Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Tuesday, September 1, 2009

END OF SUMMER

Yes, I know. The equinox hasn't happened yet. It's late summer, not the end of it. Still, on the first day of September, with our garden done for (only a handful of tomatoes this year) and the morning glories sagging, I am ready to bid summer adios and begin looking toward autumn.

 I said I'd start blogging again on the first of September, so I pick up my digital camera and walk out to the front porch.  Right here, where I am, I see summer departing.

What is the name of this bush? I ask every year around this time. The one with the pale to deep mauve plumes? Whatever it's named, I love it.




Light through leaves, unreachable
no-name light,
no-name fingers of blooming
beyond my holding on to them,
scattering their small blossoms
onto my hands,
cornmeal blooms,
but the color of rougepot
and my mother's favorite lipstick...


(Byron likes this bush, too. He poses for me, just long enough for me to capture what he knows will be a photo to add to my extensive Lord Byron collection.)



Does any image say summer's end as hauntingly as this one?





Or this one? All day outside my window I watch it. I think the wind is blowing hard till I realize it's the birds gobbling elderberries, whizzing around the bushes like electrons around the pulsing core.



Forget my poetic reveries. The students down below are cavorting and our dogs go chasing the sound. I call them back. Ace of Dogs stands by the goldenrod to watch their ascent. You can barely see Bro's white head and Byron's small black body in the shadows.



Here come Bro and Byron into view.



Well, what's a poetic-looking mauve plumed bush to a dog, anyway? Bro makes good use of it.


6 comments:

Vicki Lane said...

Glad to see you back, K! Beautiful no-name bush -- I haven't a clue as to what it's called. And I too am ready to tear up the old blighted maters and plow under the cornstalks and feed the buggy broccoli to the chickens.

The cool air lies like a blessing on my skin!

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Welcome back; we missed you. I don't know the name of the bush either and I used to be a Master Gardener way back when (in what feels like another life and in another state). Our tomatoes didn't produce well this summer either - guess it was all of the rain. I'll miss summer. It's my favorite time of the year.
Sam

Julie said...

Oh, so beautiful. I hope someone comes along with a name for the bush, because I want one! The Bro picture cracked me up. Welcome back. It's so nice to read your lovely words.

Newt said...

Kay I have heard it called "Fire on the Mountain" and someone said it is in the botanical family of polygonaceae. It is beautiful at this time of year but it is a true pest. You do not want this plant, because the name comes from poly (many) gonum (seed) and it spreads like kudzu. I tore up my tomatoes vines and tried to burn them. Tomatoes don't take to fire except in pans. Our garden is mostly gone too except for beets, sweet potatoes and okra. Pulled up the corn, most of the squash and planted some fall lettuce, spinach, cabbage and broccoli. I was almost buried with food this year except for tomatoes which blighted worse than ever before.

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Hi Newt, how sad that this is an invasive. We've had it for years. I don't think Jim will want to do away with it! Yes, blight was bad this year.
Julie, You may think twice about getting this bush, but it is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

That's a poke berry bush not elderberry. Don't eat those :)