Fay asked me to name three gifts of nature for which I am most grateful. Sunlight, warmth, and wind rose to the top of the list. All are forms of energy. All are gifts, but in excess, may be harm. I spent the week of my October retreat in their presence, basking in their gifts, aware of their harm in excess. This poem was born from that.
An October Day in Scott, GA
Sunlight.
Pink and blue
antennae
emerge from the night,
blades of grass
now
translucent green,
so much
easier to
see and be seen.
Warmth.
Bare-naked toes
play
on the porch,
saline dots form
a perspiration
mustache,
shoulders and neck
let down
their guard.
Wind.
Hair rearranged
on arms
and on head,
shirt pressed
against
shoulders and ribs,
low-level roar
forecasting
change.
Sophia Brothers Peterman © 2014