Golden Harvest, with apologies to Wallace Stevens

A beautiful fall day, my front porch rail, a Mason jar, one blue jay feather, a sprig of red berries, and three hickory nuts, their cases with the smell of home, that sharp pull of earth and childhood: even my humble jar pulled the "wilderness" around it and "took dominion."

Anecdote of the Jar

Wallace Stevens

I placed a jar in Tennessee,

And round it was, upon a hill.

It made the slovenly wilderness

Surround the hill.

The wilderness rose up to it,

And sprawled around, no longer wild.

The jar was round upon the ground

And tall and of a port in air.

It took dominion everywhere.

The jar was gray and bare.

It did not give of bird or bush,

Like nothing else in Tennessee.

Today's Rhetorical Question

What could be more beautiful than this shiny Fiat 500?

Whirligigging Time

What the Wildlife Won't Eat

hangs around, from the crabapple branches and under the black walnut, where I no longer park.

At least, the fruit makes for a colorful photo on the way to rot.

Letter from the Season

Nothing much inside, but oh the letter box itself. More joy.

Believe Me

I long for the lengthened sense of seasonal time in childhood. But I can't, so I plan to make the most of the primary color days before winter gray sets in.

Local Color

So startled by red towers
like exclamation marks
cresting the hill that I blurted
"What the heck are those?"
Closer, I answered myself,
"Just stacked plastic crates."
But so much more than just:
exclaiming sky, clouds, bushes,
dry grass, bluebirds,
so many bluebirds
wheeling in
perching, staring
zipping to ground
then back up --
blurred dashes
ellipses
virgules
before twilight.

Sometimes the smallest object

says it all,
and that's enough.

Fall Color ABCedarian: Z

ZOMBIE GREEN

Fall Color ABCedarian: Y

YELLOW AND YELLOW-ORANGE

Fall Color ABCedarian: X

XANADU

Fall Color ABCedarian: W

WHITE
WINDSOR TAN
WOOD BROWN

Fall Color ABCedarian: V

VIVID BURGUNDY AND VIOLET BLUE

Fall Color ABCedarian: U

UMBER AND UNITED NATIONS BLUE

Fall Color ABCedarian: T

TURQUOISE AND TUSCAN BROWN

Fall Color ABCedarian: S

SUNRAY, SUNGLOW, STRAW, SPANISH BLUE

Fall Color ABCedarian: R

RED

Fall Color ABCedarian: Q

QUICKSILVER

Fall Color ABCedarian: P

PERSIMMON

Fall Color ABCedarian: O

OCHRE AND OLIVE