September: John Updike's Take

As is my tradition here at Maine-ly Home (I love how I just create traditions and act like they are official.), I begin each new month with one of John Updike's "month" poems. If you haven't gotten a copy, yet, I highly recommend A Child's Calendar - a beautifully illustrated book (by New Hampshire artist Trina Schart Hyman) which includes a monthly poem by Updike.

September

The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel--

Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Drying grass,
New books and blackboard
Chalk in class.

The bee, his hive
Well-honeyed, hums
While Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.

Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.