i’ve walked by these leaves for about a week now. they are scattered beneath a white poplar on one of my favorite november walking trails. i only noticed them because i was investigating some off-trail crabapples on an adjacent tree, and then suddenly these leaves were everywhere at my feet, and the back sides of the leaves, which are white with a sort of flocking in the summer, were absorbing the blue of the sky, in the places where the leaves hadn’t already turned brown with age. and the brown and baby blue combination was perfect, and i have tried and tried tonight to recapture that color combination for you in my living room and on my computer, and i’m so sorry that i have failed because it was something you all would have loved.

white poplar leaves in november

grass lake, saint paul, minnesota