<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-ZW link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>For your enjoyment. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>“Graceful Choreography”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>The first announcements of shifting seasons<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>begin to materialize early on August mornings<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Under-stated changes happened slowly <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>when the purple Pokeweed hangs in long clusters<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>beneath hearty leaves along the well-worn pathway. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Grasses in the meadow display delicate daisy clusters<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>urgently beckon me to pay attention today <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Tread lightly through the grass. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'> I cast my attention towards the Queen of Summer <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Standing in the meadow, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>I remain motionless, wide-eyed, surrounded<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>as the celadon-green stems<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>display the Queen Ann’s Lace in full bloom.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>These graceful ballet dancers hover<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>on the warm August breeze. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Orchestrations in rural fields and along roadsides<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>They each remember to arrive at this time every year<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Nothing can prevent the shifting waves of change<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>I’ll wait patiently for the blue Chicory to join the dance <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>In her wisdom, Nature placed them together on a stage<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>floral dancers on a late-summer stage.</span> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Graceful choreography. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Give them a standing ovation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>-<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>By Lynda McKinney lambert<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Note: this poem, originally written in 1991,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Was first published in a chapbook under the title, “August Mornings” in 2002.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>I chose this poem for the opening poem of Part 4 (For Seasons, Days, and Years) in my new book, <i>Star Signs: New and Selected Poems,</i> 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>This poem was published in <i>The Weekly Avocet,</i> August 25, 2019. Issue #351.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>-<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Lynda’s Authors Page- Amazon:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/author/lyndalambert">https://www.amazon.com/author/lyndalambert</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Lynda’s Official Authors Page: <a href="http://www.dldbooks.com/lyndalambert/">http://www.dldbooks.com/lyndalambert/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>Smashwords – get my e-book: <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lyndalambert">https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lyndalambert</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:red;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'>My Blogs:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><a href="http://www.lyndalambert.com/"><span style='color:#0563C1'>Website & Blog</span></a>: Lynda McKinney Lambert – Official Author’s Website<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-ZW'><a href="http://www.llambert363.blog/"><span style='color:#0563C1'>Scan-A-Blog</span></a> – A quiet Place of Inspiration, Art, Nature, Literature<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>