Withering Heights | Monday Nov 24, 2008

Late February

by Ted Kooser

The first warm day,

and by mid-afternoon

the snow is no more

than a washing

strewn over the yards,

the bedding rolled in knots

and leaking water,

the white shirts lying

under the evergreens.

Through the heaviest drifts

rise autumn’s fallen

bicycles, small carnivals

of paint and chrome,

the Octopus

and Tilt-A-Whirl

beginning to turn

in the sun. Now children,

stiffened by winter

and dressed, somehow,

like old men, mutter

and bend to the work

of building dams.

But such a spring is brief;

by five o’clock

the chill of sundown,

darkness, the blue TVs

flashing like storms

in the picture windows,

the yards gone gray,

the wet dogs barking

at nothing. Far off

across the cornfields

staked for streets and sewers,

the body of a farmer

missing since fall

will show up

in his garden tomorrow,

as unexpected

as a tulip.

Tags: b&w black_and decay ebeys_landing eddie_mchugh entropy farmhouse fine_art_photography island_washington_state_usa pacific_northwest rural scenic whidbey white

Galleries: Landscapes

Camera Make: Panasonic
Camera Model: DMC-FZ30
Aperture: F5.6
Exposure Time: 1/200 sec
Focal Length: 26.1 mm
ISO: 80
Exposure Bias: 0
Shooting Mode: Normal program
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment

Comments:

Quite eerie...

Posted by Tamera on November 24, 2008 at 10:54 AM PST #

The interesting point of the sight and nice B & W. I would like to In the house on the hill to stay a the bit...:)

Posted by beanow on November 24, 2008 at 01:51 PM PST #

Now you had to know I'd love this one.... Very nice shot!

Posted by Michelle (Artscapes) on November 24, 2008 at 05:10 PM PST #

love the title nice play on words, love the perspective here, not sure why but when looking at this I suddenly expect someone to pop out over the top of the hill and scare the heck out of me LOL

Posted by JJ on November 24, 2008 at 07:46 PM PST #

The mistery of this old house is guaranteed to have kept it behind the high grass

Posted by Oeilonirique on November 24, 2008 at 10:45 PM PST #

lol at JJ! :p

a mysterious image. love the title too. :)

Posted by claire on November 24, 2008 at 10:46 PM PST #

hum! that house his going to be eaten by those plants, too bad.

Posted by pedro alexandre on November 25, 2008 at 03:41 PM PST #