Thursday, October 24, 2019

Poetry Friday: I'm Hosting!




This will perhaps be my last ode to autumn.

Or, perhaps not.

I may sing this song into November, as I'm reveling in the glorious golden days we've been having. When our weather is still gorgeous in late October, I think of it, as Helen Hunt Jackson does in this poem, as "one sweet, mad, last hour" and am thankful for days such as these — crisp, crackling, a gift.


October
Helen Hunt Jackson

Bending above the spicy woods which blaze,
Arch skies so blue they flash, and hold the sun
Immeasurably far; the waters run
Too slow, so freighted are the river-ways
With gold of elms and birches from the maze
Of forests. Chestnuts, clicking one by one,
Escape from satin burs; her fringes done,
The gentian spreads them out in sunny days,
And, like late revelers at dawn, the chance
Of one sweet, mad, last hour, all things assail,
And conquering, flush and spin; while, to enhance
The spell, by sunset door, wrapped in a veil
Of red and purple mists, the summer, pale,
Steals back alone for one more song and dance.

(This poem is in the public domain.)

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm hosting today!

Leave your links with Mr. Linky, our ever-helpful Poetry Friday assistant. 


24 comments:

Amy LV said...

Oh, this is so lovely! I will copy it into my notebook...with gratitude. Today I walked our dogs around the pasture a few times, each time stopping to marvel at milkweed, orange leaves, sunlight through cornstalks, that bright blue sky. How beautiful it all is... Thank you for hosting and for these words.

jama said...

Love love love the poem! Every line is such a delight. Thanks for the hurrah to autumn and for hosting this week. :)

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

As Amy & Jama have said, this is a beautiful poem! Love the imagery, the words, the fact that it's a sonnet, my favorite form - just perfect. (FYI, my own tribute to October doesn't go live til just after midnight)

Michelle Kogan said...

Gorgeous fall poem, the colors are singing to the poems dance–Thanks for this delicious fall treat Karen, and for hosting the roundup!
The colors are spectacular this year…

tanita✿davis said...

I'm always tickled by how many autumn poems there are - even more than Spring poems, I think. This is lovely.

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

What a glorious and intoxicating tribute to the season. Enjoy the last days of gold, Karen. (And thank you for hosting the roundup this week!)

Kimberly Hutmacher said...

Autumn is such a lovely season, and the poem you shared celebrates it well. Thanks for hosting!

KatApel - katswhiskers.wordpress.com said...

Thanks for hosting, Karen. I love that you're talking seasons here. There's been chatter about that on my blog (and in my house!) this week.

Tabatha said...

Spicy, sweet, and mad! Thanks for hosting, Karen.

Little Willow said...

Thank you for hosting! Happy fall!

Julie said...

Oh, gosh, my Mr. Linky link says “milky”....! That should be “milly,” of course. Thanks for hosting, Karen, and for offering up an October poem for us.

Molly Hogan said...

Helen Hunt Jackson's poem is gorgeous! What delicious word choice and imagery! Our fall has also been stunning this year and has inspired much poetry-writing for me. Thanks for celebrating fall, sharing this beauty, and for hosting this week! (I also peeked back at your last post and thoroughly enjoyed the Mary Oliver poem you'd shared there.)

Heidi Mordhorst said...

For some reason, in this golden and flashing entire poem, these lines leaped out:
"Chestnuts, clicking one by one,
Escape from satin burs; her fringes done"
What could that mean about my state of mind? Thanks for hosting, and wishing you much enjoyment of the crisp and crackling.

Kay said...

I love this poem! Thank you for sharing it and for hosting today. This one sums up perfectly what a glorious fall we're having!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Thanks for hosting Poetry Friday! I love your poetry selection. Autumn is my favorite time of year.

Cheriee Weichel said...

Thanks for hosting today Karen. Your photograph of the tree in autumn splendour is gorgeous as is Helen Hunt Jackson's poem. I wanted to share a photograph of the tree out my window that is full of those glorious colours, but I don't know how.

Karen Eastlund said...

Thanks Karen! My favorite time of year... it is hard to stop praising it. The poem offered me some good ideas to practice in my own craft. I appreciate that! Thanks again.

Liz Steinglass said...

Thanks for hosting! I'm a little late, but better late than not at all, right?

Rebecca Herzog said...

Love this poem! It captures Autumn so well! Thank you for hosting Karen!!

Buffy Silverman said...

Love this one, Karen--I've been trying to spend as much time as possible in the spicy woods this October. Thanks for hosting.

Carol said...

Love the theme in this poem. Autumn is such a lovely time of year and this poem captures so much of it, beautifully! Thank you for sharing.

Tim Kulp said...

As a major fan of Fall, I really enjoyed this poem! Thank you for sharing it. I like the imagery and sensory details in the poem.

Catherine Flynn said...

Thank you for hosting this week, Karen, and sharing Helen Hunt Jackson's lovely poem. It's new to me. I noticed the same lines Heidi did. Those "satin burs" reminded me of gathering chestnuts in my grandmother's yard.

Mary Lee said...

Thanks for hosting us and for the lush tribute to fall. Keep em' coming!