September 17: Fog

Fogbound island.

Watching painted ladies sip

at the zinnias.

 

 

September 16: Chrysalis

On the slop bucket

perfect chrysalis

embellished with gold leaf

 

 

September 15: Night sky

Rumors of northern lights

draw us out

under the Milky Way.

 

September 14: Class trip

Yesterday I helped lead a group of seventh graders on a nature hike in the Hodson Preserve in Camden, during which they were to record observations in a journal. What seemed to interest them: plants they could eat and the orderly lines of sap wells made by sapsuckers in birch bark. But mostly, as is natural, they were interested in each other.

 

Kids on a field trip.

I catch their interest

with Indian cucumber.

September 13: Red

How to ignore it:

up on the mountain

first glimpse of red leaves.

September 12: And so it goes

waning moon

boughs of ripening apples

long walk alone

September 11

Remembering.

Goldenrod shakes under

the weight of bees.

September 10: Long distance

Hurricane news.

Crows relaying calls

up and down the river.

September 9: Red alert

When we hear the crows making a racket in the yard, we never know what we're going to find back there. Sometimes it's an eagle up in a tree, sometimes a hawk or an owl, and sometimes a more terrestrial creature.

 

after crows harangued

the fox over the river

chorus of crickets

September 8: Hurricane 2

Hurricane season.

Radar shows clouds of songbirds

making their way south.

September 7: Hurricane

Tracking the hurricane.

Last night I dreamed

of staring ghosts.