Carol A. Hand
Watching the last leaves in the cottonwood trees
fluttering as they cling to branches in the breeze
then swirling and floating as they reluctantly release
landing on the earth with crispy whispers, at peace
blanketing both city’s pavement and sacred ground
Sunday morning traffic’s whir the only other sound
Nature’s gifts visible despite an otherwise bleak landscape
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Voices from the Margins 
I see you have a new look to your blog, Carol. Looks good.
Fall has finally found this neck of the woods. After the last three months of summer then fall then summer again, the chill and some snow flakes have finally arrived, along with the seasonal arthritic pain. The leaves have changed and are falling at last.
Up until, yesterday, I thought I had been having an elongated flashback, and was still living in Nashville, but only Nashville looked a lot like Central Ohio.
I guess what I’m saying is, Will the real autumn please stand up!;-)
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Hearing from you is always a pleasure, Dave. Thank you for sharing your observations about fall and for your kind comments about the blog changes.
The weather does seem to be increasingly unpredictable, doesn’t it? Maybe it always was. It’s quite possible that I just never noticed before…
For your sake, I hope Ohio’s winter is mild. 🙂 I send my best wishes, dear friend. ❤
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I hope the winter is mild for both of us, Carol!
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sweetly skillful
capable of seeing
those gifts 🙂
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Thank you for your kind and lovely comments, David.
I’m sending my best wishes to you and all of the people in California who need to rebuild lives after the fires. ❤
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Wonderful words and not to ruin a good thing BUT “landing on the earth with crispy whispers, at peace” ……. there is no peace for the one who has to rake!
Tubularsock’s ginkgo tree always reports in and tells Tubularsock when it’s fall. In the SF Bay Area we don’t have strong visible seasons and even the stores don’t help when they start their Christmas sales in July! A lot of help that is for seasonal checking.
So Tubularsock relies on his ginkgo tree and your poems Carol. Thanks.
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Ah, Tube, your comments never fail to make me smile. But who rakes leaves? Maybe it’s because I’m a lazy Indian, as one of my university professors observed. I just mow over the leaves and let them fertilize the earth.
I do remember living without seasons in California, and without trees in central Illinois. But here, like SF or LA, one can’t always tell the seasons by looking at all of the holiday junk for sale in stores. 🙂
I do love ginkgo trees, Tubularsock.
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Beautiful and tender observations in this poem, Carol.
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Thank you so much for your kind and lovely comments, Helen. ❤
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We don’t have a true fall or autumn here, the eucalypts and other plants shed regularly. Only the northern hemisphere plants give reference to it. Enjoyed what it might be like from this post, beauty where you look with the heart.
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Thank you for your kind words and fascinating comments, Paul. I didn’t realize that the climates were so different.
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Missed reading your blog….been away too long. As always, Carol, you are blessed with the gift of words:-)
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Dear Robbie, please excise my delayed reply. (I have been grading papers for a class I’m teaching this fall.) I miss reading your blog, too, and your always kind and lovely comments. I send hugs and my best wishes, dear friend. ❤
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Your blog is as beautiful as your posts! ❤
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Chi miigwetch, dear Trace, for your always kind and lovely comments. Sending hugs and love, dear friend. ❤
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Lovely
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Thank you for your kindness, Lynn. ❤
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