Season of Reversals
Deborah Barchi

August 1 st , 8 P.M.
and already the light is dim.
In the distance a dog barks,
enarmored of his echo,
tail wagging,
sending a mixed message
like the pale moths that press
against the kitchen window,
more from memory than madness.
Crickets drone a military tune
while their raw cousins, the katydids
cackle with complaints.
Why do the white petunias
tumbling from their pots on sticky vines
stare with their milky eyes?
From seed they must have known
that August brings the season of reversals.



Author's Note

A native Rhode Islander, Deborah Barchi was born in Providence but now lives in a small grey house at the edge of the woods in Scituate. She has worked as a librarian in college, school, and public libraries and is currently the director of the Barrington Public Library. Although she has published book reviews and non-fiction in the past, she has only been writing poetry for the past two years. She was inspired to start writing poetry via a sonnet writing workshop led by Barbara Schweitzer and has gone on to write both sonnets and free form poetry. Nearly all of her poems make some reference to nature, since nature study, along with reading and walking are her passions.