Sonnettics

I found a sonnet on my path today
Ironically it sat right on the trail
Just past the point where nuts would often lay
I often forage words to no avail

But this time I picked up a whole damn verse
The squirrels had passed it by like something bad
A nut with weevil larvae or much worse
I guess they didn’t see it like I had

I heard the sonnet fall through autumn leaves
I heard it just before the bridge, the brook
Inviting me to cross what it believes
That sonnets may be found if one will look

I think i heard the brook call out my name
A forager, a sonneteer, the same.

I walk a path adorned by fallen leaves
It must be autumn now, the air is crisp
A treasure trove of colors, not for thieves
Although I steal their colors like a wisp

A wisp of little metaphors, all mine
Oh look, the final sigh of maple’s breath
The trees prepare to sleep; the trees are fIne
The forest path is not the way through death

I walk this living path to comprehend
That life is full of seasons to enjoy
These vibrant colors do not mark an end
They simply show the art the trees employ

The pathway bearing leaves, a living thing
Reminds me they’ll be back again in Spring.

I’m not just some “damn yankee” in my mind
I’ve foraged all across this fruitful land
I find great joy in everything I find
Yes, even if it’s not what I had planned

I’ve foraged oysters from the Puget Sound
I forage nuts New England loves to share
In Utah it was Camas that I found
In Idaho there’s rose hips everywhere

But midwest morels always call me back
To Michigan, a place I’ve also lived
The U.P. doesn’t seem to have a lack
My foraging expresses life un-sieved

For foraging, America’s the best
Come forage now with me from East to West.

The carousel is old, but still it turns
Will it succumb to time eventually
The gears will rust and rotten wood still burns
I try my best to set the horses free

The carousel played music made of joy
But now it skips through songs like broken glass
A ghostly little girl and ghostly boy
At times appear when living children pass

A spooky shortcut to a different time
It marks another place where fear is found
As if the joy it knew was just some crime
And still it’s old, and still it turns around

The carousel is old and we are too
The ghosts of kids we see are me and you.