Autumn Succession
August becomes
golden rod’s diluted suns, somnolent
after summer’s race, ferns browning
toward dust, jewelweed’s orange-red
slippers, a haven for hummingbirds.
Autumn becomes
asters bloomed a muted purple,
an explosion of milkweed, white pappus
to airy flight. A dream of hillsides
fading toward their winter fate.
Sean Prentiss is the author of Finding Abbey: the Search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Desert Grave, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. Read more.
Excerpted from the longer poem “Solstice Lake, Succession” first published in Minding Nature Vol. 12. No.1, Winter 2019