Theme for August and Poetic Intro: “Branches”

Whenever I think of August I think of it in terms of the last summer month- the last days of hot sun with everything growing and flourishing all around. I also think of family reunions. If they haven’t happened yet during the usual break people take in summer, then they will this month. Lastly, but not really lastly in these thoughts towards this wide-catching theme, I think about swings and long hours of play outside in August.

So for our Almanac this month we decided on the theme of “branches”. The growth, the roots of family and influence, play… Here’s a poem that hails all that is August!

Branches

August is a family tree
a reunion
an examining of roots
and an amazement at just how high, tall and wide
these things
can grow

The deep heat of the summer is passing
and all that sun, all that water
has given way to life on the edge of harvest,
a marvel of stretching and greenery

and the summer pause gives room for aunts and uncles and cousins
it gives room for the rumination of root and where all this comes from
it gives room in that open, blue sky for 

branches

to stretch and angle themselves closer and closer

to the light