PEACHTREE

It's time to acknowledge the end of the show
The last yellow leaves
On our backyard birch
Flutter in the cold
Hanging on for dear life and
Their one chance
To experience snow

Autumn began with my favorite tree
A maple, but to me, a peach
Not the one you stand beneath
But the one you strain to reach
Young, light green with fuzz
And a tinge of red

A tinge that used to lead the way

My autumn omen 
For an evolving color blast

New every year

But not this time

A summer storm wrenched that tree

Not even a stump remains

Its early coloring, a sign it seems
Of disease

Across the street

Favorite number two

Taller

With a magnificent spray of orange

which segue's to black branches
And dead dangling leaves
To spook Halloween

The usual progression did occur

A hard freeze whooshed us through
Brilliant reds

And gorgeous oranges and yellows

On the trees 

 

And underneath for a day or two

Then, browned, piled and kicked around

They traveled with the wind from yard to yard

DRK

11/9/19

 

SIDES

 

Did you appreciate the shade?

I did my part today

Any good walnut tree would

The sun, then high in arc, has passed on

Now, low, near done

It highlights my undersides

 

Look up

Try a different angle

I have colors to show

Should you notice

 

 

DRK

10/11/20

7/21/23

 

 

SEPTEMBER SENSE

 

High summer inches toward dog days

And low autumn

The breeze coming through the screens

Rattles the dried up leaves still clinging to the maple tree 

October, a few days away

Warns, take this opportunity

To enjoy light

Laced through walnut and locust leaves

 

I imagine them counting down the weeks

Maybe days

'Til colder winds

Move only conifers and limbs

A different sound, indeed

Frost is next

My heated birdbath's first test

 

DRK

9/23/20

 

 

 

HIGH SUMMER HARVEST

 

First walnut of the year

Up the driveway with squirrel

Seeking to secure

Under the tree in front of me 

But rodent muster

Not passed

Ditto,  the zebra grass 

Around the corner

 

Frozen entree in January?

Or seedling for the new year? 

 

DRK

8/26/20

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SOUND OF HARVEST

HINT:  NOT SILENCE

 

Did you hear it?

The clatter-whump of walnuts 

One minute, hidden up there

The next,

One hundred and forty-one

From tree to grass in seconds

Awesome

Carole counted as she raked, picked

And stored in a yard waste bin

Wait.  Twenty one more in the flower beds

 

The tree sighed in relief

Mission done, nuts on the ground

A gazillion leaves on the way

See you in the spring

 

DRK

9/20/23

 

 

SEDUM RED

 

Sedum red

Sedum red

Put to bed

Mosquitoes

And this muggy-

Ness

 

If you please

Turn the leaves

We’ll chill

Six months or so

No less

 

 

DRK

9/10/21

 

 

 

BACKYARD SUMMER DRAMA

The last dog walked

and garage rolled shut,

backyard stirrings cue

the porch’s invitation

promising tonight’s

summer evening presentation. 

Take a chair

dim the lights.

the curtain rises . . .

to heavy muggy air

settling, darkening to night –                                                              

harkening the first fireflies...

Stage left, then right.

Rise and disappear.

Cricket interludes intrude –

scattered . . .

building . . .

pulsing . . .                                             

to a surround sound

insect etude.

Rock it, cricket, rock it, cricket

rock it, rock it, rock it, rock it, . . .,

          

From a tree,

Excited chirping

sears the air –

trumpeting tension.

Unseen.

Where?

Minute gnats

take the air bringing

twisting bats weaving

through their dinner space.

Then long-awaited fireworks    

slo-mo, everywhere                             

rise and disappear –

a firefly ground finale,                   

ballet sans choreography

the heated evening mating urge, severe.

Rock it, cricket, rock it, rock it, rock it

A stir of breeze;

showers rattle the maple leaves.

The drama cools.

Night’s curtain falls.

Time to  exit

reluctantly

Dennis R. Keefe

May3, 2007