Hi everyone! In my part of the world, it is autumn season and we are enjoying the harvest of apples and pumpkins. My son and I have just finished making apple pie and apple cake this Sunday morning.

 

Here is a poem by one of my favorite Canadian poet, P.K.  Page, Autumn, using the glosa form.

Whoever has no house now will never have one.
Whoever is alone will stay alone
Will sit, read, write long letters through the evening
And wander on the boulevards, up and down…

Autumn Day                                                          Rainer Maria Rilke

Its stain is everywhere.
The sharpening air
of late afternoon
is now the colour of tea.
Once-glycerined green leaves
burned by a summer sun
are brittle and ochre.
Night enters day like a thief.
And children fear that the beautiful daylight has gone.
Whoever has no house now will never have one.

It is the best and the worst time.
Around a fire, everyone laughing,
brocaded curtains drawn,
nowhere-anywhere-is more safe than here.
The whole world is a cup
one could hold in one’s hand like a stone
warmed by that same summer sun.
But the dead or the near dead
are now all knucklebone.
Whoever is alone will stay alone.

Nothing to do. Nothing to really do.
Toast and tea are nothing.
Kettle boils dry.
Shut the night out or let it in,
it is a cat on the wrong side of the door
whichever side it is on. A black thing
with its implacable face.
To avoid it you
will tell yourself you are something,
will sit, read, write long letters through the evening.

Even though there is bounty, a full harvest
that sharp sweetness in the tea-stained air
is reserved for those who have made a straw
fine as a hair to suck it through-
fine as a golden hair.
Wearing a smile or a frown
God’s face is always there.
It is up to you
if you take your wintry restlessness into the town
and wander on the boulevards, up and down.

The glosa is a wonderful form, explained by Sam Peralta here if you want to explore and try it out. I find that my writings are oftentimes sparked or inspired by another poet’s lines.

So what is happening or going on in your part of the world? What are your plans for the coming Halloween or coming weeks? What books or poems have you been reading that has touched or inspired you?

Hope to see you tomorrow, Tuesday for Poetics and OpenLinkNight on Thursday.