for Holly Friesen
Peak season, and the morning mountain smoke rises,
breaths 'round council fires lifting from turning yellow
birch, pin cherry, russet-skirted belles of oak. Maples'
scarlet lobes, radiating like fingers, let go, blush as ash
maroons, and shagbark hickories bear hard-toned arms
like summer life guards golden-bronzed. Off beaten
paths flowering dogwood silently mimic plums' purple
and reddish hues—like you, daring that one last fling.
Black tupelo wear crimson cloaks, while elms' own
burial wraps fall for too much brown. Pines and cedars,
spruces and firs — evergreens all — resist the urge
to change their colors. Constant they are, tough
enough to take the rap of another long winter's tale.
© 2012 Maureen E. Doallas
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See images of Holly's beautiful paintings at The Roaring Inside.
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13 comments:
This is lovely, Maureen. Just lovely.
I love this. Very descriptive. My favorite: "while elms' own/burial wraps fall for too much brown."
I love this. So descriptive. My favorite: "while elms' own/burial wraps fall for too much brown."
Yup. Tough enough to take the rap.
Love it!
I am honored that my paintings have elicited such an explosion of colors on paper! Wonderful piece, Maureen. I love the idea of the evergreens resisting the urge to join in the color dance, making them the dark bass notes that they are amongst the rhapsodic symphony of autumn colors!
smiles...love the use of colors and trees in this maureen....they both are signs of the season for me...
Gorgeous language and imagery, Maureen--- you give a sense of the copse of autumn-- in the world, in the heart. I especially love:
Off beaten
paths flowering dogwood silently mimic plums' purple
and reddish hues—like you, daring that one last fling.
Black tupelo wear crimson cloaks, while elms' own
burial wraps fall for too much brown.
xxj
The phrases and descriptions here are very painterly and textured as well as colored. They free-associate well with Ms Friesan's expressive work.
The blaze of autumn colors - beauty in passion stand in counterpoint to the muted tale of betrayal of one, and constancy of the other. Eloquent symbolism, exquisite poetry.
You paint with words remarkably well.
enough to take the rap of another long winter's tale....ha...love this maureen
Love how the richness of each word forces the reader to slow down and savor each word and its relation to the next-- like in Gerard Manley Hopkins. I was walking in the countryside yesterday to see the autumn colors (which is why I'm a day late reading your poem) -- and the brilliant hillsides made me stop and pause and wonder, just as each line of your poem does.
This makes me want to go out to the hillside and see better, Maureen. This poem is quite the lens. Beautiful.
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