Welcome to Poetry Party No. 47!
I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add your responses in the comments section. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one) and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post)
Please post your poem in the comments section below (feel free to include a link to your blog – it would be wonderful to have all of the full text of all the poems gathered together below).
Poetry Party Theme: Autumn Blessings
Autumn is my favorite season (followed closely by winter). I love the air getting crisper, I love the harvest of fall squashes, I love the transformation of the landscape into a witness to the beauty that can be found in surrender. Seven years ago my mother died suddenly in the month of October and my long walks among the autumn leaves offered me tremendous comfort in the depths of my grief. The seasons offer us great wisdom when we listen to their invitations and questions.
I invite you to write a poem about the gifts, graces, invitations, questions, and challenges of autumn. Let your words be a celebration and exploration.
81 Responses
Amazing, amazing, amazing, my heart explodes with joy and awe at reading each of these treasures. Thanks for creating a virtual poetry community here at the Abbey, I am blessed by each contribution.
Bonfire phil sneve
An old homestead in decay
Bits and pieces of past days,
In the back yard thick with weeds
An old place for youthful deeds,
Rust upon flakey rust
The label shows Germans past,
Do old steel beer cans
Remember the bonfires?
The smell of burning leaves,
Grass and twigs and girls?
Voices shrill with the notion
Of encounters with these innocents:
Should we smoke? No not now.
Are you sure? Are you sure?
Winking sparks climb in night sky,
Old souls released heavenward.
The Stars Shine by Phil Sneve
The stars shine over your pale head
And the sea rushes up like sheets
For your bed, the flame of summer
Burns sweet as I, in bare feet,
Set a foot on autumn’s cool,
And I promise you I will go to bed
If I am meant to age no more
Let me go when the trees burn red.
I love your work and being part of your thoughts on Autumn, my favourite season. This poem is about the sounds here in Australia at this beautiful season but of course we are experiencing the champagne nose tickling heady perfume of spring as you enjoy the crunch of autumn .
autumn
a time to listen
rustic tones of the wind
the leaf brush on the air
wake of the bird on wing
the cricket croke and buzz of fly
plonk and rippit of frogs
the busy under world
with cracks and groans
of beetles and ants
sunning skinks and lizards
in their leaf litter rush of hide and seek
kerplop of berries falling
drift of the vesper leaves
as they come to rest with only a hush.
this seasonal paradigm
no warning and no fuss
except it is its time.
colleen keating
For Rick
My year begins again in autumn:
Remembering your passing through the veil
Just as the leaves that once hid the branches
fall in glorious, colorful abandon
making way for new growth
imperceptible, starting now
Amazing contributions! Thank you once again Christine for the invitation. Here’s mine:
DIGITAL ODES TO AUTUMN
He smiles to see them,
like the bards of old,
penning poems in 140,
cropping photos of colour,
posting updates of light change,
crafting blog posts of falling,
typing haikus of wonder,
sharing mysteries in poem fests,
painting web words of autumn,
claiming hashtags of
#mist
and #mellowfruitfulness
yes, it makes him smile,
to see them,
like the bards of old,
declaring love lines of the season,
quite unable to resist.
The Path Out
Scent of oak leaves crunch under foot.
A gentle breeze brings down the last–
Softly rustling through mostly bare branches.
The path, so enclosed by summer’s growth
now offers vista of woods, sloping hillside
down to barely moving creek,
where one leaf’s landing creates
expanding pattern of concentric ripples.
Once hidden panorama of hill and valley
Now extends to open sky beyond.
Drink in the view, but step carefully.
Rock and root underfoot lie
Menacingly hidden beneath
This crunching scent of leaves.
Ruffles
Yes!
The time is here
To feel the breeze
Of crystal air secrets
Crinkled on the forest floor
Scattered fallen leaves
Reminding me
Of summer soon gone by
My heart grows amber
With the warming tones
Of green gone gold
In autumn’s ruffles
Autumn Rain
A secret breeze blows
in the dark
allowing plump droplets
to perform
high-diving back-flips
from leaf to leaf
freed in fall
by the whispering
invitation to leap
Autumn Calls
Gently letting go
as cool winds blow,
rocking in the wind
as gravity lulls,
piling on each other,
leaves say ‘Goodnight’
in autumn
as their gifts of beauty and life
pass from present to past
having been born in our sight
having shaded us from trouble
and having flashed wonder before our eyes.
Good night leaves!
Sleep well.
Autumn calls.
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