Day 5: Landscape

NovPAD 2024

Shifting Landscape

“Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety” ~ from Anthony & Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

At the foot of Mt. Agamenticus, 
secondary roads curve up then
around then down again, past
pines, over dry stream beds.
A pile of soft pumpkins lie 
rotting in the neighbor’s 
front yard, hooved by deer 
we see most mornings in 
the misted meadow, just this side 
of dew-blackened evergreens. 

Signs of tribal affiliation mark 
my usual walk – “No on this” 
“Yes on that” “Vote for Ours” -
Stone walls and soft shoulders 
slope into gutters. Tomorrow 
the unchanging landscape will be 
different. As they say in these parts: 
If you don’t like the weather, 
just wait a minute.