as the hayride pulled away taking pumpkin-laden families back down muddy tracks a heavy silence settled over the patch and the uncounted sheep in the distance blurred in my fields of vision… sticky squash blossoms unfurled their reptilian petals to the brisk afternoon sun and i sunk like so many a heavy gourd down into the the soft mud & twisted vine and tapped into an earthy network whispering autumnal thoughts into my ears, hinting at nature’s ancient secrets, beckoning me deeper still…
and i might have stayed to spoil in the sun and decompose back into plowed, primordial muck if the tractor hadn’t rumbled its way back into my consciousness dumping throngs of rowdy pumpkin hunters searching for their own rewards…









































