Living on the bayou gives me a daily view of seasonal changes. We have a huge cypress tree that drops its needles all over the back deck when the days grow shorter. They burst out in bright neon green as the days grow long.
While cypress respond to daylight, other plants respond to temperature changes. On my morning walk, I’ve been watching a Japanese magnolia bursting into bloom. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it blooms earlier and earlier each year. The beauty is striking. I used the tree as a subject for my Poetry Friday offering for tomorrow.
One way I pay attention to seasonal changes is to write poems. I am writing every day with #100daysofnotebooking and with Laura Shovan’s February poetry challenge. When I commit to a social media group, I have accountability, so I get it done.
On Saturday, I wrote a quick notebook draft responding to the quote by Robert Louis Stevenson “There is no music like a river’s”
Listen to the cry
of mother wood duck,
clicks of red-headed woodpecker
on the old oak.
Hear the train whistle
in the distance, and the peaceful
ringing of wind chimes.The bayou wakes up slowly
Margaret Simon, draft 2020
on this winter Saturday
playing its music
for the clouds
welcoming first sun,
first light,
new day.
Reflections on the Teche 
Margaret, what a lovely poem! I love the blooms on the magnolia and can’t wait for tomorrow’s poem. Just visiting with my SJT friends this morning has lightened my spirit and changed my outlook. I hope you’ll share the bright neon green of the cypress with us when it happens. Happy Thursday!
Beautiful post, Margaret. Thank you for turning our attention to the gorgeous magnolia blossoms. I love the unfolding of each day.
That beautiful, wonderful magnolia! I love it. I think of it as conversing with you. I love the lines, “playing its music/ for the clouds.” The clouds aren’t celebrated nearly as much as the sun, stars, sky. I love that there is song for the clouds.
Your photo is glorious, Margaret, and you are so attentive to the slight aural details of the waking. Looking forward to your terza rima, too!
I am at peace reading your post once again, Margaret. I started reading last night and fell asleep after a long ride from Virginia. Your photo and words paint a beautiful picture of seasonal change in the bayou-a beautiful sensory experience. Thank you for awakening my senses this morning.
Thanks for sharing this post, Margaret. At our new home, we have magnolias. I’m looking forward to spring. As I mentioned in the group, I love all of the sounds that you capture in this poem.
This poem took my breath away the first time I read it, and it’s even better the second time.
Appreciations for this walkabout in your bayou world Margaret. I feel refreshed.
I love how you start this with an invocation, and then blend together a medley of sounds in such a peaceful, restful way.
Beautiful! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com