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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

The Morning Porch
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firefly

July 14, 2026 by Dave Bonta

Sun in the treetops as the tanager revisits his hit song, no longer in heavy rotation. A firefly sails past with his light off.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags firefly, scarlet tanager 1 Comment
July 12, 2026 by Dave Bonta

Breezy and cool, with enough high-altitude murk to keep the sun at half strength. A firefly circles the arm of my chair. Two more bindweed blossoms have opened above yesterday’s, which hangs limp as an empty balloon.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bindweed, clouds, firefly
July 6, 2025 by Dave Bonta

A cool and humid sunrise, with the silence of a long holiday weekend continuing to linger. The buzz of a hummingbird. A firefly goes past with his unlit lantern.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags firefly, ruby-throated hummingbird
July 17, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Another phantom shower, existing only on the weather app. A firefly wanders past, looking for a walnut leaf to spend the day under.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black walnut, firefly, rain 1 Comment
May 29, 2013 by Dave Bonta

It’s hot. A firefly lands on the shady side of the white railing, antennae moving rapidly as if assessing a new, poor substitute for night.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags firefly
July 14, 2011 by Dave Bonta

A helicopter alone in the clear sky: the mingled notes of its motor, high and low. A firefly sails past, inner wings glowing in the sun.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags firefly, helicopter 4 Comments
June 20, 2008 by Dave Bonta

Overcast and cold. A firefly floats past the porch with his abdomen pointing down, lamp at the ready for any unscheduled onset of darkness.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags firefly

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On This Day

  • September 6, 2025
    A shimmer of rain, which the roof gathers into a smattering of drips. A pileated woodpecker flies over, yelling its head off. A pair of catbirds exchange notes.
  • September 6, 2024
    Another cool, clear, still morning. The bang of a walnut on a metal roof. A chipmunk’s metronome.
  • September 6, 2023
    A nuthatch calling just inside the woods. From the barnyard, a Carolina wren. Chickadee in the yard. Then the sun comes up and it’s a party.
  • September 6, 2022
    A break in the showers: it’s overcast but bright. A slug glides slowly up the porch railing with its 27,000 teeth.
  • September 6, 2021
    In the dark of the moon, the luminance of stars. From town, a wailing of fire sirens, their literally compelling music an eerie, out-of-sync duet.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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