His mother

standing

under trailing roses

in a dress

that blooms

with yellow flowers

My mother's mother

who would forgo

a cool shower

to water her roses

wilting

in summer heat

Here

Under the blue sky

I feel them all

our mutual love

for the earth

welling in my throat

and I am

myself

again