The kinglets have come,
ruby-throats are leaving,
and today I heard the sapsucker’s
whine.
Gold plated pawpaws,
crimson painted sassafras,
and frost asters blanket the fields
in lace.
Red-tails circle above,
drab yellow-throats forage in the garden,
and days,
like black walnut leaves,
float gently
away
—
Ann Bodling’s poems reflect her close relationship with the natural world. She is a naturalist, a gardener, wife, mother and grandmother. She has worked most of her adult life in gardens and on farms and she lives in rural central-ennsylvania with her husband, three goats, and four hens.
