Showing posts with label sunflowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunflowers. Show all posts

Monday, September 20, 2010

renewed as the dew




"I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter...."

Do you remember the night, a few days back- when you walked through the gardens and the sunflowers cast moon shadows behind them?  Remember how it gave you pause, as if their down turned faces were shyly smiling still- through their yellow petaled bangs?  And do you recall how it made you stop, steadfast and look back at your own shadow?  And in that moment, did not all the world seem aglow with moonlight, which is more tender and forgiving...perhaps making all walking the street, lost out in the great world- feel a bit as though we are all so much alike in our shadows?  The same color, softened edges- the moon light ardently shining on our heads, faces- forgiving us our days missteps?  Is it not a blessing to be cast in that gentle light, as all and everything is, in September?

 How you wondered out loud- where the summer went too?  Autumn coming  on the heels of a very dry spell, watering was worrisome as the well might be made to run dry, so the tomatoes in the hoop house had to learn to survive without constant watering and monitoring and still, they grew red and lovely, the recollection now saw concern back then when there was no real cause to worry.  Things grow as they are apt to do.  With or without intervention from a concerned gardener...you mustn't worry so.  Every year, about this time- September, it is as though your perception becomes keener, you are more willing to let things be as they are.

It is cool enough at night that bugs no longer burden you, it is only the sliver of light over head that guides you into the following days of compressed wonder.  The lighted hours shortening, the plants bursting with what energy they have left, in their final and full regard for life.  Bees weighed down gleefully with pollen so thick on their legs that it is a wonder they can still fly on to more collection sites, yet they set off again and again-seemingly unburdened.

 Ah, sweet September- the summer brought so much to handle, to work through, heating up the compost- but what has come of it?

  All that my eyes see now, are prayers answered.  I look to heaven in the web, in the golden rod and flower beds.  I see the pearly gates in the glistening of dew on the trellises, heavy with morning glories.  And there, an angel- praying before it's precise movement towards a meal of a tiny moth- unaware of the mantis warrior camouflaged as the very stem they both share.  And in the evening, the cool blue heavy evenings- comes a mist now that blankets the shadows, the sunflowers, the soul's misgivings- a sweet forgiveness shrouds all and I will sleep renewed as the dew.


Dew Notice


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Kindle No Fires






The season of plenty is upon us.




Oh my, it's getting a bit dusty here ...Maine has grabbed ahold of me again, making me see all of the wildflowers and an earlier than what I'm use to- autumn.  We certainly lack the rain these days, but the colors and coolness and fruit ripening too soon on the vine...well, whew!!!  I have been busy taking it all in.  (That'd be the views and the fruit.)  And just to add a bit of a pickle to the large volume of going's on lately, myself and a small core group of history, farming, spiritual lovers are trying to restart and revamp a pre-civil war Grange hall.
....lest it rains.

Which, may I say- is very much to my liking, one of those labors of love I've gotten involved in.  The old building caused me to fall in love with it at first sight two years ago upon my first visit to Maine.  And now I've attended a few meetings, have actually been inside and felt the years embrace me.  The old place has no bathrooms except, except oh my yes, heaven to be found in a little two-holer out back.  His and Hers.  The building is exactly as it should be except it is not on the historical register...yet.  So for my winter work, I will be historian, interviewer, photographer AND part time traveler...oh, and one more hike in late September to Cutler Maine, once again.  I must see the views there, take the long way around- this time with a hiker friend.  All in all, I'd say I've got some experiencing to do, and you dear reader will be filled in on all the details coming soon.
(The bright yellow chairs over there...............................................>>>>>>>
caught my eye on a recent trip around the Bay of Fundy- marvelous yellow, bright seats sitting atop a rocky ridge and they said to me-"To sit one must first strive a bit...)


Enjoy these threshold days, these deeper hued, richer yellowed  fragrant last blossoms on the vine, sunny eyed sunflower times.  We know what waits to blanket us, all too soon to come...take care-
Busy bees can't decide between the intoxicating buckwheat or the deep red sunflowers.

Monday, September 1, 2008

To September





Sunflowers bow-
bending at their brown
dried knees
no longer following
the sun
humbled now, they fade

Spiders busier-
by night they spin
sunrise casts first light
on their dew drop craft-
intricate lines
of deception

Birds and more birds
gather on lines and poles
like little feathered men
assembled in rows
something startles one
-off they all fly madly

Sun rise bothers not
to wake me these days
I am the one who shakes
to rise and shine-
a bucket of cracked corn
rattled like an alarm

As for the moon-
too early he rises
in a golden way
hypnotizing me,
early yawns follow-
triumphantly he glows

When sun and moon together
compress the day
between horizons
of awe and wonder-
daylight beaten,
I surrender...

To September.
by T.L. Starks 2008

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

the little ones on the edges...



Good early morning-
I wondered too much about what to write today, for truly the holidays are so bright, so lit up that every little dark corner is exposed, every shape and form is illuminated and I can see all too well, see that someone is missing and it pulls and tugs too hard at my heart, so-I'll speak of summer and the remnants that remain.
I plant many sunflowers every year-on the east and west sides, groves if you will. And also there are the volunteers, the jungle hybrids that pop up here and there, and I can never pull them, I must let them grow and grow they do. One in particular, the old soldier standing guard by the back door,(he finally gave all in this last ice storm, now I must step over his 6' remains, as he is frozen to the ground) the one that buzzed in honey bee greetings as you passed. The little bees thick covered legs with sun yellow bright pollen, the tiniest messengers of prescence oblivious to me as I passed by. Sunflowers out back, by the summer kitchen-decorated with the hanging of "wild canaries" (my name for them)-while you are inside the little room in the house where you do your, um...business, in concentration-the littlest of yellow birds doing theirs-hanging upside down, seemingly saying, tweeting-"Hmmm, what shall I have for lunch? This glorius fat sunflower seed, or the little ones on the edges, I do need to watch my figure." Well, that is what I imagine they are busy at-being selective in their smorgasborg that God and I have produced for their summer meals.
I leave these summer remnants, the millet and seed heads of coneflowers for my little friends, and some for the deer that I do not allow to trespass in the warmer months, but all gates are open for them in these cold winter days, they know of the deli out back and partake regularly of the popcorn I left standing just for them. Yes those glory days warm me up-keep me centered like the balancing act of my bright sunshiney friends. I think I'll carhart up(kind of like cowboy up-whatever the hell that means) and take a walk this morning. Don't worry, I'll bring you with me-and what your eyes cannot see your heart will absorb at a later posting, kind of like a blind date, in hindsight. Oooh, I'm stretching now...Be well, take care-