August Nones Sonnet

Broad column of ants traverse barren ground,
seeking fallen sweetness to carry home.
Blueberries grow fat, become full and round,
so birds will carry them to fertile loam.
Clouds swift and jibe as servants of the wind,
taking up moisture… and letting it go.
From high and far-off, hawk sees the storm’s end,
as he glides on currents that dust motes show.
Chokecherries dangle tantalizing fruits
that bitter daring tongue and choke off breath.
Marsh still teems with salamanders and newts
who lay their eggs in hope of future life.
Sun sweetens morning, swelters afternoon,
and dims fair twilight to match warbler’s croon.

August Full Moon Sonnet

Hail, lady Moon, lustrous pearl on gray slate,
when cloud and twilight shades go scudding by.
Though forest still resounds to robin’s cry,
earth finds limits on what it can create:
each wild bloom now droops with summer’s weight.
Fox kits find mother a less firm ally.
Cumulus float with cloud hand through the sky,
tacking right when storms so swiftly abate.
Tamarack, pine, cypress and birch rustle.
Berries on juniper bobble in breeze.
Red squirrel climbs up, and runs down again,
carrying tidings of worldly bustle
from well-planted roots to shimmering leaves,
bespeaking both eagle and sweet-voiced wren.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Colorado Springs Airport. Nice enough place, but I’m sorry to be stuck here for an hour. I was up at 3:30am to get here — didn’t reach the airport until 4:10 or so, and then took an hour to get through security. One womantried to bring her makeup kit through. I think it got thrown away.

I fly from Colorado Springs to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Hartford. I’ll be in CT and on the ground by 3:00-ish, and home by 4:30ish. Leah comes home from her women’s group meeting around 8. She wanted to come pick me up at the airport, but frankly I think her women’s group is more important than being my chauffeur.

Today is the feast of the Lights of Isis, and tomorrow is the Feast of Hecate. Both festivals are about completion and endings, and it seems appropriate given the work I’ve been doing to get to celebrate these days with an ending to my fencing training, and the beginning of my fencing teaching anew. There will be poetry for both days later; right now I’m going to catch up on my Full Moon and Nones poetry.