Riotous Green Life
Snapping virulent,
Vigorous grape vines, wild gras
Stems uproot. Weeding.
Then, as we walked on… On one of our usual morning pathways…
Golden Hill Bottom
Orange paper-bags
Again dot dew-damp front walks.
Humid silence hugs.
We came down the hill as the early silence started to turn into daily life.
Vehicles’ Stirring
The first Berkshire bus
Descends the bridge. Pickups
Roll after, stately.
We cross Walker Street to the crummy, rough parking lot of a couple of businesses.
Mutzl’s Favrit Walk
Mutzl tugs toward lot.
The El Dorado stood here.
Histry. Mystry. True?
Every summer, this summer too, on the dusty parking lot of local, charmless apartments, we see…
Motorcycle Man
Pots of pepper plants,
Caged tomatoes flowr between
Ranch fence and cycle.
As we round the corner beside the dust-and-pebble-strewn apartment driveway, there’s a little, odd park with a two wooden benches and a stone obelisk memorializing Lenox Dale’s past history. I have never encountered any other people in this park except once when a historical walking tour of Lenox Dale passed through it. It’s best feature is the post holding dog waste bags the town of Lenox provides for the public. Smart.
Lenox Dale Furnace Park
Obelisk stands guard.
Mutzl circles. Benches wait.
No one visits here.
When we walk, Mutzl decides our route (usually) and our walk’s duration.
Up the Hill Quite Soon
Chickadees’ chirrs crack.
Jet noise growls far above trees.
Mutzl turns towards home.
Forty-Five Minutes
Our walk is over.
My crippled recliner waits,
Stifling creating.
All at 6am!!!??? Did I really do this in my head as we took our everyday walk? Well… And the lines are all correctly five or seven syllables. Morning radio makes a real impression, more than I was aware.
So it began.
Wednesday, June 26, 8 a.m.
Let’s Start This Morning
Sun’s already high.
Construction blows and buzz hums
Punctuate bird songs.
That’s what happens when we start late. Other people’s days have already begun.
Hardy Invasives
Weed strangles, bumps weed.
Grape vines grab forsythia.
Each morn new growth grins.
Weeding as we walk. Mutzl is patient with me. He eats the grass. That makes him happy.
Neighbors’ Kempt Gardens
Ernie’s clematis
Climbs blue up its pole. “Gonna
Be a hot one.” Spoke.
We take Mutzl’s real favorite route. Around the corner past the houses of so many dog friends.
Max and Molly yip.
Grass-wet leg fur shows they’ve run
Free through woods and yard.
Mutzl’s favorite dog friends. Two dogs like he is, small and fluffy.
8:45 p.m.
Coming back up Golden Hill toward the end of the day. We walk our neighborhood.
Golden Hill Sunset
Azure-coral skies.
West-east floating drapey clouds.
Everyday beauty.
Which shooting is this that has just happened. In Seattle. The Jewish community held a gathering of support at which attendees were asked to pledge a benefit, a mitzvah, for the world’s or our Berkshires’ benefit, tikkun. Tikkun olam. To heal the world. I offered turning my wild front yard into more of a garden. For my neighbors. And passing pollinating insects.
Berkshire Tikkun Gift
The mitzvah I give
Our community. I AM
Making a garden.
Thursday, June 27, 8:45 a.m.
Butttercream Sunshine
Misty morning view
Towards Golden Hill. Pale butter
Sun glows over clouds.
