Finally the ginkgoes

I wait for this every year. In college we had a ginkgo tree on the front lawn. It was the first time I noticed it lost all its leaves at once. I watch for ginkgoes every year, hoping to catch the "let loose" day. Most times I don't, but still, most times it's enough to walk out the door and find the ground fully covered in gold.

With the giving up

Comes the taking on.

The ginkgo outside the church

Finally let loose.

The ground is a sea of gold,

No matter the snow.

It is too late to rake.

The gold will remain

Under the snow

‘til spring.

It is the way

Of gingkoes

For those who see

Such things

And even for those

Who pay little attention,

It is still the way

Of gingkoes.

With the giving up

Comes the taking on

The watching for such things

As gingkoes loosing all their leaves

At once.

What I saw and heard yesterday

Some days there is so much to remember, so much to be appreciated.  If I had known it was ginkgo day, I would made a ginkgo tour.  The alphabet en espanol brought back memories of junior high. Then there was the orange peel angel.  I will have to figure out where she will live in my office.

The ginkgo did

Its all-at-once shimmy of gold. 

The sea of yellow fans dropped,

Always

A one-day pleasure.

Inside

The Spanish class

Learned the alphabet

Twenty minutes at least

Of ABC

All the way to end

Over and over.

I saw.

I heard.

In between

I was gifted with clients

Words and presence and even

An angel

Made of orange peel.

Sign of the ginkgo

When I was a senior in college, years ago, there was a ginkgo tree in front of the house, right outside my bedroom window.  That fall I watched all the yellow leaves drop from the tree in one day.  I understand this is the way of ginkgoes everywhere.  It has become a true sign of fall for me.  I love watching my neighbor*s ginkgo every year.

The yellow leaves are bright against the gray

And wet.

The burning bushes have begun

To burn

In orange and red.

The clematis still offers

Purple hope.

It has been hoping

Since May.

It finally looks like fall.

It came almost overnight.

The ginkgo two doors down

Dropped its leaves

In a two day shower.

We always wait

For the sign of the ginkgo

To name the season.

It is now official.

Fall. 

Autumn.

No snow yet.

Not yet.

The woolly bear caterpillars

Promise a mild winter despite

All the alternative promises

Of snow

Up to our eyeballs

And more.