Sep
2017
Poetry Friday: A Taste of Fall
One of the things I love about Poetry Friday (in addition to reading and sharing many lovely poems) is the opportunity to challenge myself to try new things. Michelle Barnes at Today’s Little Ditty (and today’s Poetry Friday host) offers regular challenges to try new forms and topics for poetry. This month’s challenge comes from her interview with Carol Boston Weatherford. Check out the interview and challenge HERE. For this month’s challenge, Carol chose an abecedarian poem–where the text is in alphabetical order.
I confess, when I first saw this challenge, I thought no way. I do appreciate how using a poetic structure can help me shape my thoughts and give form to my words, but the alphabet? How am I supposed to come up with a topic and then write about it in alphabetical order? At least I didn’t have to use all 26 letters for this challenge! (Maybe one day, just not today.)
For inspiration, I looked at what was going on in my week. Lately, that means apples. We don’t have apple trees, but both our neighbor and the friend with garden with have apple trees that produced a bumper crop. My husband may have gotten carried away when he went to pick apples. We’ve canned apple sauce (52 pints!), apple butter, and apple juice. We’ve made several apple crisps and even dehydrated apples. (At least we won’t go hungry if even the world falls apart. We can eat apples and tomatoes all winter long.) All those apples–and the deer who visit our yard each evening–led to this poem:
A Taste of Fall
Apples drip from branches
bent low, offering a cool,
crisp taste of fall to three dainty
deer who not so easily
edge away from
forest’s cover and cross the grey
grass at twilight’s hush.
Heed the gloaming’s call to rest and
inhale the evensong.
Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Michelle has the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Today’s Little Ditty. This week she invites us to join a Peace Party to prepare for International Peace Day on September 21. Warm up by taking part in the Five for Friday party! Stop by and see what poetry morsels are offered this week.
Donna Smith
September 19, 2017 at 11:12 am (7 years ago)I love it when the apples drip from branches! And they are in really good shape here this year. I really want to get out there and pick some. Haven’t picked since I was a child.
Enjoy everything apple!
Mrs. McGriff
September 20, 2017 at 9:10 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Donna. The apple trees have provided a bumper crop this year. I hope you have a chance to go pick some apples!
Rebecca Herzog
September 17, 2017 at 10:51 pm (7 years ago)I love the image of the apples dripping off the trees. My parents planted a few young apple trees a few years ago. they’ve yet to eat any of the apples because the deer get to them first!
Mrs. McGriff
September 18, 2017 at 9:33 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Rebecca. Yes, the deer do love apples, too. Fortunately, it was a bumper crop this year with plenty for everyone!
Linda
September 17, 2017 at 6:47 am (7 years ago)Well, if the world falls apart….I’m coming to your house. It sounds delicious! I felt the same way about the abecedarian form. I thought …. no way! I’m going to sit this one out. But then, an idea wiggled in the back of my brain. And, I got started. I love grey grass at twillight. Keep going! I know you will wrangle qxy & z just fine with such a great start.
Mrs. McGriff
September 18, 2017 at 9:33 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Linda. Come on over! We have a bounteous harvest to share this year.
Michelle Kogan
September 17, 2017 at 1:14 am (7 years ago)Your first line drew me in “Apples drip from branches,” and each line after wraps flowingly into the next. You’ve written a very calming poem.
And boy you sure’ll have a bevy of apple dishes for a while, thanks Kay, enjoy!
Mrs. McGriff
September 18, 2017 at 9:32 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Michelle. I was hoping to capture the calm feeling of twilight.
Robyn Hood Black
September 16, 2017 at 11:30 pm (7 years ago)What a harvest! And this poem is gorgeous – “cross the grey/grass at twilight’s hush” and “inhale the evensong” are swoon-worthy.
Mrs. McGriff
September 18, 2017 at 9:31 am (7 years ago)Thank you, Robyn!
Linda Baie
September 16, 2017 at 9:39 pm (7 years ago)Wow, 52 pints. What a crop, and you’re sharing! Your poem is gorgeous, Kay, cleverly arranged, but the part I love is the scene you’ve painted. I have friends who have deer visit their yard, such gorgeous animals. And it seems with those apples, you’ll see them a while.
Mrs. McGriff
September 18, 2017 at 9:31 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Linda. The deer are beautiful, but I’m not such a fan after they’ve treated the lettuce and spinach in our raised beds like their personal salad bar! Not only are there apples and salad for the, they also love the chestnuts, too!
Brenda Harsham
September 16, 2017 at 10:13 am (7 years ago)You’ve made me hungry with all your talk of apples. Perhaps I’ll have one for breakfast. Your poem is delicate and light, and it’s not even noticeably alphabetical, not forced at all. Well done!
Mrs. McGriff
September 16, 2017 at 1:34 pm (7 years ago)Thanks, Brenda. I hope you found an apple to enjoy this morning!
KatApel
September 16, 2017 at 7:38 am (7 years ago)Oh my! I read the poem first – then skipped back and read your post… and I had completely missed that it was an abecedarian. Lovely! And not at all dictated by the alphabet! 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
September 16, 2017 at 8:26 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Kat! I’m glad the poem works, and not just with the alphabet. Sometimes I worry that I get caught up in the form and forget the larger meaning.
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes
September 15, 2017 at 9:00 pm (7 years ago)Kay! This is wonderful! I especially love the attention you paid to your line breaks and how you end one line and begin the next line with the same letter of the alphabet. It gives the poem a gentle fluidity that goes with the dripping apples and the “taste” of fall. Great job!
Mrs. McGriff
September 16, 2017 at 8:25 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Michelle! The alliteration from beginning to end wasn’t planned at first, but when it happened, I went with it!
Carol Varsalona
September 15, 2017 at 8:46 pm (7 years ago)Yum! Kay, the bumper crop had its place in your kitchen! Not only did I smack my lips when I read what you made from the apples but I enjoyed the Taste of Fall poem you created. Would you wrap that up with a photo of your bumper crop delights and send it my way. I would love to store that one for my fall gallery. Your peace poem touched my heart.
Mrs. McGriff
September 16, 2017 at 8:25 am (7 years ago)Thank you, Carol. I’ll see what I can do to create a picture. I’m glad you liked the peace poem. I’m ruminating on what to write for next week’s International Peace Day
Laura Shovan
September 15, 2017 at 8:05 pm (7 years ago)Lovely poem, Kay. I like that you trusted to stop where it felt right, rather than forcing the whole alphabet. Apple butter sounds divine!
Mrs. McGriff
September 16, 2017 at 8:24 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Laura. I wasn’t sure how far I would get, but this point did seem to bring the poem to a close. We are enjoying the apple butter!
jama
September 15, 2017 at 12:24 pm (7 years ago)Love your poem, Kay!! I’m very partial to abecedarians — you created such a restful mood with vivid images. We don’t have any apple trees here, but I occasionally leave some apples out for the deer in our woods. Thanks for this wonderful taste of Fall. I must echo Tabatha — 52 pints!!
Mrs. McGriff
September 15, 2017 at 2:41 pm (7 years ago)Thank you, Jama. I found this form hard to get started with, but I’m pleased with how it turned out. Those deer do love their apples! They also enjoy the lettuce and spinach in our raised beds.
Tabatha
September 15, 2017 at 9:39 am (7 years ago)52 pints!! Sounds like you could practically start your own applesauce business. 🙂
Good job with your abcderian! You really did give us a taste of fall.
Mrs. McGriff
September 15, 2017 at 10:27 am (7 years ago)Thanks, Tabatha. Once I got started with an image, I could write. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around how much apple sauce we have!