I can't sleep…
How suddenly
the woods
have turned
again. I feel
like Daphne, standing
with my arms
outstretched
to the season,
overtaken by color,
crowned
with the hammered gold
of leaves.
— Linda Pastan, “The Months” in October 1999 Issue of Poetry Magazine
DK Photo from Cove Island Park, 6:55 a.m., October 25, 2024. More pictures of October in Connecticut here and here.
You tell me to live each day
as if it were my last. This is in the kitchen
where before coffee I complain
of the day ahead – that obstacle race
of minutes and hours,
grocery stores and doctors.
But why the last? I ask. Why not
live each day as if it were the first –
all raw astonishment, Eve rubbing
her eyes awake that first morning,
the sun coming up
like an ingénue in the east?
You grind the coffee
with the small roar of a mind
trying to clear itself. I set
the table, glance out the window
where dew has baptized every
living surface.
– Linda Pastan, “Imaginary Conversation” from Insomnia: Poems
Notes: Poem – Thank you Whiskey River. Photo: (via Your Eyes Blaze Out)
…
Let the eye enlarge
with all it beholds.
I want to celebrate color,
how one red leaf flickers
like a match held to a dry branch,
and the whole world goes up
in orange and gold.
~ Linda Pastan, from “Autumn” in Carnival Evening, New & Selected Poems 1968-1998
Notes: Poem Source: Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels. Photo: via The Sensual Starfish