Today is the classic early fall day here in our corner of the Midwest…blue sky, with just a hint of some clouds, a breeze that’s not-quite-warm asking me to hang out laundry, and a field of corn, ready to be picked, rustling just beyond the treeline.
So off I set, seeking a poem that would capture all of that, and maybe the images that corn harvest inspires in me…the rumblings of the combines on the road, their roar and progress lumbering until they get in the field, when they seem to leap down the lines of corn; the smell of rotting leaves and dusty fields and rain (only a hope, this year); the clash of brown fields and the rainbow of machinery and trucks.
But, as I looked for a poem online (sadly, the Poetry Foundation is revamping their website, so that most reliable of sources is closed right now), I found poems about harvesting by hand, and poems about thanksgiving. I suppose I could have found poems about autumn’s beauty, but that isn’t really what I was after.
If I had more gumption, I’d write my own!
So, I’ll share instead an excerpt from “September,” a poem from A Child’s Calendar, one of my very favorite books (a gift from a dear aunt upon the birth of my oldest…and a book we just love to curl up and read together). Every month has its own poem, and they are delightful, as are the illustrations. Really, it’s a favorite around here! And each month’s poem really does capture the feeling of the month for us…so, while it doesn’t mention corn harvest and the things swirling through me this morning, it will do in a pinch. 🙂
from “September“
from A Child’s Calendar, by John Updike (poems) and Trina Schart Hyman (illustrations)
The breeze taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel –
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Drying grass,
New books and blackboard
Chalk in class.
You can while away your fall morning with the full Poetry Friday round-up, over at the Miss Rumphius Effect.
