In late summer, the transition into fall
at the blue-blazed trail south of the entrance
tawny brown bracken fern
I am awakened by wet, cool weather
mushrooms along the path from
spawn in thin humus and topsoil
an odd pitch pine tree slumped over
a new trunk reaches upward, throws off thin branches
like a hunchback, here is a place to sit and rest
into an open savanna of tall dead pines
burst out of shade
aftermath of a fire
tiny, robust scrub oak acorns
their leaves with less insect forage
than the chinquapin oaks
frilly, yellow goldenrod flowers
overhanging the path
I brush against them – CONTACT!
a buzz of insects clamor about florets
of tiny golden flowers, locust borer beetles
antennae dashing about, tasting
the beetle lifts its hard outer wings
flies off bumbling and awkward
another takes its place
I saunter along while examining my life..
where I’ve been, where I want to go
all this beauty, large and small
Look! a praying mantis grasps a goldenrod flower
readjusts gangly hind legs – ready to ambush
it turns head left and right – how odd
the sky – high fractured cumulus
sunshine fades
thickening stratus in the west
twittering leaves of a small poplar tree
in a grove of a gray, ghostly
family of adult trees
A tiny, delicate wildflower
pea-like purple flower- one of the tick trefoils
a glimpse into one pine barrens secret
a forest of gray birch in a catch basin
many bleached white branches on the ground
like the bones of a dead deer
wind music rushes through the pitch pines
a different sound for every type of pine
norway spruce, white pine…rushing stream
two uprooted pitch pines block the trail
perhaps a wind surge
from tropical storm Irene
in a triangle intersection
yellow asters in bloom
a glorious sight
at the parking lot – cars pull in
like insects coming to the goldenrods
dust lifts off – blows eastward