State of the Season

Betsy Joseph

September 15, 2024

Mid-August in Texas

exhibits all the fanfare of prime insect season:

cicadas in chorus are at the peak of summer recitals,

circles of mosquitos dive madly in dizzying heat,

gentle honey bees hum ecstatically

in their forays around our corner fountain.

To each her own.

I take outdoor pleasure from this season

in early mornings and later evenings

when dawn is cresting and the moon is first appearing

and most insects are hidden and silent.

We are all accorded our times of preference

in the cycle of time.

Betsy Joseph lives in Dallas and has poems that have appeared in several journals and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry books published by Lamar University Literary Press: Only So Many Autumns (2019) and most recently, Relatively Speaking (2022), a collaborative collection with her brother, poet Chip Dameron. In addition, she and her husband, photographer Bruce Jordan, have produced two books, Benches and Lighthouses, which pair her haiku with his black and white photography.