Autumn Blaze
Autumn Blaze (see in Gallery / Store) | Image by Bruce Harris
Illinois prairie
deep autumn
the leaves mostly shed
Yet the meadow’s stark retreat
comes alive beneath the
barren trees
And soon
the thick reeds will burn red
through mounds of snow
The grassland wet and bent
spring’s green shoots
to come under the
budding sky
I've looked at this poem, paired with the photo, a bunch of times, thinking it isn't done. What does it say? Nothing. It just describes and maybe implies, but it doesn't offer anything about the writer other than trying to capture what is still alive in this autumn field. Then I thought the piece might not need to say anything more. It can just be what it is, catching the fall and eventual rise of the local landscape as I happened to walk by, no different than what a photograph does if you really take the time to see it.