Matt Forrest of Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme offers a Poetry…Cubed poetry challenge this month. The basic rules are that he provides three photos and your poem must include reference to them, either concretely or abstractly.  Any poetic form is allowed. The pictures for this particular challenge were of a wood stove, flowering bittersweet and an antique wooden New England Patriots football player figurine.  It was a fun challenge trying to figure out how to link these three images!

A Seasonal Game

Autumn offers sweet solace
as Summer fades away
lulling us into complacency
while Winter lurks on our doorstep
Like syrup coating a bitter pill
it distracts us in early days
with brilliant splashes of color,
maple leaves and bittersweet,
the pulsing heat of a wood stove,
and camaraderie in the stands
where frosty cries fog the frigid air
as fans cheer the flying pigskin
Autumnal beauty hovers,
a neutral zone before
the full blitz of Winter’s winds,
But inexorably Winter slips in
and picks off those vibrant leaves
one by one
In its unrelenting offensive march
it drives forward and blasts us
into our homes to await
the tender shoots of Spring.

Molly Hogan (c) 2015

Thanks to Carol at Carol’s Corner for hosting today’s Poetry Round-up.