Monthly Archives: August 2017

Late August Malaise

Grasses and flowers

Grasses and flowers

Late August Malaise

Near the end of August,

in the languor of hot, humid hours,

I begin to lose focus -

so many arrivals and departures:

beach plums appear, then ripen,

swallows gather in great numbers,

flit randomly in loose flocks,

staging their leave to southern skies.

After a season of protection

and careful noting of fecundity,

plovers have deserted the beach.

A memory returns of one

who left last summer,

not to reappear in our time;

another arrives from abroad.

Some leaves look weary, already

dropping their garment of green.

They release to run amok

among grasses that ripen to gold.

Nature looks overgrown

and dusty, not quite under control,

ready to let it all go.

Autumn will cool this clamor,

then winter will settle it all

under a blanket of white.

Lainie Senechal

Early August & Announcement

08042017103209August Garden, Isle of Shoals

Early August

Pleasant days flow forward,

each following another.

Some hot and steamy,

with afternoon showers

to water the gardens,

clean and refresh the air.

Scent of lilies and ripe grasses
flood the senses,

cicadas’ raspy voices lift

on August’s light currents.

When the singular sound

becomes howl of winter winds,

these balmy hours will seem

only summer’s mirage.

Lainie Senechal

Annoucement: Lainie will participate in a poetry event with a reading a Whittier poem and original work son August 13 at the Whittier Home, 86 Friend St. Amesbury, MA.