There is so much happening in our world right now, it can be hard to take it all in. In these times, more than ever, I am grateful for poetry. Sometimes I write it. Sometimes I have no words of my own, so I read and reflect on the poetic words of others. Either way, poetry helps me process my thoughts and feelings about the world and my experiences in it. My poetic offering today is a poem I wrote earlier this spring, on a rare day when my husband had to go to the office for an in-person meeting and I took our usual lunchtime walk alone. I am a creature of habit, but on that day I challenged myself to break routine and change direction, and this poem was the result. Today I go against the grain, turn left Instead of right, Let the path take me away from home Instead of towards it. Today I go against the grain, go up the slope I usually walk down. Climbing uses different muscles Than descent. Today I go with the grain, walk downstream Instead of up, Walk with the flow, Instead of a
yum! Enjoy. Apple picking is one of my favorite memories of spending time with my kids.
ReplyDeleteI love that first line especially, as it makes me picture September picking up a ladder and heading to the orchard!
ReplyDeleteThanks Laura! That was exactly the image/idea in my head when I took this picture.
DeleteBring on the apple crisp, apple sauce, and cider!
ReplyDeleteI have apples in the kitchen right now, waiting to be baked into an apple pie! Thanks for stopping by, Mary Lee.
DeleteI just made an apple pie this morning, though I have no tree with a ladder like your lovely picture & poem, I did get the apples from a local farmer's market. I bet they would love your poem, too!
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda! We're lucky to have this orchard nearby, and we can buy the apples directly from the farmer. The best apple I have ever eaten in my life came from this orchard.
DeleteThe opening line of your poem works it magic drawing the reader in Elisabeth. An end of summer ritual begins... I cooked apple and rhubarb last week, so I am in the zone of your apple harvest.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds delicious! Two of my favorite fruits together. Thanks for your comments, Alan.
DeleteI love experiencing fall vicariously through people's fall poems! Thanks for yours!
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome, Ruth.
DeleteFall is the time for living 'appely' ever after! Yum! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is! Especially here. It is the taste of fall for me.
DeleteYes! One of my favorite times of the year. And of course we'd need a ladder if we want to get all the apples. That scaffold speaks on a meta level, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan!
DeleteI love the image of September bringing the ladder. Apple picking time ... sigh. One of my favorite times of the year.
ReplyDeleteI love marking the passing of seasons by what's happening in the orchard. Thanks for stopping by, Karen!
DeleteI like the idea that the ladder also has "branches heavy laden"! Is that really your apple tree? Lucky duck!
ReplyDeleteNot ours, but the farm is just a few minutes' walk away. We walk through this orchard on a public footpath countless times throughout the year on our way to the forest, and we're able to buy potatoes and apples from the farmer. The potatoes and apples are in the barn, and you just go in, weigh them, and put the money in the slot in a tree trunk. One of the joys of living in a small, farming community.
DeleteYes, what a sign of autumn. I spent some years in western Michigan when my children were young, so we have some nice memories of apple picking in the fall.
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