Today

October 12, 2008

Today

Today the last outdoor lunch
Under the broad leaf maple –
green-gold leaves littering our deck.
No one stops them.

Today we dug the last of the potatoes,
pulled the shivering tomato plants
and rescued the pimento shaped
red orange beauties – tonight’s dinner.

The tomatillos we never planted
they crashed the party
welcome guests but very late arriving with
green striped suits and parchment jackets.

Today we walked
the Cedar River Trail
and smiling dogs
with black lips.

The Cedar River runs clear
now green, now gold.
Puffballs – the river’s fall companion
white delicacy in the grass.

We walk until
it really is too cold.
Inside the cedar fire warms our home
with fragrance and with heat.

Dinner is soft acorn squash,
creamy yellow in a hard green shell
heaped with puff balls,
the pointy red tomatoes on the side.

The cedar fire is banked
Tonight will be first frost.
The black lipped dogs smile,
turn tightly, then sleep.

One thought on “Today”

  1. What a wonderful fall poem! Full of mood and color and leaves and ripe garden images. Love the tomatillos in their striped trousers and parchment jackets! Good use of quatrains! I printed it out and glued it into my journal already.

    Beautiful job–I’ll treasure this one!

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