OCTOBER 2025 -- Ode to Autumn

 

© LJR 2025

ODE TO AUTUMN

Calendars may point out the equinox

But nature marks autumn in other ways

Let’s grab our jackets as temperatures dip

Ready to explore this seasonal change

The animals know, see their shaggy coats

Migrating flocks wing across leaden skies

Canopies sway, shedding their summer load

Leaves spill down, a flurry of red, yellow, brown

Fungi flourish, mushrooms relish the damp

Frogs in the bog pond settle in deep

Bright flowers fade, dispersing their seeds

Ripe grapes and berries hang heavy on the vine

Acorns dropping, one just missed your head

Pumpkins piled high, awaiting Halloween smiles

Laughter and shouting, a corn maze explored

Sipping hot cocoa round a fire-pit blaze

Harvest moon rises, looming orange and large

Yes, autumn’s arrived; winter waits in the wings

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SEPTEMBER 2025 -- A LibraryThat Caters to All Critters

One of my favorite children's books is BOOK! BOOK! BOOK! by Deborah Bruss. In it, a group of animals visit the local public library and end up checking out some books. We don't learn which books these animals borrow so I thought I'd give some critters their own library and peek at which children's   classics they might read. The artwork is Lesson #7 from "Watercolor in Nature."                                  

A LIBRARY THAT CATERS TO ALL CRITTERS 

Did you know there is a library that caters to all critters

Staffed by a wise librarian who knows just what to recommend

For Pig some playful penguins along with a dose of purple crayon

And while Papa Bull might cheer on Ferdinand, his Calf will cheer for Harry P.

Pippi, Anne, and Junie have the spunk and spirit Horse is looking for

Yet Chicken likes a good fright with some furry monster mayhem

The humor of Amelia is what every Goose should read

Whereas Tom Turkey looks like he’d prefer seeking pirate treasure

Donkey has a yearning for tales of time and space and wrinkles

While Narnia and Oz are among the places Rabbit longs to visit

It’s not Old Yeller but the Lost Boys that Dog is going to lap up

While Cat will be all smiles falling into tales of Wonderland

For the Ram a set of Greek Myths, for the Ewe it’s Aesop’s Fables

But what their little Lamb will crave is where more Wild Things are

Yes, wise Librarian has found a book for each and every critter

The only holdout is this fellow here, this green and speckled frog

With every book pulled from the shelves, he croaks out one reply:

Already read it! Read it! Read it!

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 © LJR 2025

AUGUST 2025 -- If Corn Had Ears Like Other Creatures

  

© LJR 2025

 IF CORN HAD EARS LIKE OTHER CREATURES

If corn had ears like other creatures

I think there are sounds only it might hear

The pink of dawn breaking on the hills

A spirited breeze teasing dust motes

Hard-working earthworms churning the soil

A spider spinning its intricate web

Syrupy sap running through the trees

Meadow grass lapping up morning dew

Flowers sighing in their sunlight bath

Fluffy clouds shuffling into formations

Yes, if corn had ears like other creatures

What other sounds might it only hear?

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