FIRST FRIDAY POETRY JUNE 2024

I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in a "year long poetry practice – on the first Friday of each Month," when we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and pairs it up with a photo relating to it.

I had ideas about what to write about this month, and even managed to scribble down a line or two. Then yesterday, I took the backroad home from work.

There has been a lot of talk in our agricultural community about the devastation wrought to local farmers by the cold spell we had in January, but seeing it for myself was a painful eye opener.

The soft fruit trees have survived, although there will be no cherries, apricots or peaches this summer. The grapes, after two years of unusually extreme cold weather, have not fared so well. The annihilation of many local vineyards is nothing short of disaster for owners.

harbingers

not long ago
grape vines
flourished here

row upon row
of leafy abundance
crisscrossed
the valley steppes

now
gnarly black ghosts
haunt the landscape
miserable reminders
of a climate in crisis