the writing and photography of Neil Kramer

The Trees Are Indian Princes

Bright yellow, red, and orange,
The leaves come down in hosts;
The trees are Indian princes,
But soon they’ll turn to ghosts.

— William Allingham (1824-1889), Irish poet

pam2.jpg

Green how I want you green.
Green wind. Green branches.

Federico García Lorca (1898-1936), Spanish poet, playwright

sweet2.jpg

nicole.jpg

dagny2.jpg

rhea2.jpg

her swung breasts
Sway like full-blown yellow
Gloire de Dijon roses.

D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930), British poet and author

documaven.jpg

tara2.jpg

joan2.jpg

caitlin2.jpg

the great orange bed where we lie
like two frozen paintings in a field of poppies.

Anne Sexton (1928-1974), American poet and writer

jessdylan3.jpg

jenny2.jpg

alison2.jpg

chantel2.jpg

sarah-green2.jpg

bluepoppy2.jpg

Swinging
clusters of red, the hedges are full of them,
red-currant red, a graceful
ornament or a merry smile.

Denise Levertov (b. 1923), Anglo-American poet

cynical2.jpg

elisabeth2.jpg

pearl2.jpg

marr2.jpg

Thanks for bringing a little Fall to Southern California.

The photographers are:

GREEN

Pam, Austria

Sweet, Washington D.C.

Boutros, Virginia

Dagny, Berkeley

Rhea, Boston

YELLOW

Dana, Connecticut

Tara, Iowa City

Joan, Winnipeg

Caitlin, New York

ORANGE

Jessica, St. Louis

Jenny, Chicago

Alison, Kentucky

Chantel, Portland

Sarah, Pennsylvania

Elizabeth, New Hampshire

RED

Cynical Girl, New York

Elisabeth, Pennsylvania

Pearl, Ottawa

Marianne, Massachusetts

61 Comments

  1. Jody

    Perfect timing. I have collected your leaves. I have to figure out the best way to protect them through the mail. I will keep you posted on when I drop them off to the USPS.

  2. Neil

    Thanks, Jody. I can’t wait to receive an actual Georgia leaf in the mail. Next up — getting someone to send me a snowball from up North.

  3. Scruffylooking

    Nice way to integrate the photos and the colors with poetry Thursday. Very well done.

  4. Miriam

    Great pictures. I wish we had Fall color in Austin, Texas, but we don’t. Not much anyway.

  5. Jules

    BRAVO! (Give me a few weeks and I’ll send you a snowball…)

  6. V-Grrrl

    A perfect way to wake up–nature and poetry.

    Now I’m homesick for fall in the Virginia mountains.

  7. Lynn

    Nice.

  8. Sarah

    i see you’ve got your fix of autumn leaves to make up for the lack of the season in LA!

  9. Fitena

    Lovely pictures. Love the poetry.

    Fitèna

  10. Catherine

    What a wonderful collection of lines and images – the last in each of the orange and red set particularly struck me

  11. susannah

    gorgeous pictures and poetry – love it… but i’m loving the fact that i’m your blog crush of the day more 😉

  12. kristen

    You give good Fall.

  13. Leah

    Thanks for brightening my morning Neil. It’s been rough over here in the move-in world and I needed some peace and poetry.

    *big hug sent your way in appreciation*

  14. Roberta

    Beautiful. I feel badly I was more willing to share my bed with you then my autumn.
    Breasts I would pony up; who knew you’d mention?

  15. Jessica

    Sorry there wasn’t more orange leaf in mine.

  16. scott

    This is what it looks like
    When leaves die

    – The Artist Never Known as Prince

    Lovely post.

    Hello, Neil.

  17. Rhea

    Beautiful images and poetry!

  18. fringes

    Loved the poems and the photos. Great post.

  19. Dagny

    Lovely photos but I’m in Berkeley.

  20. Neil

    Dagny — fixed. I know Berkeley-Oakland have a love/hate thing going on.

  21. Sweet

    Like how you did it by color!

  22. EEK

    What a lovely homage to fall! Note that it’s snowing HARD hear in Chicago today. I can’t believe it.

  23. AscenderRisesAbove

    wonderful photos; nice that you brought all the photographers together here…

  24. Alison

    Very nicely done!

  25. kapgar

    Damn. I forgot to send you some. Well, if you’re interested, check out my stuff on Flickr and steal away.

  26. ms. sizzle

    Wonderful pictures. Love Sexton.

  27. michelle

    Thank you for that Anne Sexton poem. I’ve never read her work before, but now I’ll start.

  28. melanie

    excellent images. inspirational.

    😉

  29. Hilly

    Oh so THAT is what fall looks like other places, wow! So beautiful =).

  30. DebR

    Wow, what a beautiful collection of photos! Looks like lots of areas are having a prettier autumn than we are in my little corner of the world.

    I love how you’ve arranged them with the quotes.

  31. pepektheassassin

    Beautiful! Gorgeous pictures and words! Thanks for these.

  32. Mist 1

    That was great. Fall has only just started here. Loved those colors.

  33. Blonde Vigilante

    This makes me want to take a drive throught the mountains of Virginia.

  34. Bre

    Beautiful! I thought of you this morning when I was driving to work and the buildings and houses gave way to mountains full of color. How lovely.

  35. Darci

    I love this entire post..being a Californian and all…but I really enjoyed the opening poem…the visual is perfect.

  36. Neil

    Don’t miss these beautiful photos from the late-as-usual Akaky and Kapgar.

    Akaky — New York

    Kapgar — Chicago

  37. akaky

    I am never late; I am merely not in chronological synchronization with the rest of the planet. Late, indeed! The very idea is preposterous!

  38. C. Delia

    This post was beautiful…the images framed with those words! Even better, when I look outside, I am seeing these colors right now. (Once, I bathed in a bathroom with windows hand-painted by D.H. Lawrence, so I claim some of that yellow for myself…)

  39. chantel

    Very nice Neil.
    Lovely – you know how I feel about poetry these days.

  40. better safe than sorry

    darn it, i finally have my camera working again and i’ve missed a chance at sharing fall in mississauga. our fall is just really starting but there is already talk of snow happening in the very near future (this weekend, gah!)
    i’m loving poetry thursday, this is the second seasonal one i’ve been to today.

  41. Scarlet

    OMG I LOVE FALL!!!!!!

  42. Jennifer

    Just beautiful. The spirit of fall has filled me full, and I’m loving every second of it.

  43. brooke

    Beautiful. Thank you for posting that. And thank you to all your blogger friends who sent the pictures.

    Next year I will have Fall!!

  44. madd

    Thank you so much Neil, you gave me a wonderful taste of fall..It is the only thing I miss about living up in New England, and you are right, in certain areas it is very big news right about now…thanks..m

  45. SB

    Very nice photo essay — great selections. Have you discovered tabblo?

    I think this would make a great tabblo.

  46. twitches

    COOL post! Thanks for sharing it! Very creative and refreshing.

  47. wendy

    Poetry becomes you…Speak more Sexton too me. She would approve..

  48. Pearl

    Truly a beautiful photo composition.

    I found the perfect orange leaf yesterday but it has to dry out from the rain before I do anything with it. My dilemma: do I share it with my nine-year-old Adina, or do I send it to Neilochka?

  49. Pearl

    Neil, this is truly a beautiful photo essay. I think you ought to do a seasonal one…asking readers from across the country and world for their winter, spring, summer and fall pics. (you might just get to check out some fellow bloggers as snow bunnies in winter and in bikinis in summer!)

  50. Elisabeth

    This was fantabulous, Neil. I loved the way your organized the photo and interspersed them with poetry. Fall is truly a beautiful season, and you made me appreciate this more acutely today than ever.

  51. Postmodern Sass

    Thank you, Neil. I’m getting all verklempt. Tawk amongst yourselves. Here, I’ll give you a topic: Autumn in California is like every other season in California. Discuss.

  52. Jakob

    About the García Lorca poem: green in spanish is also horny so that makes the poem a little more “sexy” (he was gay by the way, don’t know if that is common knowledge…).

  53. nyr

    Love Lorca, enjoy this…Autumn in central park, you know how good that is, Neil.

  54. ally

    yay…you’ve brought fall to southern california! now, if you bring snow this winter, you’d be my new hero!

  55. Deborah

    Absolutely wonderful photos and poetry selections … brilliant.

  56. Crafty Green Poet

    Stunning collection of photos of fall colours. Here in Edinburgh most trees are still green its really weird.

  57. Alissa

    Great photos!

  58. Elizabeth

    really wonderful, Neil– just lovely.

  59. TwilightSpider

    Just gorgeous. Thank you for sharing the pics and the poems. Now I’m homesick!

  60. peefer

    Thanks for the eye candy. Lovely.

  61. Joan

    Oh my God,I saw my neighbours tree!
    Nice collection Neil. I hope you have had your fill of fall…say that fast 30 times!

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