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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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harvestman

March 31, 2026July 8, 2024 by Dave Bonta

Every morning, more soapwort blossoms, and the raspberry canes are stretching into new territory. A harvestman stalks across my gray wasteland of a porch.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black raspberry, harvestman, soapwort
September 8, 2026September 24, 2010 by Dave Bonta

A harvestman stilting across the porch stops to poke each fallen walnut leaf. Up in the woods, the sudden squirrel rattle that means Hawk.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags gray squirrel, harvestman
September 8, 2026July 13, 2010 by Dave Bonta

Tansy blooms beside the porch. Black ants and harvestmen wander the allegedly insecticidal leaves; only the yellow flowers remain untouched.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags ants, harvestman, tansy
September 8, 2026August 9, 2008 by Dave Bonta

50°F. A daddylonglegs descends a goldenrod stem, slow as the minute hand on a clock. A catbird bursts from the lilac, crackling with alarm.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags catbird, goldenrod, harvestman, lilac

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On This Day

  • October 17, 2025
    Cold and quiet, with a few clouds. A raven flies over the house issuing stentorian croaks, his mate following in silence.
  • October 17, 2024
    Each dawn this time of year brings revelation: the sky behind the ridgetop trees emerging piecemeal like a puzzle. And between the sun and the clouds there’s a new, transitional state: a crowd of yellow.
  • October 17, 2023
    Gloomy and cold at dawn. From the depths of the seed-laden goldenrod, the first, bright chips and whistles as the sparrow horde wakes up.
  • October 17, 2021
    Cloudy and cold. In the thinning treetops, a squirrel takes a wild leap to lose a suitor. Tulip tree samaras helicopter down.
  • October 17, 2020
    As the rising sun glimmers through the trees, birch and walnut leaves begin to fall, the first hard frost glittering on the ground.

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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