Green
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A turning leaf stays partly green at first, then reveals splotches of yellow and red as the chlorophyll gradually breaks down. Dark green seems to stay longest in the veins, outlining and defining them. During the summer, chlorophyll dissolves in the heat and light, but it is also being steadily replaced. In the fall, on the other hand, no new pigment is produced, and so we notice the other colors that were always there, right in the leaf, although chlorophyll’s shocking green hid them from view. With their camouflage gone, we see these colors for the first time all year, and marvel, but they were always there, hidden like a vivid secret beneath the hot glowing greens of summer.
—Diane Ackerman
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Poem: Green Pear Tree in September
Poem: Green Tomatoes in Fire Season
Poem: Green pincushion proteas
Poem: Vendor of Green Coconuts
Poem: It’s Not Easy Being Green
Poem: Green Sees Things in Waves
Poem: The Grass so little has to do
Poem: Just Lying in the Grass at Blackwater
Poem: How The Grass and The Flowers Came to Exist, a God-Tale
Poem: After Reading Lucretius, I Go to the Pond
Poem: The Poet with His Face in His Hands
Poem: Am I Not Among The Early Risers
Poem: The Buddha's Last Instruction
Poem: The Sandhill Cranes of Nebraska
Poem: Brightly Colored Boats Upturned on the Banks of the Charles
Poem: In the Basement of the Goodwill Store
Poem: Locust Trees in Late May
Poem: [i thank you god for most this amazing]