“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” -Albert Camus
This will be my 9th season to experience autumn in Canada. What lessons have I gathered so far? Two things: First, to accept that impermanence is part of our life. I am reminded of this daily as leaves change colour, fade and die.
Second, follow the leaves- fall. Let go of your fears and fall into what you love to do. Fall in love all over again. Fall passionately into your craft of writing. Fall into the ground and marvel the sky. Fall into an adventure. Three years ago, I started picking up the pen again, and exploring the magic of words. Autumn took a new dimension for me: edge, paper, boundaries, limits – shake them away & fall.
Let’s start our poetic journey. Do you have a favorite autumn poem? You can share the links or title/author in the comment section. Here’s one of mine:
Today I think
Only with scents, – scents dead leaves yield,
And bracken, and wild carrot’s seed,
And the square mustard field;
Odours that rise
When the spade wounds the root of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,
Rhubarb or celery;
The smoke’s smell, too,
Flowing from where a bonfire burns
The dead, the waste, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.
It is enough
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the robin sings over again
Sad songs of Autumn mirth.
Welcome to OpenLinkNight everyone. This is Grace hosting another week of poetry reading. If you are new here, let me tell you how it works:
- Write a poem and post it to your webpage.
- Click on the Mr. Linky button below and enter your name and direct url/web address to your poem
- There you will also find the list of those participating this week. You might want to refresh this occasionally or check back in as there are people joining over the next 33 hours.
- Read other poets that have linked. Let them know what you thought, how the poem moved you, what you think of their style, what caught your attention. Please don’t forget to return the favor of those who have visited and commented on your work.
- Encourage others to participate through social media, promote your own piece and others.
- Have fun meeting and engaging your fellow poets.
Happy Tuesday to everyone ~ Grace
nice… love autumn as well… and at the moment we’re having autumn at its best here…beautiful sunshine…leaves turning red and yellow…a bit of magic on my bike rides home from work…wish it wasn’t just an hour ride…often stop by the river to just breathe…hmm… happy OLN everyone..
We are enjoying a bit of summer during the day but it gets cool and misty by the early night ~ Happy OLN Claudia ~
The beautiful leaves are my favorite
Grace, Thanks so much for setting the scene for the season’s shift and for tending tonight.
Lovely to see you Beth ~
I don’t necessarily have a favorite fall poem, but fall is my favorite season. SO much to look forward to, so much to reflect on.
Happy Fall everyone, and Happy Open Link Night!
Happy Fall to you too Kelly ~
Welcome to OLN everyone ~ Happy Tuesday ~
What a wonderful post… I love the early fall. But unfortunately we also have to add fall into darkness… right now we are loosing half an hour of daylight every week. It goes so rapid. As for autumn poetry… I need to get back in a while… it might be a song (and melancholy is probably part of it).
Fall into darkness, yes, night come earlier now. Good to see you Bjorn ~
heck yes…daylight fading…up in the north it goes rapidly…
I love Fall. Fall and Winter…at the beach. It’s the antisocial, selfish side of me. JK- I just really enjoy the solitude oceanside of Fall and WInter since I live where tourists roam! Happy Tuesday and Happy Fall…
At the beach, I like that ~ Happy Fall to you too ~
Happy Autumn! And happy Punctuation Day! (September 24)
When you punctuate, please don’t be rash.
Over-use can turn verse into ash.
And a comma misplaced
Lays your writing to waste.
Mark my words … or your readers shall dash.
I’ll make sure I will use punctuations carefully ~ Good one Madeleine ~
nice!
Lovely words, Grace….Autumn is my favorite season….and to celebrate….I’ll have a house brandy….straight up, please~ Cheers!
ha…cheers jackie…smiles
Straight up, here you go Jackie ~ Happy Tuesday ~
try that brandy with cider and donuts 🙂
Grace, Thanks for tending bar. I am always amazed when I decide on a poem to link for Open Link Night, and link it, before I read the post, (It’s that competitiveness to be in the top 5 or 10), and then when I read the post see a connnection. You wrote of impermanence which the poem I linked to includes as a theme. Now I’m off to heat up my lunch and hopefully find time to come back and read some poetry, though it may have to wait until tonight. Peace, Linda
enjoy your lunch linda… i had some indian food today… cooked by my eldest daughter…hmmm.. was delicous…
Hello Grace.
Haven’t been here for a while.
Happy OLN
Jim : )
Good to see you here Jim 🙂
falling not only into fall, but into everything we do – I like that, Grace…
Lovely to see you Ruth ~ Happy Tuesday ~
Hi Grace. Always good to see you in the pub! Hope it’s fair where you are. We’e having a beautiful day in Big D. Out & about all this week. Will make the rounds this evening, but haven’t had a moment to write all week. My apologies.
Thanks for dropping by Gay ~ Take care ~
I promise I’d already written my September poem before reading your OLN introduction, Grace. But I suppose it’s not an unusual theme for this time of year!
I have been reading a lot of autumn poems myself ~ Happy OLN ~
Lovely intro, Grace. Autumn is definitely here in Northern Nevada as well. Snow expected up in the mountains around Tahoe. It’s time and, yes, for me (in the autumn of my life) it is an especially reflective time. Mine is up.
Lovely to see you Victoria ~ “Autumn of my life” – defintely a reflective time ~ Hopefully a more productive time too ~
Wonderful introduction Grace. After a week long dry spell, I found inspiration in your words. Will be back soon to read some wonderful poetry here at dverse.
ah it’s good when those dry spells are over and words flowing again…good to see you lisa
Question: Does this OpenLinkNight have to be about “autumn”?
Or can it be about anything we have posted today?
The topics are wide open during OLN ~ Anything goes ~ Feel free to link up with any poem ~
Cool. I already did…check it out…:) You will laugh. 🙂
Hi Lisa ~ Will be by to visit you in a bit ~ Am still out on the road ~
Grace, you are a most able bar tender! Thank you for these words.
Hi Marya, Happy Tuesday and thanks for being here ~
Grace, I really like thinking about your lessons learned. They are good ones; and autumn is certainly a good teacher. I love thinking about FALLING into what you really want to do during this ‘fall’ season. So many possibilities, where do I start? Thanks for hosting today, Grace! Happy autumn to you.
Autumn is a good teacher, I agree ~ Happy autumn to you too Mary ~
Fine topic, fall, falling, letting go … harvesting, etc. I did think of a lovely poem that contains autumn, which surprises me because I haven’t thought of my favorites in seasonal categories. But, if you don’t know Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard at the Close of Day,” check it out here:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180861#poem
It’s pretty hot.
Thanks for the link Susan ~ Will check it out, smiles ~
I love the poem Susan dear ~ Thanks ~
cool poetry out on the trail…enjoyed my first round… early bed time now for me as i have to get up at 4 to drive my daughter to the airport tomorrow morning… she’s flying to berlin to get her visa for costa rica… exciting times over here…smiles..
See you tomorrow C ~ I am just hitting the trail now ~
I’m here to apologize yet again. My blurriness has increased. Getting more difficult to write unless I bump up the magnification. But do like the challenge when I feel like I can participate. Am sorry for reading so few others. Thanks to all who do visit.
Good to see you MG ~ Take it easy ~
oo la, i love autumn….smiles…my fav time of year…enjoyed the poem by thomas as well…
its my wifes birthday today so i will be strolling just a bit and then returning comment late in the evening….
Happy special day to T Brian ~ See you later ~
Autumn in Mexico is quite different for me, but I am getting used to it. Not much in the way of leaves changing colour, but you can feel the air changing and I welcome it. Thanks for the lovely post, Grace. Happy Open Link to all.
Pamela
Happy OLN to you too Pamela ~
Question: Does this OpenLinkNight have to be about “autumn”?
Or can it be about anything we have posted today?
Anything goes Charlie 🙂
Cool. I already posted a link to my new poem. 🙂
Beautifully put thoughts Grace…enjoyed that autumn poem you selected…I do love many poems about the season. One poem that came to mind as I was reading your words is titled “Kicking the Leaves” by Donald Hall. It’s a little bit of a lengthier piece, which aren’t typically my favorites, but I like it. Happy OLN everyone and Happy Autumn too…and Happy Birthday Mrs. Miller!
Thanks Jennifer ~ Good to see you & happy OLN ~
I’m trying something very new, taking a piece of my fiction work, that i think is poetic, and re-styling it into a poem. Hopefully I’ll get better with practice. 🙂
Very nice prompt Grace. Yes, fall into all the good things in life. 🙂
Yes, fall is the magic word ~ Good to see you Felipe 🙂
Ooh, it’s that night again! Offering made – I look forward to reading everyone else’s tomorrow – this writer needs her beauty sleep tonight! Thank you for the autumnal poem, Grace! 🙂
Thanks for linking up ~ Have a good night ~ 🙂
love fall, too.
🙂
Hi Ed 🙂
What a lovely and inspiriting place to be~ Your thoughts radiate positive energy with the flow of the changing season… ~Linda
smiles….welcome Linda
Living on the island makes me miss a traditional fall dreadfully. It’s nice to read about autumn, even if I don’t get to experience it first hand.
..Finally came late here!!! Happy fall to all. And claudia, when are you bringing our own chinese dish???
Happy fall to you too ~
Autumn lovers unite! I loved the part where you wrote about falling and letting go of the fears. Many people say that autumn is a time of death and rot,but I somehow see it as it being golden and transfering that gold to us.
“golden and transferring that gold to us” – I like your attitude ~ Happy autumn day to you ~
Grew up in WA state, where the seasons are very evident ( except some winters, thank God, are very mild); then spent a decade in CA, and really disliked losing the seasons, never adjusted to 75 degrees on Christmas; did see it snow in Palm Springs one year though–came back up to WA in 1985. I have offered up Scene 7 of my new ongoing Cinemagenic poetry series BLACKTHORNE. Last year I did 12 parts for LOVE HURTS. So far the dVerse poets have stayed with the new format & form. I write the poems 1 week ahead, working from my own unpublished existential novel. I could easily go for a full year, over 50 scenes, but of course, at some point the readership drops off–and that is where I stop it. We will have to see how far BLACKTHORNE can carry me & all of you; really enjoying this new form, and finding a new way to express a poem, prose, a screenplay, a movie.
Happy to see your muse just kicking it away ~ Will check your poem in a bit ~
A poetic paint by numbers… tailor made for expressing. Autumn is my favorite as well!
Thank you ~ Good to see you ~
The leaves are starting to turn here, but the spider webs have not flown so we are good for Indian Summer to last a bit longer. The harvest is going and the farmers are busy in the fields. The birds are migrating, and the eagles are hunting too.
My two fall poems past:
http://sunflowershan.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/and-the-rain-came/
and
http://sunflowershan.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/waiting-for-spider-webs/
Doing something new for fall tonight though…watch for it! 🙂
Thank you for the introduction to OLN Grace. Adored your 3rd paragraph – follow the leaves. Spring is my favourite Season – the blossoms, the scented flowers, the start of balmy nights before the summer starts. If we could do away with Winter I surely would though 🙂
I wish I can vanish winter, and just speed right to spring ~ Lovely to see you 🙂
Thank you.. I should be out in that sunshine as we speak *smiles*
Smiles right back ~ 🙂
Off to my 9th grader’s back to school night. Another autumn passage: new teachers. Hold that Guiness for me, Grace?
I can so relate to your teen’s journey ~ I have to keep a close watch on my teen as well ~ Cheers M and have a good night ~
That is a beautiful poem you shared! I don’t get much of a fall here, but I do live under a Sycamore tree that seems to think it is fall all year long. 🙂
Thank you Rachel ~ Hope the tree gives you a lovely shade ~ 🙂
HI, Grace. A happy autumn night to you and to all. Your request for favorite autumn poems made me look some up and here’s one from John Keats – http://poetry.about.com/od/poems/l/blkeatstoautumn.htm
Hi Imelda ~ That’s a classic, thank you for the link ~ 🙂
I will be turning in for the night ~ I will be back tomorrow to catch up with all of you ~ Awesome poems tonight, thanks all ~
Away on business, but here I am. Happy Open Link Night, everyone!
Happy OLN to you Marilyn ~
hey grace==thanks for inspiring words and poem. my favorite is by rilke. k.
Hi K ~ Good to see you ~ Have a good day ~
oh heck…i DO have some catching up to do…smiles… happy wednesday everyone…
Smiles, Happy Wednesday to you too ~
Wow, it always jolts me to see you on the other side of the big pond, on a different schedule; have a sweet day, as our evening approaches.
Where I live, autumn looks more like summer. Makes me love it even more. So glad you took up the pen three years ago Grace.
Must be a lovely place Myrna ~ Good to see you ~ 🙂
autumn…such beauty and a chance for hope in the renewal
Ironically, at the 11th hour, I became motivated to write an Autumn poem, & linked in at 104, so few will read it; yet it pulled at me to be written. WINTERFYLLETH
http://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2013/09/winterfylleth.html
Missed the deadline for linking again — but glad to have generated something, no matter how small:
http://okelle.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/on-the-morning-walk/
If any Bostonians would like to join a writing group that meets in person, I’m forming a new one. The first meeting is in just about two weeks on Wednesday, October 8. Poets and prose-writers welcome. More information here: http://okelle.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/new-writing-group-forming-in-boston/