Sunday 8 August 2010

For Barbara Carlson ... who gets this ...

    Like September Women

In September the world turns beige.
Do you know how many shades
Of brown exist?

Toasted wheat gold.  Dusty grass dun.
Greenish milkweed pod bronze.
Speckled fern ginger.

Rusty dried blood of old sumac.
Tan burrs explode, scattering
Pale creamy down.

The strongest colours now are seen
In fruit.  Scarlet berries.
Purple clusters.

Some September weeds still blossom
With dusty blue flowers
Or dull greyed mauves.

But by September, past their prime,
Mere husks for next year's seeds,
Most weeds are dull.

But only in comparison
To summer's lively shades.
Seen on their own,

There is great variety,
Considerable beauty,
As seed cases

Burst, sending forth winged messengers,
And textures grow softer,
More touchable.

Some are prickly in the autumn.
Most are more fragile.
But still lovely.

Like September women.

4 comments:

Barbara Carlson said...

Thanks!
Like a walk in the woods...soon.

The "woo girls" of summer pale in comparison to
September women.

(Woo girls are the kind who -- hands punching the air -- woo! hoo! -- scream at people on the sidewalk from the roof openings of limos, etc.)

Barbara Carlson said...

From my book, The Pocket LInt Chronicles, August 21st, p. 292 --

"After Breakfast on the Balcony --
The temperature outside right now is simply adorable, and I have only come inside to record that the garden is in a happy state of déshabillé after the lingering heat of summer. The drooping tomato plant is leaning affectionately on the flowering morning glory vine that has, itself, overcome the bushy coleus. Everything has gone to seed."

Oma said...

Love it ... especially the personification of them all ... you capture my garden well except that tomatoes hang off nasturtiums and cucumbers entwine themselves around tomatoes so that cucumbers appear to be growing in the oddest places and clusters of red jewels are everywhere ... including on the ground!

Barbara Carlson said...

To watch life itself unfold from tiny (hard!) packages is the gift of gardening. The phrase -- "To have a life of it's own" takes on visual meaning.

Time for an "after" photo at the top of your blog.