Hello, all you wonderful people! Welcome to Tuesday Poetics. This is Melissa from Mom With a Blog. Autumn is almost here in Pennsylvania. I think out of all the seasons, it’s the closest to being my favorite. I have an appreciation for each one. Autumn is temperate, the leaves are beginning to change and color the landscape, and the “fall” flavors are delectable.

Speaking of which, I’ll get it out of the way, on the menu tonight we have all our usual fare, and especially:

• Apple Cider Glazed Chicken🍗
• Stuffed Acorn Squash🍁
• Pumpkin Risotto🎃sd
• Boozy Apple Cider🍎
• Pumpkin Pie Mimosa🍹

Yum. And now for some autumnal poetry:

“Autumn (Chant d’ Automne)” by Charles Baudelaire

Now colder shadows . . . Who’ll turn back the clock?
Goodbye bright summer’s brief too lively sport!
The squirrel drops its acorn with a shock,
cord-wood reverberates in my cobbled court.

Winter has entered in my citadel:
hate, anger, fear, forced work like splitting rock,
and like the sun borne to its northern hell,
my heart’s no more than a red, frozen block.

Shaking, I listen for the wood to fall;
building a scaffold makes no deafer sound.
Each heart-beat knocks my body to the ground,
like a slow battering ram crumbling a wall.

I think this is the season’s funeral,
someone is nailing a coffin hurriedly.
For whom? Yesterday summer, today fall—
the steady progress sounds like a goodbye.

(from Poetry Magazine, September 1961)

“Autumn Negra” by Garrard Beck

At night lamp posts hover above the empty streets,
And death breezes through town on a distant train whistle.
A dog spasmodically chews out leathery bits of barking.
Bats flip in and out of sight like twitches of anxiety.
An Apple falls with a ripe and heavy thud.
A paddle-streamer struggles breathlessly down the river.
The bank clock strikes two with pedantic finality.
A cat screeches like a streak of heat lightning.
Now and then, passing headlights caress sleep-rigid hedges
Like apologetic, indecisive lovers pausing and fleeing.
A baby cries and is hushed.  Our lips tug at old memories.
Crickets spin threads for the spiders on little rasping wheels.
Someone laughs a gash down the smooth, bland side of silence,
And a bullfrog comments “blood” through lazy lips.
The night is a black wicker basket on the steps of an orphanage.

(from Poetry Magazine, December 1944)

“Fall, leaves, fall” by Emily Brontë

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.

(from Poets of the English Language, Viking Press, 1950)

So, today we are going to “fold autumn into our poems”. The fold poem is a form created by our fabulous friend, Gillena Cox.

She says: “The Fold [guidelines]
1. 11 lines
2. The end phrase of Line 1 repeats at Lines 5 and 11
3. The rhyme of line 1 continues through in every other line
4. There MUST be a reference to nature and how it affects you, the poet”

Here is an example of a fold poem:

“Mud” by Gillena Cox

mud is a tradition of the Carnival;
in the awakening jouvert*, the misbehavers
start their misbehaving; to the arrival
of the sun, covered in red mud, yellow mud,
dirty mud creatures of the Carnival;
threatening clean people, who come to see
other people look dirty, at this, their revival
as the last carol and parang are sung,
the merry monarch wrests his survival
the sequins, the beads, the feathers come out,
to weave the fabric of the Carnival

*the opening hours on the first day of
Carnival

🍂🍂🍂

Without further ado, here is your poetic prompt for today: write a poem incorporating autumn, folding in some autumn words from the list provided below (at end of post), or whatever other autumn words might fall into your head. You may choose to use the fold form or any other form you wish.

🍂🍂🍂

If you’re new, here is how to join us:

• Write a poem in response to the prompt.
• Enter your name and a link directly to the post containing your poem into Mr. Linky. Remember to check the box to accept use/privacy policy.
• Read other poets’ work as they enter their links into Mr. Linky. Check back as more will be added.
• Please link back to dVerse from your post.
• Have a wonderful time!🎉

abundant	acorn	almond	amber
apple	autumnal	bat	blustery
bountiful	breezy	bright	brilliant
brisk	brown	candy	changing
chestnut	chilly	cider	cobweb
cold	colored	comfortable	cool
corn	cornucopia	costume	country
cozy	crackling	cranberry	crisp
crops	crow	crunchy	dahlia
damp	dark	deciduous	decorative
denim	dewy	dormant	early sunset
earthy	eerie	eggplant	elderberry
elm	ember	enchanting	equinox
evening	evergreen	fall	farmer
feast	festival	fireside	firewood
flannel	flavor	fleece	flickering
fog	foliage	football	foraging
fox	frost	fruit	gather
ghost	gilded	glittering	glowing
golden	goldenrod	goldfinch	grain
grape	gratitude	grove	gusty
Halloween	harvest	hay	hearth
hibernate	hike	howl	hygge
illuminating	incandescent	indoor	ironwood
jacket	jack-o-lantern	jam	jeweled
jitters	jolly	joyful	jubilant
juicy	juniper	jute	kaleidoscope
kettle	kindling	kinetic	kingfisher
lace	lantern	late	latte
lavender	layering	lazy	leather
leaves	log	long sleeves	lumber
luminous	lustrous	magical	mahogany
majestic	maple	maroon	marshmallow
meadow	melancholic	mellow	migration
misty	mittens	moccasins	monarch
moonlit	moonstone	moss	muffins
mulled	mums	musky	native
nature	nectar	new	nighttime
nippy	nocturnal	nostalgic	November
nurture	nutcracker	nutmeg	nuts
oak	oatmeal	ochre	October
olive tree	ombre	onion	orange
orchard	organic	outdoor	outpouring
painted	park	parka	peacoat
pear	pecan	persimmon	pie
pine	pinecone	piping hot	plaid
pomegranate	potpourri	prickly	pumpkin
quail	quaint	quality	quiet
quill	quilt	quivering	quixotic
radiant	rain	rake	reading
reaping	red	relaxed	rich
ripe	road trip	roasting	romantic
russet	rust	rustic	scalloped
scarecrow	scarf	scenic	season
seed	September	serene	soggy
spider	spooky	squash	squirrel
starry	stuffing	sunset	sweater
sweet potato	tangerine	taper	tartan
tea	temperate	tender	Thanksgiving
thermal	toffee	toasty	tradition
trailing	tranquil	treat	trick-or-treat
turkey	turning	turtleneck	thyme
unique	unwind	urban	utensils
vacation	variety	vegetable	velvet
verdant	vernal	vest	vibrant
vine	vineyard	vintage	visit
vortex	votive	wagon	walnut
warmth	web	wheat	whimsical
whispering	whistling	wildflowers	wilting
windy	wine	wood	wool
wreath	xanthophyll	xeric	xerophyte
yam	yarn	yellow	yew
yielding	youthful	yucca	yummy
zealous	zesty	zinnia	zonal