Where Blossoms Still Bloom

Upon my midnight wall 

a wintering shadow appears -

naked limbs silhouetted

like an X-ray 

lit by moonlight 

and neighbouring homes 

In this reflection of death,

there is beauty

mid traces of what once was;

fragile leaves have broken free

the earth to renew

I return to my down spread,

hear geese making their way

to where blossoms still bloom  

---

October 30, 2016

Windfall

The thief is lurking
As he surveys the scene
His breath, palpable
Though furtive, unseen

He eyes his victims,
As they stand unaware,
To which he will return
To abscond with their wares

He doesn't seek emeralds,
But rubies and gold,
Amber and opal,
Topaz, his goal

These jewels are hidden
Until the night of the ball
When he'll blow into town
For an awesome windfall

Like taking candy from babies,
They'll be swept off their feet
As they fall down before him
Like autumn leaves on the street
---
2008

Fall Under a Spell

Cursing the Indian summer,
The witch's gnarled fingers
Cast a spell
From her barren abode
Halloween nears
As her spirited accomplice howls;
A screech owl hovers above.
Colour vanishes from the treetops
Like the tattered pages
In her volumes on voodoo;
The leaves curl and crumble
Onto the darkened ave
Whole limbs lie severed on the ground,
A trail of magenta nearby.
Midnight approaches
As the forest transforms
In the shadows;
Bony boughs harbour
A kettle of nocturnal eyes;
Skeletal forms tremble and cower
Under the lunar glow,
Their silhouettes now mirror
That of the wizened old hag
---
October 2005

My Life as a Poet

In nursery school
I met the pussy-willow
Whose coat was dapple gray
I memorized her meadow home
Not very far away

From a high chair,
Lyrics lathered
In my elementary brain
As I washed for hours
Crumbs and mustard
Down the drain

Plagued by
Plagiarizing
Accusations
Before I knew the word,
Squelched my
Inspiration

In the 8th grade,
Mr. D. recited
Samplings
Of my ramblings
To the class

But therapy
Became my reason
To fill reams
Of endless rhymes

Love-struck,
Pages turned
To sonnets,
Then dirges
In the night

For decades, verses
Sat cloistered from boisterous
Critical voices

Then, testing the waters
And honing my craft,
I dove into the depths
Of euphony
And penned an ode
To honour Roget's
Supportive stance

Occupied with poetry,
And lines that make me laugh,
I pensively composed
My decomposing epitaph
---
October 2007

Octobrrr

This is the month of rain,
Of clouds and icy chill
The month when crumbled colours
From weary limbs are spilled
And nightfall falls too quickly
I would wish this month was over
But it's only going to get worse
When we've left behind Octobrrr
---
October 2007

Autumn's Almost Forgotten

A portion of the season's passed
Sweeping away experienced leaves
But today I celebrate
The clouds' all too brief reprieve

Jacketless, I amble
Mid mercury's confusion
And witness wasps balancing
On poppies Californian

The sun alights on rosebush, red
While berries black reveal allure
Free from heavy blankets gray,
My heart, with warmth, is stirred
---
October 2007

Open House

Eight-legged architects
Transpose their machinations
Void of rappelling gear
In towering elevations

Un-harnessed, they manoeuvre
With infinitesimal cables
Assembling gossamer designs
With translucent gables

With dexterity and daring,
Their vision is accomplished
A stunning habitation
Expeditiously established

Anticipating patrons
In the parlour, they await
To usher in unwitting rubes
And guarantee their fate
---
October 2007

Harvest

Like a patchwork quilt,
Autumn's harvest unfurls
Mustard, carrot and russet
Cinnamon, pear, tangerine
A delicious array
Has descended
A bounty
Of cornucopian leaves
---
October 2007

October's Overhaul

Hemlock trees have been poisoned
By October's biting chill
Dogwoods look ravaged by mange
The landscape is littered
With dismembered leaves
Branches now barren seem strange
Willows wither and wallow
Without their foliage fringes
Chestnuts crash to the ground
As the wind loosens them
From their hinges
Beneath the maple tree's height,
Helicopters hover and whirl
Autumn's script is rewritten again
Its worn pages yellow and curled
---
October 2007

Goddess of the Dawn

Aurora lies upon
The blanketing of dew
Rousing from her slumber
She peers for morning's view

The shadows of the evening
Filter to her gaze
As she slowly lifts her eyelids
Before the horizon's set ablaze

Softly she whispers
Into the placid hush
Before the day overtakes
With cacophony and rush

Pastel, she dons
In pink and yellow hues
Then adorns her countenance
With hints of powdered rouge

Radiant, she appears
To those enamoured by her charm
Who rise to the occasion
Bereft of wearisome alarms
---
October 2007

Bawdy Arbor

Radiantly robed in exotic colours,
Autumn Forest beings her new dance
She sashays onto the stage
With all eyes upon her, entranced
Slowly she slips
Off her coral cape
Then the golden scarf
From her elegant nape
She sways side to side
And coyly twirls
Loosening her garb
Like a shy little girl
Then she drops to the ground
A saffron layer
As she tousles
Her frizzed flaxen hair
She bares her buff shoulders
Then lifts her billowy skirt
And licks her carmine lips
Like a coquettish flirt
Then she rushes offstage
As the howling begins
Her torso exposed
While the crescent moon grins
---
October 2008

To Be Ready by a Crackling Fire

A colony of butterflies
Disguise as falling leaves
Swirling, twirling colours
Curling in the breeze

Oh, how I hate the fall
Its temperature, the chill upon my back
The howling winds, the rain
Pelting in attack

The cold insists its way
Into my gooseflesh skin
Yet in the hearth of me
A fire burns within

Unleashed like copper sparks
And amber banners blowing
Autumn is an awesome time
When poetry keeps flowing
---
October 2008
Maybe one day I will publish A Fall Collection. 

Are You Ready to Bundle?

In the southwest corner
The wind clocks in
At a whopping
80 kilometers an hour
Sparring simultaneously
With a line-up of cedars
And one obstinate oak
Acorns pelt
The needled ground
Power is knocked out
As howls and roars
Fill the arena of night
In the first hard-hitting
Storm of the season
---
October 2008