Late Summer Light

Two weeks past – a glance from car window to prairie color.

Still I see it, and took this long to write.

late summer light (1)

stripes drawn rich from west
rust tints tan and red
grass bent seed heads
curly dock scepters moderating light
silver shone white from aspens in the draw
as if quaking to would-be cumulus
but not

heads of red clover
burnt chocolate brown
and crisp with insect wings
golden rod tilted till tomorrow’s
deeper shades of gray
shadowed in yesterdays hays
of dreams now spent

rasp-rough trunk of solo ash
in prairie sentry watch
sun-jaundiced leaf on elbowed branch
sensing rest in 4:30 fever
where every morning's due
aspires to starlit skies
then it falls

© 2012 Ardi Keim 9/6/12 (rev. 9/13/12)



late summer light  (2)

Love the late summer light
color and textures rich with insight.
People and plants stressed
and easy to see both sides of good days.
And better ways to show it.

Green in the valley
where river still runs. Slower now.
And cottonwood leaves 
turn yellow to tan.
Tree cover thin as mother's lace.

But it's cooler at night
when we rest in our dreams.
Sea breeze and gulls on the mast.
And hope for tomorrow's meaning.

© 2012 Ardi Keim 9/13/12



late summer light  (3)

Evening news. Talk radio. 
NPR. Press and tube.
To hear and read
the state of things Yahoo.
And yet to be 
and see . . .

Then today. Unplugged.
The heads of shadowed hue
in morning light.
A mourning dove.
Willow--where the fawn walks. 
Red blades on dying grass.
Sumac turning.
It's real.
With true color. 
And right.

© 2012 Ardi Keim 8/20/12 (rev. 9/23/12)