The past few weeks have been very busy for me and for autumn. I’m continually stopped in my tracks by the beauty around me. When I don’t have much time to write, I often use a photo for inspiration and mess around with a form. Limiting the options can be helpful. This time around I wrote a Zeno (8, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1 syllable count and the one syllable words rhyme) inspired by autumn’s ongoing show. Because I don’t want to give a false impression of autumn’s pace in my neck of the woods, I should note that this photo was from a few weeks ago. The trees are now bare along this stretch. They offer their own beauty, but no longer of the golden-lit variety.
Transmutation
late day light transforms the driveway
to cathedral’s
amber
glow
worship-worthy
autumn
show
ripe reminder
to go
slow
©Molly Hogan
This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Tracey at Tangles and Tales. (For some reason my computer is refusing to post a link to text right now, so here it is: https://traceykj.com/joomla/index.php/its-like-what)


Gorgeous, Molly! I am riding in the car right now, and looking out the window thinking about your cathedral’s amber glow.
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Ooh I’d never heard of this form before! I really love the way the rhyme scheme makes it sound and feel. Like the whooshing of fall into the next season.
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(Or I guess a reminder to slow that whooshing down!)
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Molly, your photo is gorgeous, just the way that Autumn should look. I am waiting for a scenario like yours in Virginia but the peak does not start until November. Your Zeno is full of beauty and worthy word choices, like worship-worthy, ripe-reminder. I think you should share this on my padlet/gallery with your poem(adding the poetic format). I hope you agree.
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Lovely, Molly! They do seem like stained glass windows in your photo.
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You captured it beautifully, Molly! And thanks for sharing the picture isn’t accurate to today. We still have a lot of green! xo
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Molly, your Zeno poem carried the season with consumate ease. The allusion to cathedral windows is most apt. Enjoy the ever changing elements of Autumn.
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I love how you carried the cathedral metaphor through. I’ve always enjoyed writing Zenos. The one syllable rhyme is very satisfying to the rhythm of the form.
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Wow! The form works perfectly with the idea of a cathedral…lighting, worship, reverence. Beautifully written.
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Like your snapshot of trees that no longer glow golden, your poem is a snapshot that perfectly captures autumn.
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