THE LEAF
The other day we had quite a blow here. Wind gusts up to 50 mph.I was amusing myself (it doesn't take much) watching the leaves roll down the street like drunken marchers. Some were scooting, some were tumbling, and others stopped to rest a while. I noticed a large leaf joining the crowd which caught my attention. The leaf falls in front of me and I got up and looked at it. The large brown cottonwood leaf and how did I know it was a cottonwood. In my 48 years in Arizona deserts and mountains I've tramped all over the state I know the vegetation very well. I began to wonder about the cottonwood leaf for the closest Cottonwood trees around here is the Verde river about 30 miles away. My friend, the cottonwood leaf how did you get here? Did the wind lifted in the sky and give you a free ride and he landed in my neighborhood?

After we finished our conversation, the leaf tumble down the street. I wondered what would be the demise of a leaf? A positive outcome would be for the leaf to land in the flower bed to integrate with the soil and end his life as a nourishment to flowers.Or on the dark side, to be swept up by street sweeper and end up in the city dump?Well, you've had some insight to my life, just a simple life sitting on the front porch.

the leaf tumble down

skittering about the road

pausing for a view

HAIKU/GL/O7

e-mail poet.common@yahoo.com