Light in August is too playful
To sit, dust-crusted, on a shelf.

Balmy, pink glaze between trees, not
The holy darkness Faulkner saw.

Longish shadows portend autumn,
But clenched humidity lingers.

It adds up to the need to go
Walking through the field before work.

Musky August light hits snakeroot,
Joe-pye, and rabbit tobacco.
Chickadees wheeze, partridge-peas tease
Bees, goldenrod, and ironweed.
Deer rise, turkeys take affront at
Tangled steps through dewy grasses
When that same soft light casts my frame
Walking through the field before work.

Image: Walking through the field before work, Chattanooga, Tenn., August 2018.