Autumn: Theme and Variations - poems

THEME AND VARIATIONS

Theme
A TRAVELER'S MEDITATION
(Amphion pattern)

God's handiwork is all around:
        Bright red leaves,
        Wheat in sheaves,
Fertile farms where flock abound;
        Shaded cows
       chew and drowse;
Mountains' multi-colored dress;
        Thunderclouds
        draped in shrouds:
God's bounteous works are limitless.

Variation 1

        HIGHWAY 23 IN AUTUMN
                Neville pattern

God's handiwork is all around:
 in scarlet, yellow leaves
and golden wheat in sheaves.
Sun-burnished pasturelands abound;
leafy groves shading cows
that switch and chew and drowse.
God's goodness--in all life--profound.

Variation 2

        SAME TIME EACH YEAR
                Neville

The autumn beauty's everywhere--

magenta, scarlet leaves,
bronzed stands of wheat in sheaves;
sun-burnished pastures, fragrant air;
umbrellaed groves whose boughs
shade drowsy brindle cows--
creation's annual fall affair.

Variation 3

AUTUMN SONG (a Pantoum)

God's handiwork is all around,

Magenta, scarlet, yellow leaves;

sun-burnished pasturelands abound,

cut, ripened wheat stands bronzed in sheaves.

Magenta, scarlet, yellow leaves,

umbrella groves of sassafras,

cut, ripened wheat stands bronzed in sheaves--

a visual banquet unsurpassed.

Umbrella groves of sassafras,

a camouflage for brindle cows,

(a visual banquet unsurpassed)

which nonchalantly chew and drowse.

Like Garland's fresh-shaved stubble, gold,

sun-burnished pasturelands abound,

and I sing with the oriole,

"God's handiwork is all around."

Variation 4

AN AUTUMN MINUTE

Minute pattern

The autumn beauty's everywhere--

in fragrant air,

magenta leaves,

bronzed wheat in sheaves.

Sun-burnished pastures stubbled gold,

lone oriole,

umbrellaed groves

--bovine alcoves--

a visual banquet unsurpassed,

a rich repast.

All senses share

fall's love affair.

--poems from my book, Variations, 1994

c 2020, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Blogging: Poems about nature's animal and bird beings

 Blackcap

the only one

to visit the feeder

while I'm sitting near by social

distanced.

~ ~ ~ ~

OH, NO YOU DON'T!

The long-

unseen chipmunk

accesses the steep steps

of the south porch. From the swing, I

dissuade.

~ ~ ~ ~

A squirrel

heads this way till

I call "nyah!" It turns back

and disappears, waiting till I

go in.

~ ~ ~ ~

When I

notice a bird

bathing, I smile. Living

with respect and care for nature's

beauties.

~ ~ ~ ~

a crow

carrying off

the thrown-out corncob

~ ~ ~ ~

WATCHING? WAITING?

Not quite

back in the house

from filling the feeder

when I see a gray chickadee

fly in.

~ ~ ~ ~

SLEEPY?

A long

time between sips--

What does the robin think,

see, wonder about, cogitate

over?

~ ~ ~ ~

Ah! Pool

all to myself.

Though it's cooler today

than it has been, it's okay, says

blackcap.

~ ~ ~ ~

c 2020, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Already September? Where has this year gone? POEMS

Son's hanging pot of summer plants

IN COMES SEPTEMBER

Quiet--
inside and out,
cloudy, rainy, humid.
Early September; seasonal
changes.

Quiet
disturbed by sounds
of rain on gardenia
leaves outside the open window:
darkness.
~ ~ ~

opening
before my eyes--
pot of purslane
~ ~ ~

More of son's gardening results

A BATTLE

The fly

and I fighting:

it has speed & I have

a plastic, floppy flyswatter.

Fly wins.

~ ~ ~

Cooler

outside than in

this fifth of September,

even in the sun on the swing.

Quiet.

~ ~ ~

c 2020, PL, dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

NOTE: A September Cinquain monthly booklet is now available. If you want one, IM your mailing address.

Poems: Untitled Cinquains for August

Shadows of Summer

At dusk,

a firefly joins

me on the porch as I

cool off from yardwork. Is it a 

"Peace!" sign?

~ ~ ~

A squirrel

chirrs forlornly--

its nesting tree was trimmed

and its life-long homeplace was hauled

away.

~ ~ ~ 

Branches

of the "shoe tree"

cut back to lose burden

now that the roadside has a new

owner.

~ ~ ~ 

Foliage

shades the rocky

roads to the riverbank.

A cold spring feeds the swimming hole:

childhood.

~ ~ ~

Impressed

or chagrined that

I gave the right answer

to a riddle the collegian

offered?

~ ~ ~

Grandpa

shows his grandson

an old-timey shoe horn.

"Can you play me something on it,

Grandpa?"

Slight breeze--

slight tinkles from

wind chimes this cool morning

in early August. Has summer

broken?

c 2020, PL, dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

poems - after a long time away - blogging

Pears almost ready

park walking trail

solitude--except for

the butterflies

--PL, from connecting our houses, 1995

~ ~ ~ ~

leaving row of holes

where it paws out earthworms

a small raccoon

--Dion O'Donnel, another day, 2001

~ ~ ~ ~

warm afternoon--

even maple leaves seem

too tired to move

--Edward J. Rielly, Maine,

from Timepieces, 1995

~ ~ ~ ~

drenching rain

lightning playing where the clouds

touch the earth

--Dion O'Donnel, everyday living, 1997

~ ~ ~ ~

By dusty roadside . . . 

  a tiny brook tugging hard

     at wild watercress

--Gertrude Morris, NYC,

from Timepieces, 1997

~ ~ ~ ~

on building's facade

the wind-tousled palms appear

almost debonair

--Dion O'Donnel, from daily walk, 1999

~ ~ ~ ~

"on the groom's side, please"

a woman veiled and in black

attends our wedding

--PL, from So Hot For So Long, 2012

~ ~ ~ ~

coreopsis blooms

lofty pedestrian bridge

slowly taking shape

--PL, from the taste of summer, 2005

juvy cardinal

'chits' and forages for seeds

thrown in the driveway

PL, unpublished 

~ ~ ~ ~

from deep down inside

the bee putting on pollen

from the pink flower

--PL, unpublished

~ ~ ~ ~

All of these poems are dated July 24.

c 2020, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

June poems from different years

down-the-hill neighbor
when I returned from errands
he had mowed my yard
          2005-Couch Street, Benton
~ ~ ~ ~

picking up the pace
airplane and thunder above
the trail in late June
         2001- Arkadelphia
~ ~ ~ ~

Group Living clients
out for daily exercise
on the walking trail
          2001-Arkadelphia
~ ~ ~ ~

teenager gloating
"I've had no bath for a month
but I've gone swimming!"
          2005 - Benton
~ ~ ~ ~

two wrens
the color
of suet
         2018 - Couchwood
~ ~ ~ ~

a mockingbird

walking-flying the dorm steps

early June morning

         1998 - Arkadelphia

c 2020, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA

Birds and squirrels ---and a snake!

SITTING GUARD
A squirrel
co-opts fallen
seeds, scaring the young birds
in their foraging. I'm here to
umpire.
(5.9.'20)

DISCOVERY
Little
wrens can stretch for
suet and they don't raise
their heads as some birds do when they
swallow.
(5.1.'20)

AT LEAST THERE'S A CHOICE
Blackcap
at the dwindling
suet cake tries and tries
to access it; goes to the seed
feeder.
(5.8.'20)

RECOGNITION
I hear
her 'chits' before
I see mama redbird
fly to the branch with the suet
feeder.
(5.6.'20)

AND I WAS SOCK-FOOTED!

Prepping

to sit on swing

and read, I spy a grown

mockingbird chipping at a large-

bore snake,

the first

I've seen since I've

lived here (one month shy of

fourteen years). And then while I stewed,

it crawled

a ways

on the ramp. I

threw a gee-gaw at it,

it retreated to the ground or

under

the ramp.

I ran in for

my tablet for proof, but

by that time, it had disappeared.

Oh, dear!

Now, each

step I take must

be monitored for black

and long and slithering before

I move.

(5. 18. '20)

c 2020, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA