Sunday, October 31, 2010

little red sumac

i rode by this little sumac plant and it called out "hey!"
so i hammered on my bicycle's brakes and turned back
and it said "what?
am i not good enough for a picture?
well, what about this:"


"or this!"


"or this!"


"oh my sweet" i replied, "i imagine the great grandchildren of the monarch butterflies who rested on your crimson fingers just weeks ago are talking about you in their little mexican valley.

the deer eating the sweet white oak acorns across that field are thinking back to the last time they passed you under a similarly blue and cloudless sky.

the painted turtle who crossed from the marsh just behind you to the little pond on the other side of this path is singing a little song to himself
about the girl turtle he left behind.
the one who lived just back of the crimson sumac."

"yes my treasure, you're famous without even trying."

12 comments:

Joanna said...

I love and love the conversation with the little red sumac. Nice post Steven.

Bee said...

Steven, I think this should be a children's story. So charming . . . and illustrative, too, in more than one way.

I went on a glorious autumnal walk yesterday and I was frustrated, again, by my inability to name the trees. We have two trees in our garden and they have a similar leaf to this sumac, but they turn a rich coral pink instead of this glowing red. They are just at their peak now, but there will be bare branches in just a week or two! Fleeting fall beauty . . .

Tess Kincaid said...

Thanks for the Sunday morning smiles, my friend.

Jinksy said...

What a delightful story! :)

steven said...

joanna thankyou very much. i bet there are so many stories in the woods. steven

steven said...

bee!!! thankyou. i like to imagine the many story tellings in the woods. so much happens that is visible - and invisible. i too know very little about the names of what i see. in some ways i cultivate that ignorance out of some hard to characterize concern that it would get in the way of my seeing. steven

steven said...

ahhh jinksy thankyou so much. steven

steven said...

willow - i imagine your sunday mornings are filled with smiles. i'm glad to add to them. steven

ellen abbott said...

it definitely looks like it posed for you.

steven said...

ellen, plants will do anything to get on the golden fish blog. that way they get to leave their neighbourhood and see the world as well as be seen!! steven

Windsmoke. said...

G' Day From Australia, Very colourful Sumac. A great conversation with the Sumac and the creatures, their should be more of it because it's very calming talking to nature.

Golden West said...

Loved that!