The Morning Porch

October 2, 2010 by Dave Bonta

The witch hazel in my garden is just coming into bloom, yellow tentacles uncurling, the bunched nuts like maledictions waiting to burst.

August 11, 2025
Sunrise reddens the western ridge as the flat-tire moon fades, alone in the sky. Jewelweed flowers along the stream nod and sway as the first hummingbird makes her rounds.
August 11, 2024
Cold and still at sunrise. A hummingbird zooms past, pausing over a snakeroot that is almost in bloom.
August 11, 2023
Before the first birds, a thin, gaping moon. A last katydid stopping mid-creak. The whine of tires on the highway over the ridge.
August 11, 2022
Clear and cool as an October morning. Treetop oak leaves turn orange in the sunrise. All the crows wake up.
August 11, 2021
It’s still cool, but the air smells like heat. I watch a sulphur butterfly’s erratic flight path. Does even it know its next move?