First year cardinals shop new homes,
While butterflies wrap up.
Salvia pedals fade,
Ceding stems to seeds,
And oak leaves spiral earthward,
Blanketing drowsy roots. ‑‑
How my autumn garden yawns!
A Quieting
florida
Late Comers
With seeds scattered back in spring,
And low leaves like weeds through summer,
Autumn blooms now reach for hearts.
Fresh Take
A quiet early morning walk
May loosen a stiffened calf,
Unlock a blocked solution,
Reset a troubled heart.
A.M. De-Stressing
Soon it will be seven, and the bridge master will raise the drawbridge for the first time.
The gears will bellow as the plates bend upward tall-masted ships released at last will ease through the opening churning the waters as they pass soon after that the plates will descend again and the line of waiting cars long now will pour onto Cathedral Street hood-to-trunk hand-to-horn jockeying for too few parking spaces this will play out every half hour again and again and again till seven p.m.
But not at this moment.
Transition
Lone ketch at dawn
Moored off the seawall
During an incoming tide –
Pleasing interlude
Between night and sunrise
Invasion
Sun steals silently through the inlet
To scale Castillo’s eastern walls,
But alerted palms stand ready.
Persistence
Nicole’s winds drove the sea onto the land
Then over and under A1a,
Collapsing the road,
Flooding the inns and houses,
And destroying beach entrances.
Yet, Pelicans still glide over waves,
And dog walkers still converse at water’s edge.
Garden Door on Aviles Street
You wouldn’t think,
What with the nicely potted flowers
That flank the stained wooden garden door,
And, what with the bold golden colors
Of the distressed garden wall,
No, you wouldn’t think
That the single, bare, and unassuming branch
Visible through the barred window
Would maintain such a grip on my attention.
The House at the End of Vilano Bridge
Look there to your right.
Do you see that small white house
Nestled in the trees at water’s edge?
I look for it each time I cross the bridge
As I head toward town.
And each time I feel that it’s calling to me,
Though I can’t put in words exactly why.
And each time I feel my heart reply,
Though I can’t put in words exactly why.
The Prince of Wales English Pub
Covid-closed tavern
Unlikely to reopen –
Vociferous stillness
Vilano Images 