Here and Now

As we hurtle into deep fall with Thanksgiving rapidly approaching and a mix of crystalline blue-sky days and long days of rain, I’ve compiled a seasonal word list for fall in Indiana. I’m sure I’ve left many good words or phrases out. Perhaps you have a few favorites of your own.

Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons. The return of cool weather always energizes me; the temporality of autumn’s beauty: its dazzling leaves, intense blue sky, luminous sunlight, and geese v-ing south always remind me how fleeting the best things in life are, barely grasped, barely noticed, barely meditated upon, when suddenly puff -- like a pile of atomized leaves— they’re gone!

Here’s my quick, jotted list.

Indiana Fall Season Words

pumpkin / persimmon/ squash / apples / nuts / Halloween / leaf crunch / piles of leaves/ wind / rain / first frost / first freeze/ harvest moon / coats / gloves / hats / bushy tailed squirrels/ acorns/ maple leaves / red leaves /gold / aurora / mums / chrysanthemums / cranberries / Thanksgiving / time change / early darkness / dark mornings / smoke / bonfires / Orion / bright stars / aurora borealis / grey days / clouds /overcast / morning chill / blustery / trails / woods/bales / hay / rake / football /plowed-over fields /geese flying / crows

Finally, here’s a quote from Tom Clausen’s article “A Haiku Way of Life,” “Haiku for me is the perfect record of my simply existing here and now. Each haiku, in a way, can be thought of as a farewell poem - an acceptance of the transitory nature of everything.”