Of Stone Walls and Skinny Trees

H&L's  backyard in Vermont

Originally,
Vermont was well forested,
until trees were cleared

to make pasture land
for sheep and dairy cattle.
Late 1800s.

Rocks removed from fields
were stacked as fences to keep
livestock from roaming.

Logging and quarries
became greater industries,
depleting the land.

Not until the mid
1950s was there an
effort to replant.

Pines, birches, maples,
and poplars now rebalance
farms, woods, industry.

Second growth woodlands
explain the thin trunks. Old farms
explain the stone walls.

Rock wall through daughters'
property is probably
(over) a century old.

~dkm 98/365

A Noticing

The tallness of fall,
the narrowness of tree trunks
in these Vermont woods.

~dkm 97/365

The Real Deal

Plump ripe raspberries.
Hand to mouth right off the bush.
A taste of eden.

~dkm 96/365

Eve?

The serpent?

Untended

Gnarled ancient grape vine.
Twisting, growing through tree trunk.
Brute force of nature.

~dkm 95/365

Watsons' Woods, Westmoreland, NH

Inside Out

Close range inquiry.
New Hampshire sugar maple.
Thoroughly orange.

~dkm 94/365

Vanderbilt Rooster

Despite his missing
tail feathers, he carries on
with ample swagger.

Perhaps his feathered
feet lend some credence to his
sashay through the lawn.

~dkm 93/365

Shelburne Farms in Northern Vermont

Autumn vs Politics

Five moments in time.
Waiting, watching, in Vermont.
Same view across month.

~dkm 92/365

Sept 12

Sept 27

Oct 5

Oct 12

Oct 18

Lichen 1

Papery snowflakes
pressing around smooth tree trunk.
Giant polka dots.

Nearly 20K
lichen species in the world
could hijack haiku.

~dkm 91/365

Acadia National Park

Early Risers

First folks in U.S.
to see the bending sunrise.
East-most coast of Maine.

~dkm 90/365

Cadillac Mountain, Acadia Nat'l Park

Red Maple, Young

Maine autumn, sublime.
Cranberry Island, Little.
October sky, blue.

~dkm 89/365

Little Cranberry Island, home of poet Ashley Bryant