I descend from a line of gatherers
little surprise then
to find myself shortly after dawn
with a basket on my arm
head down line of sight on the lawn
seeking among the grass the fallen leaves
of the walnut trees
for the nuts which have begun to fall
ripe ready from heaviness
from the signals of summer’s wane
as I find them basket them
I am reminded of trips to the chicken coop
when I was four or so with my mother
and the slipping of eggs from beneath
the warm underbellies of red hens
I am reminded of fall visits from my grandmother
for whom I am namesake
seeking mushrooms in the Ohio woods
putting them in this very same basket
the seeking posture also the same
in both cases a race against
the other gatherers
in the walnut case squirrels
in the mushroom case snails and bugs
these black walnuts the toughest nuts to crack
lime size and lime green
(this a year for large ones)
the husks already blackened softening on some
the precurssor event to shedding the husks
which in this signaling of readiness
stains the fingers of the collector
occasional skyward glances
to detect which trees are nut bearing this year
then to ground again
the eye develops a talent for perceiving
a seeing through the camouflage
rendering the fallen nuts near invisible at first
already I am thinking ahead
to how I will protect them from my competing collectors
squirrels and raccoons
while they complete outside
the shedding of husks that I might then
begin the arduous task of cracking them open
for the second harvest getting to the meat of the matter
above me sky sailing the wind pushed clouds
the heave and roil of tree tops
dew and last night’s rain and leaves loosed and dropping
about me on me
there is music here
the sounds of all these fallings
the percussive efforts of several woodpeckers
distant crow conversations
scream of hawk
songs of unseen birds whose names-by-song
I do not yet know
the occasional road rumble-bys of milk tankers
pickup trucks caboosed with corn harvesters hay balers
other gatherers out in the early day intent upon collections
of their own
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