Hickory nut

 

 

The poison spreads 

Wrist, forearm, bicep

Thigh? Maybe. Hope not 

 

The chocolate warehouse burned down

Perhaps I will go to the candy factory 

There's a butcher in the shoppe 

 

1.5 hours to circumnavigate the lake 

I like my kayak and call her Caddy

We putter around. A heron starts. Cormorants fan their wings on a slowly sinking log. White egrets circle the shallows. Yellow lilies about to burst. Turtles sunning. I scoop a drowning bug on my paddle and tip them onto the front of my boat. They ride the helm, wings drying, triumphant. They take off when they're ready--15 magnificent feet of flight before plummeting back to the water. I turn the boat around, scoop the drowning bug onto my paddle, tip them once again onto the red plastic. I aim for the bushes overgrowing the bank. They leap when we're close, scrambling onto a branch

Safety is always tenuous

Is it driving you mad? 

It's driving me 

Perhaps I'm foolish. I didn't make it up 

I edit the novel 

I take Hanna for a run in the woods, through meadows sensual with goldenrod 

Someone has placed bags of brown leaves and acorns at the foot of the driveway 

I'm brave enough 

I just don't see things that way 

Not interested in battling 

Still have fight in me 

I paint my nails with vegan colors: left hand gold, right hand lavender-blue. left toes lavender-blue, right toes gold

The hyacinths won't last the winter

Unburdened of shame

At 8 o'clock I'll dance again 

Are you?  

If I could spend all fall in the fecund woods I'd do it