Royalties

Clouds and intermittent rain showers have dogged us this past week, damping the beauty of autumn. Still, when I turn a corner and drive down a block of red maples, I can't help but think "fantabulous!" Of all the color changes in fall, it is the scarlet leaves I love the most.

I once lived where these trees dominated my yard, suffusing my kitchen with a rosy hue for two or three weeks each October. And I marveled daily to see them.



Royalties


My backyard is not filled
With the shifting gold
Of coins or cottonwoods
Nor does the bright
Yellow gingko drop.

The scarlet cloak
Of a Crimson King maple
Lies folded ankle deep
In chocolate tipped cherries
Ruby slippers and port wine.

Luxury.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

A Taxing Situation

This week's excuse for being late falls under travel. I spent an extended weekend with my son and his family in Indiana. He and his wife are committed Fit Bit wearers, striving for 10,000 steps on a daily basis and, more days than not, achieving their goal. It has become part of their routine, and being a walker myself, I felt right at home.

There is a difference in neighborhoods, however.  I live in a high-rise on the divide between a busy commercial district and acres of city park, preceding a residential area. I've walked both, but it isn't hard to determine which way I usually turn when I reach the corner.



A Taxing Situation


In between
a crisscross road six lanes deep
and close to city hall
live reconfigured lights,
pedestrian friendly stripes.

But cars continue to muscle through
and vehicles still rule
in a dicey game of dodge 'em.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

 

Fifteen Seconds of Fame

I love the play of sunlight on partly cloudy days. The way it randomly hot lights an object, a towering glass building, a tableau of trees, a distant church spire, against a backdrop of dark clouds. Ephemeral, magical, and impossible to capture on film, at least with my humble camera. The experience intensified by autumn's colors and the transience of the moment.



Fifteen Seconds of Fame


On a gray October morning
with northwest winds shifting
the contours of the sky
the east sun emerges
through an aperture in the clouds
and spotlights a yellow drenched
elm for a fleeting few seconds
before the cover closes
and the leaves fade to fools gold.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

A Little Off the Sides

How I know autumn has arrived: the shortened day length, a frost not that far north of us, the orange/gold/red of the leaves, the Twin Cities Marathon, the Apple Fest at Bayfield. On our way to the cabin last weekend I also noticed fields of soybeans now like bright yellow coverlets flung across the land, and more than one farmer harvesting a corn crop.



A Little Off the Sides


The tractor lumbers
down an arrow straight row,
corn spitting from picker
into the open bed of a truck.

Behind them they leave
the earth looking like
an upswept Mohawk:
blonde stalks next to stubble
with roots of dark brown.

I know this. Just yesterday
I saw it on a boy's head back in town.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

Campaign 2016

Yes, we traveled north again, spending time at the cabin. A welcome break from all the political hype which only intensifies as the election looms closer. I admit I watched the first debate between the presidential candidates, but the substance and rhetoric underwhelmed me. It seemed to be only more of the same. I doubt if I will tune in future debates.

The peace and quiet of the cabin, on the other hand, was a delight. I am so thankful that retreat exists.



Campaign 2016


Pushed into the political funhouse
without a way to dodge

d I s tor T e D mirrors of half-truths

Twitter BLASTS of hot air

a revolving barrel of he said/she saids

undulating            of negative
               walkways                ads

and a two-story
                        slide of
                                     innuendoes

I search for the exit sign
spot it blinking dimly,  w_e_e_k_s  away.

The clamor of glad-handing clowns
swallowing my sigh.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor