The Death of Leaves
Jessica KantrowitzYou are not the leaves
which blaze with color every fall, then fall
ground into the ground.Their death is not your death.
No, you are the tree, which moves its energy
down in autumn, to the roots, in ample store.
Bare branches best prepared
for winter cold and winter winds.That’s not to say the loss of leaves is not a loss.
The grief of losing all your color, your connection to the sun
is real grief. The stripping is a real stripping.But as every fall speaks of coming spring
and every winter holds its end in its beginning
your own sap will rise again in longer light
nourishing every small branch
and you, tree, human, living creature
will grow green life again.(from Blessings for the Long Night)
Happy autumn, friends! This is my favorite season, and always feels like the beginning of the year to me, much more so than January. Maybe it’s from being a student for more than half of my life, but in the fall my mind feels at its most creative, and the world seems filled with excitement and potential. Most of my books begin in autumn. 365 Days of Peace begins on November 1st, unlike most books of its kind which begin on January 1st. I started writing the entries on Twitter in the fall of 2019, and self-published the book in the fall of 2020, and it seemed to make sense to keep that flow. Blessings for the Long Night begins in autumn, as well, using the seasons of fall, winter, and summer to reflect the journey into, through, and out of depression. Blessings’ predecessor, The Long Night, begins more subtly in autumn, with an invocation written after I took a walk in the Arnold Arboretum on a fall evening at dusk.
This autumn I’m recentering and regrouping after a summer of transitions, picking my pen back up to work on a book I started a couple of years ago, as I set up my books on new bookshelves in a new home. I’ve always loved the idea of setting an intention, for a yoga practice, but also for anything I do —any new undertaking or simply each new day. So I’m setting my intention, but also letting myself be open to the flow of creative energy this season always brings. Maybe I’ll be blown off course, onto some new, marvelous shore.
What about you? What’s new for you this fall? Any creative endeavors?
With love and hope,
Jessica
Autumn is my favorite time of year as well. For me, it’s a time of contemplation and reflection. I see my beginning of the year as the spring equinox (it’s the new year beginning of my annual journal), so for me autumn is that winding down of the year before entering into the cold and desolation of winter. Autumn also is when my creative juices tend to flow more freely. Perhaps it’s the slowing down, the intentional peeling away of distraction and chaos, the resting and entering into quiet spaces. I write more poetry in these months, and I feel like any other writing I lay down has more clarity and depth. I am certain my intentionality around reflectiveness contributes to this time of creative expression.