Autumn Side Of September
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December 19, 2024
~ First Place ~
Premiere Contest: Premiere VIII - Open
Sponsor: Rob Carmack
~ Poem Of The Day ~
December 20, 2024
~ Fifth Place ~
Premiere Contest: Happy Birthday
Sponsor: Regina McIntosh
In the middle ages
these roughed and scuffed decades
between newborn crocus -snow-melt-nursed- and
dried hydrangea blooms sepia-skinned and papery thin
I earned the right to wear sapphires
and burn mademoiselle mistakes with wisdom-fires
I collected years for years to earn my autumn season
—the autumn side of September
hair once a cascade of Sol’s solar flare
now but faded silver streams spilled by Harvest moon
though hazel eyes still reveal kaleidoscope enchantment
...no longer the garish-girlish shade of June grass
but rather a muted-Nature-diluted sage green;
specked with autumn sunset amber
flecked with maple bark brown
—tints of hazel colors hint at my September birth
September ma chérie when you whisper low
I hear cumulus collide cotton-ball-soft
your wind-song croons my name
as yellow willows bend over the river bank
like queens about to wash their troubles from tresses
prayers of praise I float abundant as corn-fruit-maize
away they fly un-weighed indeed
prayers of praise do rise to rosé skies as light as sunlit swans
shadows lengthen as Sol too old for August swagger
sags upon indigo hills
September brings me closer to the western edge
where my elder-berry soul will someday fledge
life no longer runs on the reach for noon-time-highs—
slouchy-sun-afternoons fade to early sunset swoons
a time of ending a time of beginning
diurnal dust both gold and coal weighed and balanced;
equinox an unwinding clock from day to dark
as sapphire-fire melts tart Virgo to free buttery Libra
—revolution gives way to evolution
ah September so sincere as we harvest memories
I appreciate being in the moment;
summer-sizz-fizz ...hard-body-energy uncorked
exuberant like shaken champagne spray
gives way now to soft-bellied leaf-falling days musing
with mulled apple cider spiced with nutmeg rum—
savoring reflections in facets of sapphire nights
as fire pit phoenixes fly ember-seeds of dreams
into spiral galaxies where Pegasus reigns…
my imagination— rein free— rains in watercolors
across paper reams of fated nights brisk-with-a-nip
playful-painful like puppies’ milk-teeth
that nicks against tanned skin not yet sweater ready
but a wool embrace allowed for winter lies ahead
in wood-stove-season of September
sapphire spirit burns with fire in my throat
I sing without fear
my tears my cheers alive in my verse
memoirs of Venus and Mars shared with the universe
September are you listening?
together we'll ripen like pale wheat sheafs
celebrate and commiserate as we equate
my second coming of age
to your muted season of silver and sage
I collected years for years to earn my autumn season
—the autumn side of September
born of your change-of-life-womb
I return your vintage sister
together we’ll lose the mettle of our rusted metal
to spindle pricks of hoarfrost
but never lose the star in our sapphire stone
your copper canopy will fall
my copper veins will freeze
when winter man grows his ancient ice-beard long
his reason as old as his rime is cold
as he paints us faint in December’s antique white
—but my blood and bosom
will always hold your apple cider spiced and fire pit glow
Copyright © Susan Ashley | Year Posted 2024
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