Farewell to Green



[Scenic Alpine Loop in Provo Canyon]



Autumn is my favorite season.

I can feel it slipping away, though, and all the pumpkins on my porch are starting to rot.

Bother.

So my tribute to fall is a little overdue, perhaps, but here it is. In the form of a poem my little brother, Ethan (who just turned 9 last week) wrote. It is surprisingly wise:

[The assignment was to write a fall-themed poem with each line starting with a letter of "FALL." But he had more to say, so he expanded it to say "FALLING"]

Farewell to green

And good-morning colors 

Let's have some fun

Let's jump in piles

It's fall alright

Now it's time to say goodbye

Goodbye fall

And here's a poem by me, slightly less wise, but brought about entirely by a walk to school on a beautiful fall day.



[magic picnic in Sundance]



Today         10/18/10

I will skip class to read Robert Frost

In a halo of yellow leaves,

slightly shivering in the early light

 of what promises to be

A golden afternoon.

It’s just that sort of day.

Today I’ll remove my soft leather 

moccasins

and my dark denim jeans, molded

precisely to the shape of my hips

and thighs.

They’ll flutter to the ground

like a piece of gently torn tissue paper-

two flapping legs.



My braided hair will untwist itself,

 pins shooting out like

porcupine quills

and

falling slowly to the earth

as waxy red leaves.

Off will fly my cable knit cardigan

(the color of forget-me-nots),

 Followed eagerly by scarf,

earrings,

blouse,

bra.

Today I’ll stand, naked and glowing,

In the pale autumn sun.

Just me and Robert.

And everyone who passes

 Will wonder-
 At the transcendent orb of metaphor

And olive skin (steadily growing pinker)

 That bounds between the branches

And bursts into the sky-

 A shower of amber beams. Rivulets

Of light.

Everyone will wonder, as the drops

cascade from their noses,

but soon they will see (they can’t help but see)

that it’s just that sort of day.

 Today they will see

and free

me.

It’s just that sort of day.

Goodbye fall,

Banana