October 2018
I’m a retired library director living in Pennsylvania Amish country. I write poems, grow wildflowers, make jam and follow the seasons in my kitchen. I was a life-long closet writer until five years ago.
Hot & Cold Fall
A fall heatwave blazes,
jade corn fields glow flaxen.
It’s time to scythe sun burned corn,
shuck and crib yellow cobs,
feed stalks through the chopper,
store fodder and bedding for winter.
Hot days cycle between cold ones.
A hard frost turns wildflowers black
and trees bright colors.
Farmers pick the last root crop,
till under dead plants and roots,
spread manure on soil and stubble.
It’s time to seed alfalfa and clover,
grow a cover crop blanket
to keep fields from washing away.
Wind pelts cold on clothes and face,
chimes clatter around the house,
the season flames.
One leaf skitters like a squirrel
crossing the road.
©2018 Ingrid Bruck
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