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

Two Skies

Morning brings

two skies

dark

and grumbling

above

beaming

blue

Trees wear

two colors

summer green

and

autumn scarlet

Flowers bloom

as their neighbors

fade

Afternoon

will bring

buzzing heat

but evening

hints

at frost

to come

 

I got up for this

 

I got up for this

to stand

above

rippling waters

and contemplate

the reflection

of the full moon

to follow

two geese in flight

my heart 

climbing

with their wingbeats

to see the sun rise

and notice

how the clouds

embrace

the dawn

reflecting fire

in the east

and faint pink 

in the west

To breath

To be

Thunder somewhere

In a dark

corner

beyond streetlights 

startled

by a flash

of lightning

Above

the sky

is veiled 

in transparent 

clouds

broken

by star-speckled

pools

of blue-black

All is silent

but

thunder 

somewhere 

 

September Between

Summer

is drowsy

sleeping late

then nodding off

when Lady Sun

pulls the shadows

long

as she slips to bed

early

 

Windtorn

 

Fall

feels near

as sunrise

and sunset

draw closer

Late summer storms

scatter

rain-ravaged leaves

already fading

mingled

with summer's seeds

and

skeletons

of flowers

No Power

 

Our human hands

have no power

to renew

We

control

tame

prune

select

supplement

eradicate

destroy

We can't

even

truly

co-exist

Only

restore

Only

surrender

Then

Nature

will

return

renew

recreate

Summer faces

The flowers

are waiting

faces tilted

to the morning

purple

gold

and palest pink

winking

amid

the

leaves

 

Fleet[ing]

 

Nature's

fleeting

moments

feel

less fleeting

than ours

less fragile

less fraught

The seasons

lean into

decay

drawing energy

and releasing it

into

the universe

Water Memories

 

Memory

is mostly

water

Lilypad lake

Broody gray

Pacific

in winter

The Minnesota River

meandered through

two separate decades

I have lived on

an isthmus

between lakes

and crossed

the Mississipi daily

to school and work

For four seasons

I looked out over

Superior

in awe

of its endless skyline

Now

the Crow is my

river

It brings me

waterbirds

and wildflowers

Self Care

I could

drink this sky

like a tonic

take a relaxing

dip in

golden rays

of the sun

then rest

on softest

pillow clouds

and

just

breathe

 

New Day

 

Yesterday's clouds

wrapped me up

in gray

Today

blue skies

pull me on

hill

over hill

toward

sunrise

    

Storm Sky

 

Cicada 

buzz

cuts 

through

still

sticky

air

plop

plop

the first

drops

fall

thunder

rumbles

warning

of storms

to come

Sky Beach

 

When I was

a child

we lived

near the sea

Little me

would

run

to meet the waves

darting

like the pipers

that ran beside me

The water

left ripples

in the sand

shaped like

these clouds

My upside down

 sea

in the sky