Poetry on Thursday

The poem I'm sharing today is one whose original title appealed to me, especially as we enter into the season of changing leaves and sequined trees.

Poem Beginning with a Line from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Maggie Smith

Just look—nothing but sincerity

as far as the eye can see—

the way the changed leaves,

flapping their yellow underbellies
in the wind, glitter. The tree
looks sequined wherever

the sun touches. Does anyone
not see it? Driving by a field
of spray-painted sheep, I think

the world is not all changed.
The air still ruffles wool
the way a mother’s hand

busies itself lovingly in the hair
of her small boy. The sun
lifts itself up, grows heavy

treading there, then lets itself
off the hook. Just look at it
leaving—the sky a tigereye

banded five kinds of gold
and bronze—and the sequin tree
shaking its spangles like a girl

on the high school drill team,
nothing but sincerity. It glitters
whether we’re looking or not.

This poem originally appeared in The Southern Review, Summer 2018
You can read more about the poet here. 

I wish you mindfulness, peace, sequin trees, the ability to notice the glitter, and some poetry as this week winds down.