Black-eyed Susans gossip in the gullies
between the road and corn
past harvest,
clouds in feather boas waltz
through pale silk skies, and cows head home
for milking, while
the hawk holds vigil on a fence post.
– Sarah Russell
First published in The Houseboat
Republished in Your Daily Poem
Sarah Russell Poetry 
Nice
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Thanks, Steve. Gotta admit. It’s one of my favorites.
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Simply stunning!
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Thank you, Devi.
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gently beautiful
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Thanks, Julian.
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I’m all giggles at the thought of black-eyed susans gossiping, the wind carrying their words, pollinating the world with their chant… autumn is such a magical time.
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Thanks, Magaly. My favorite season!
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Ahhhhhhhh, one lovely image after another. How sublime!
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Thanks, Sherry.
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I short treatise on the social life of nature!
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Love this interpretation, Rob. Thanks!
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Sarah, The bookends of the flowers and the hawk as holdout or holdovers from summer are a nice contrast to the cows going home, reprsenting the change of seasons. Very nice!
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Thanks so much, Jilly.
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“clouds in feather boas waltz
through pale silk skies…”
The fall cotillion commences. Very nice, Sarah!
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Oooo, I like that interpretation, Charley. Thanks!
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You are very welcome!
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I can picture this kind of September really….with the hawk holding vigil! A very evocative scene.
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Thanks, Mary. There’s always an element of change in autumn for me — an edginess that the hawk evokes, I think.
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I love the gossiping sunflowers and the cows going home and the hawk. What am I saying? I love every line of this quietly beautiful poem.
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Aw thanks, Toni!
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🙂
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What a glorious dollop of nostalgia this was! I could smell the alfalfa and sweet clover in the fields!
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Thanks, Bev. My favorite time of year.
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A lovely vision
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Thanks so much.
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I sort of imagined myself watching this scene and it came alive..the cows wore bells and there was a big white gate as well next to the hawk… a different world.
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Yes, it is very different from your world, Rajani. I love your descriptions of India too. The world has become so small when we can converse with such ease. I was emailing back and forth with you the other day and told my husband what a miracle I thought it was to find friends half a world away.
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Beautiful!
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Thank you, Ayala.
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‘clouds in feather boas waltz’ – my favorite line. your poem really describes september beautifully.
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Thanks, Beth. I think September is kind of a hesitation — not quite summer, not quite full-on autumn. A waltz is sort of like that too.
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I was in this day as I read it. Beautiful late afternoon you wrote.
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Thanks, Kris. I love late afternoons in early fall when the sun slants across the fields.
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Lovely!
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Thank you, Rosemary.
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Beautifully delightful and flighty.
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Thanks Ivor. Yes, it does have a flighty quality, doesn’t it. Love that observation.
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For me this reminds me of an imaginist poem by one of the best (I prefer it to a red wheelbarrow)
Truly wonderful with the gentle alliterations and images of boas.
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Wow! Preferred to red wheelbarrow? High praise indeed, Bjorn. (And someday I’ll look up how to make an umlaut so I spell your name right!). I used to teach “Red Wheelbarrow” in high school. It always landed with kind of a thud. My favorite response was a gum-chewing kid in the back row who said, “So you’re saying that any words can be a poem, right?”
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There is something sad about black eyed susan and begonias also,I’m not sure why. I like the cows heading home for milking at the end of the day. I used to live near a dairy farm so it is real for me. Lovely poem.
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Thanks, Cressida. Interesting about your feeling about Black-eyed Susans. I wonder if it is because they signal summer’s end.
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You had me at the opening 🙂 gorgeous write.
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Thanks, Sanaa!
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I LOVE he gossiping in the gullies. I think black-eyed susans could be bar stools for butterflies.
The link you left on my blog took me to a Chinese pill site! I think it happened before too.
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Thanks, Colleen. And thanks for the heads-up about the pill site!! I looked it up on your blog. I used to have a website with that URL. I must have put in .com instead of .net by habit since it was my site for several years. Good grief! So sorry. The correct URL is https://sarahrussellpoetry.net
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This is exquisitely drawn … stunning images. A lovely idyl.
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Thanks so much, Wendy!
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Reblogged this on BrewNSpew and commented:
Sharing a lovely poem by Sarah Russell
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Reblogged on BrewNSpew. Lovely poem, Sarah.
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I’m honored. Thank you, Eugenia.
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