tulip tree

Thursday October 20, 2016

Dave Bonta October 20, 2016

The tulip poplar sapling in the yard glows in the sunlight, a golden column. A honeybee buzzes around the empty light socket above my head.

Dave Bonta September 26, 2016

The yellow is moving up from the goldenrod to the birches, tulip trees and elms. A red-bellied woodpecker’s shrill calls end in a trill.

Dave Bonta August 25, 2016 2

The cicada chorus ebbs and swells. I notice the big tulip tree has shed all its drought-yellowed leaves from a month ago and is green again.

Dave Bonta August 17, 2016

A yellow tulip tree leaf lies face-down on the porch floor. Nearby, an assassin bug crouches like a martial artist when I move my foot.

Dave Bonta July 28, 2016 1

The drought forces plants into triage: the big tulip tree is turning yellow from the inside out; perennials are dying from the bottom up.

Dave Bonta May 15, 2016

The leaves on the sapling tulip tree are already big enough to blow backwards. A tanager’s plucked-string call. It begins to sleet.

Dave Bonta May 7, 2016 1

All the tulip trees I’ve planted over the years are shimmering towers of pale green. A rabbit’s ears twitch in a patch of wild mustard.

Dave Bonta May 1, 2016

Lichens are aglow after a night of rain, the tulip tree’s trunk painted the same pale green as its leaves. New warbler songs off in the fog.

Dave Bonta April 21, 2016

Just-opened leaves on the big tulip poplar, as absurdly small as the unicycles ridden by circus bears. Wind rustles in the dry forest floor.

Dave Bonta March 18, 2016

At the woods’ edge, the tulip poplar sprouts a scarlet thorn: pileated woodpecker. A gust of wind drops a dried leaf into my lap.