Persephone, Poetry, and the Advent of Autumn

While autumn doesn’t technically begin until the equinox, which happens to be September 22^nd, the end of August has always seemed to me like the end of summer. When I was still in elementary school, classes began right after Labor Day, so the final week of August was the last of being able to sleep in, spend the day at the swimming pool or running barefoot through the grass, and catching fireflies after the sun went down. We all knew that once school started, it wouldn’t be long before fall announced its presence with the turning of leaves, crisp mornings, and the smell of wood-burning fireplaces.

Sedona, Arizona (Autumn 2015)

If you’re familiar with Greek mythology, then you may remember that Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, created autumn. She was so distressed that Hades, the god of death and the underworld, had abducted her daughter Persephone to be Queen of the Underworld, that she killed all the crops on Earth and refused to allow them to grow until Persephone was returned. Ev…