Beyond August
dragonflies still stop
to capture precious spots of sun.
Ballerina leaves twirl to the ground
and pile against the girth of trunks
weaving coverlets of crimson and gold.
Now that the monarchs have emerged
from their jeweled inscrutable wombs,
the spent milkweed pods burst their own
but homely selves.
Their long imprisoned young
push and jostle to be the first
to be released.
The rip-tide wind
zig-zags its way across their birthplace,
freeing the silky progeny
who cannot wait.
Lifted up and away
across other fields and striped highways,
they pass the shade of indifferent forests
but consider the grassy edges of distant cities,
anywhere they can bask in the sun of
autonomy.
When the wind lulls,
the downy parachutes descend
to the receptacle of fertile earth
where their anxious seeds
are taken in.
Now the perennial journey begins again
Beyond August…
Poem and Artwork by Carol Amato
I am a natural science educator and author of a ten nature books published by Barron’s, and Backyard Pets: Exploring Nature Close to Home published by John Wiley. My poetry has appeared in many journals, most recently in the anthology, “From the Farthest Shore.” I was a winner in a 2021 Connecticut River Review Poetry Contest, and my poems were accepted in the 2020 and 2022 Mutual Muses ekphrastic contest sponsored by the Cape Cod Cultural Center as well as The Poet’s Touchstone (Poetry Society of New Hampshire) and many others.