I’m participating as much as I can in Teachers Write this summer. Yesterday’s quick-write exercise came from author, Nancy Castaldo. She offered two facts and challenged participants to expand one of them into a scene. I chose “Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall.” I didn’t precisely follow her intended exercise, but I did end up with this poem. It’s doing double duty for Poetry Friday.
Fall approaches
Days grow short
Nights cool and
hints of frost whisper lacy patterns
onto tightly closed windows.
Within the leaves
of deciduous trees
change is happening.
With diminishing sun,
Chlorophyll yields
its dominant presence
and the others emerge–
pigments of yellow, orange, and red.
Leaves transform.
What once was hidden
is now revealed.
The calls of migrating birds
echo in the crisp air.
Below them
wood smoke drifts from chimneys
in lazy columns
and a brilliant spread of colors
carpets hills and valleys.
Beech trees glow yellow,
then fade to a pale orange
Maples fly scarlet banners
against azure autumnal skies
Dogwoods show off their deep red raiment
and sugar maples dazzle the eye
with a mixed palette
of orange, red, and green.
As summer recedes and
fall deepens its hold on the land,
the cool winds blow
colorful leaves
tumble
and fall
Nature’s confetti
Molly Hogan (c) 2016
If you’re in the mood for more poetry, go on over to the Poetry Friday Roundup, hosted this week by Katie at Logonauts.
Nix the comfort zone 
Lovely poem, Molly. Great sensory details.
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Thanks, Brenda. It was interesting to try to incorporate facts in a poem–a new challenge for me!
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You met it in fine style. 🙂 It didn’t come off as incorporated facts.
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Beautiful!
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Thanks, Dana.
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Wonderful that one straightforward sentence ended in this lovely poem, Molly! I’m not ready yet, but you’ve shown well what’s coming. “Maples fly scarlet banners/against azure autumnal skies.” This is a favorite, in your poem, and in my mind for autumn. Thanks!
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Thanks, Linda! I’m also not ready for fall, whether it is glorious or not! I hope my poem hasn’t inadvertently invoked any autumnal gods…
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Lovely! I love this kind of “non-fiction poetry.” Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Thanks, Ruth. It was fun to try it out.
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Great two-for-one, Molly! I’m a bit behind with Teacher’s Write (I know, already), but love the idea of using a factual statement for poetic inspiration.
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Thanks. I’m totally behind with Teacher’s Write as well, but I’m trying to frame it as dabbling.
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Fun to read about the fall season while we swelter in summer, Molly. Love the lines:
“hints of frost whisper lacy patterns
onto tightly closed windows”
Cool weather will return, won’t it? =)
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Let’s hope fall and cold weather don’t come too soon! Thanks, Bridget!
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Beautiful Molly. I especially like:” hints of frost whisper lacy patterns
onto tightly closed windows”
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Isn’t it amazing what patterns frost can make on windows? (Although I love to see them, I’m content to wait quite a while before doing so!)
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You’ve captured the elements of fall in a beautiful fashion. Although I love summer, on hot and humid days like today it’s a refreshing read.
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It was odd to focus on fall during summer, Amy. 🙂
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Ahh…autumn! You captured so many concrete details perfectly!
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