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.
Smooth sumac is a local plant I've loved since I was a youngster here. If you plant it in your garden be careful not to water it much, or it can become invasive. In the wild it thrives in our hot, dry climate. Most of the year it is overlooked, but at the first hint of fall, when all the other plants are still green, it produces magnificent red foliage.
Sumac past it's prime these days so I begged my parter to let me use one of his photographs.
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| Photograph by Randy Rotheisler |
sumac
all spring and summer
i blend in,
agreeably
green
i blend in,
agreeably
green
my time to shine
arrives
when i launch
when i launch
the local autumnal display
in a spectacle
of scarlet
in a spectacle
of scarlet