Week Six Madrona Park

The progression of fall has become very apparent in the park, bigleaf maple leaves cover the ground and the canopy is thin and orange. The sounds of birds are louder and less muffled than before, and a thin layer of moisture seems to cover everything. The most obvious change in the area is a fallen tree, now blocking the path just below my spot. It's leafless body lies rigidly on the gravel path seemingly pointing in every direction.

The fallen tree obstructing the way.

The view from my spot has become more barren and washed out in color in contrast to week one, though it still retains most of it's greenery. 

Most of the green in Madrona park now comes from the ferns, which have retained the darkest shade of green as opposed to the beaked hazelnut and black cottonwood trees which have become yellow and brown. 

Leaves cover the ground and provide a nice hiding place for invertebrates now. These leaves that have fallen have made the canopy much more open and allow more light to come into the woods. Unfortunately this makes the park lose it's fantasy appeal of a lush hiding spot for fairies and sparrows, but nonetheless it still remains attractive and comforting. 

The carpet of fallen leaves

The open canopy of browning bigleaf maple trees

Part of the assignment this week is to describe parts of nature as if we were someone who had no conception of what they were observing. I'm going to try my best to write poetically.

"The behemoth lurches before me, cackling as it bends to meet me. The beast bears no witness to me yet it is aware of my presence, and sends me a gift. A small chevron spirals from the monster's tangled mass of feelers towards me. The giant that stands before my eyes has thick wrinkled skin, only grown thicker and stronger through time. I look back to the chevron in my hand to find that it is itself a creature, covered in veins, similar to the wrinkles on the great beast. I feel a great difference in age between us, and begin to understand that I am not the only one bearing witness to the other."

"Reflective and pitch black, the collection of animate sharpened obsidian cocks it's head, before plunging it's blade into the earth. The pointy creature extends it's sharp appendages outward and swoops into the air, gently carrying it's weight. As it lands again it releases a shriek of anger and resumes stabbing the ground. The animal appears perpetually wet, glimmering faintly and arching it's body with every step."

"Thin ridged friends here

pale and white together

here in a place to get by"

It's been forever since I've written a haiku, and I thought that it might be kind of hard to get without a picture. The poem is about these mushrooms: