Poem: Autumn Dry
In this week’s Poet’s Corner contribution, Bernadette Anderson reflects on an Indian summer now past.
Autumn Dry
The calendar read April
yet blue skies still spoke of summer.
Leaves were slow to turn
and branches were split, limbs falling.
Dams were drying, ponds slowly dying
no quenching rains to fill rifts in soil
or soften parched lawns.
A cooling evening breeze
was the only comfort
as we awaited heaven’s waters
to heal the scars of ongoing summer.
The clock read four o’clock
on an ordinary Wednesday
the afternoon stood still as I walked my dog
under that autumn, but Indian summer sun.
The streets were deserted
we owned the lanes and the pavement
no need to hesitate at the corner
as no traffic made crossing effortless.
George Street Park was vacant
one oasis of greenness and cool
but no children on swings that day
laughing and calling to each other
and dogs behind high metal fencing
were hushed.
The sun bounced off white-washed buildings
a sleepy blue sky looked down on us
trees murmured as we walked underneath,
dog and I, our footsteps padding the ground
whilst no neighbours leant on fences
sharing gossip.
But now the calendar reads May,
the rains have come,
and the cold and the wet now
though both needed,
make April a fond memory.
Bernadette Anderson is a past student of the Advanced Diploma of Arts (Professional Writing) at Adelaide College of the Arts and a member of two Adelaide poetry groups. Apart from her writing, her interests are her family, horse racing, music, walking and mental health. She has published her work in long-standing literary journals such as the Goulburn Valley Writers’ Group’s Tamba and Queensland’s The Mozzie, the e-journal The Write Angle, the online mental health publication and website Mindshare, and in the Milang and District Community Association’s monthly newsletter. Currently engaged in typing up many years’ worth of journals kept as she grew up, she has the dream of seeing them published one day.
