POEM: Fall chores

Oct. 7, 2026

By Sue Shaw

A dead sunflower. Photo by Maizy Weirich

The gardens are being put to bed

Out behind the small tool shed. 

Shrubs are pruned — each bush cut back.

Of chores in fall, there is no lack!

There are leaves to rake and fields to mow.  

All things, it seems have ceased to grow.

The harvest's done.  There's just a few 

Summer squash left—one or two. 

Some late tomatoes, here or there—

All missed by frost that seemed to spare

Some things in small protected spots.

And there, in larger garden plots

Some winter squash and pumpkins show, 

Orange and green in a random row...

Their vines died back...a sign of fall

That seems to have settled overall.

A sign that the summer's a step behind 

And tho winter's still ahead, you'll find 

We're firmly in autumn—we've moved ahead

And the gardens have all been put to bed.

- Shaw is a poet who lives in Penobscot.

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