Clear the gutters in the street
So that the winter rains
may flow into the drains.
Autumn has arrived.
Leaves have fallen, and utilizing them
as ground-cover is not an option.
The Fall season is now in session.
Removal of leaves and debris
must be timely and completed
before the Fall And winter storms.
Summer has ended.
Waiting for city or county removal
of leaves in their street cleaning
responsibilities is also not an option.
Let your Autumn chores have their say.
And don't forget to grab a handful of leaves
and let your creative magic be released with
artistic displays of the beautiful leaves of Fall.
Summer flowers gracefully bow dying,
Etched leaves are twirling, swirling in the wind;
Patchwork carpets cradle the leaves crying,
The wild gusts send them into a whirlwind.
Earth's crisp morning hugs me like a lover,
Musical notes whisper such a sweet song;
Beautiful hues mingle as ground cover,
Each bird taking part in this singalong.
Rain drips as I walk crimson forests trails,
Fall is nature's gentle weeping goodbye;
And melancholy I hear the sad tales,
Leaves rustle ... rain a drum beating reply.
Like hidden treaures I gather leaf bouquets;
Stained glass leaves will fall for just a few days.
GLORIOUS FALL
Fall’s the time of year I can hear,
whispers of warmth retire.
Watch trees undress their fiery hues,
branches shed … their attire.
Sun ignites all of Fall’s glory,
those beyond falling leaves,
Ones that paint abstract ground cover,
over … the roots of trees.
Walking beneath Golden Gingko
kicking up it’s gold leaves.
Not lady like way, walk to work
kicking leaves … high as knees.
Harvest moon celestial gleams,
in Fall ... back lights my dreams.
light periwinkle blue
with yellow face
she draws butterflies
she can be ground cover
prefers cool climate
found in woodlands
tolerant of rabbits and deer
reseeds herself
spreading her prettiness
Evening embers aglow in the encompassing sky.
Feelings towed on the drive towards the night.
Pulling under the shade of yellow bell trees,
Working with a spade with both hands and feet.
Throw in the skeletons of yesteryears.
Spring leaves have fallen like the branch’s tears.
Gathering dust of vignette memories.
Lowering at dusk, the ground cover of history.
Unloading the stacks in the back to loosen the tether.
Strings have detached in the lack of a rear view mirror.
Morning came mourning the past remains under the marker.
Relieving in leaving behind the mem’ry of the evening ember.
My neighbour
wondered where all the birds were going to
"to my yard,"
I replied
the Cockatoos for the green almonds
Blackbirds and Mynas for ground cover insects
Crows bark-scavenging for borers and tree worms
Honeyeaters fighting all comers for flowering red gums pollen
Pigeons fossicking the soil minding their own business
to finish giant Fruit Bats
some say escapees from a botanical gardens cull
add a creepy aura at night.
Warm, cornflower blue September skies,
Chase away end of summer
Escorting in the beginning of
Unruffled, cool, wet, autumn
Shortening the days.
Days of exhausting work
From dusk until dawn
Bring a successful abundant harvest
As summer closes.
Touch of living gaze and jump into
An intricate maze of crescendo color,
Flickering in a tangled blaze
Of whispering filigreed leaves.
Mother Nature's natural unspoiled
Watercolor weft tapestry.
The air creeps along
Filled with tickled laughter
Bring shedding leaves down
Onto the ground cover.
Rainy, and sunny filled days
Raise a gentle favouring breeze
Journey under gray and orange skies.
Nature's essence,
Of harmony and rhythm
A soul of perfection beneath
Shadowed shade and sigh
The flow of rapture proceeds in joy.
Children go back to school
On the big yellow bus
Driving the bus driver crazy.
8/29/2019
The purple ground cover came up overnight
Miraculously covering the yard in blankets
I step gingerly, coaxing winter daisies to take a hint
Sidestep a teeny white violet, a motorcycle sound in the distance.
the white feather-puffs
scattered upon the jade-moss —
nude fowl’s pluckiness
11/4/2018
Sea of Chaos
Salt the fish
Salt the sea
Sea pea green
Sea like moss
Moss takes over
Moss ground cover
Cover your butt
Cover mine
Mine big diamonds
Mine huge hearts
Hearts of passion
Hearts on fire
Fire the boss
Fire up taters
Taters with eyes
Taters and corn
Corn so sweet
Corn is yellow
Yellow hot sun
Yellow is fun
Fun is gentle
Fun is wild
Wild salmon
Wild wind
Wind whips
Wind torque
Torque of waves
Torque of dancers
Dancers on tows
Dancers thin legs
Legs of table
Legs of leisure
Leisure on Sunday
Leisure for rich
Rich in calories
Rich relative
Relative humidity
Relative comfort
Comfort of company
Comfort of life
Life lived right
Life in pain
Pain of torrent
Pain from sharks
Shark fin soup
Sharks in chaos
Chaos of catch
Chaos is play
Play
Catch ~
8/9/2017
Got up to a glorious sunny day,
Spent most of it in the garden.
Clearing the winter weeds away,
New life was begining to show.
Strimmed off the Secret Garden,
Saw the ground cover plants exposed.
Some plants are coming along nicely,
Their names only Heaven knows.
Went round to the front to help Fran,
We're both doing the best that we can.
Forty odd pots either flowers or seeded,
Summer will show if we have succeeded.
Still lots of work for tomorrow,
Dead shrubs and rubbish to throw.
All the chairs now have their cushions,
For folk to come and rest at their ease.
Our home is always open,
A nice cup of coffee or tea.
Cold beer will always suit me,
Your welcome to come and see.
© Dave Timperley 06 March 2017
October Kiss
Mother Nature’s Art Gallery Exhibit
Blue October skies, fall and autumn days
Gaze and jump into the maze of crescendo colours
Flickering in a blaze show of filigreed leaves,
Mother Nature’s art gallery exhibit
Blends of orange, green, and red watercolor tapestries
of bedding plants, emerald green grass
Nature’s light guarded secret as we watch in wonder
Of cool nights, rainy, and sunny filled days
As whispering breeze kiss raises a gentle flight
Bringing shedding leaves down onto the ground cover
10/1/2016
OLD TREE
Tell of this marvelous acre
The which surrounded by neighborhood
Where stands the giant old tree
No living soul can remember a time of sprouting
The time long before neighborhood
For all anyone knows the old tree has always
been there
Center of the mystic plot
And the ground cover renews year by year
In a green emerald density
Here reside the burrowers, climbers, flyers, Chance residents of nature’s renewal
Year after year those hungry come and go
Come and go
Now witness this confrontation –
One fine black cat
Eyes ablaze, quietly watching
And a ground squirrel
Peering down from half way up the old tree
Trunk
Chattering about who knows what,
But cock sure the old tree is quite eternal,
will always aid escape
Three black crows at tree top taunt, screech
down
The drama plays out daily,
Has done so for countless ages
Then, in some celestial silence
Should old sky reaching giant speak
It would say,
“I am here”
Dave Austin
OUT THE WINDOW
October 1st – There’s a tall tree down the block has
gone all red at top
in this green, early autumn
It’s quite an unusual year,
With more rain than summer’s want to yield
There’s been no mid-July burning of lawns,
And the trees, bushes, ground cover gone wild
The whole has tried to produce an out-of-door pinch,
And I often stand looking out a window,
Absently inhaling the chlorophyll
Houses on either side are vacant – the economy to
blame – nor cat, nor dog reside,
But I image some ghostly pair seated on the steps,
pets at their side
I put all this down as a, sort of, flowing jet
companion to solitude,
And I – prisoner of the mind – watch black words
take form,
Knowing there’s a whole, beautiful world with
nature’s abundant warmth out there
Just waiting to be joined by needful company
Dave Austin
Statement of mind
Frightening awareness of everything that is lost
An abundant memory of mistakes that cost
A charade of a life that is and what turned to dust
Chamber music playing in the mind as an audience hushed
The truth of your reality is about to be played in the theatre rushed
Deliver me and protect me under this house then teach to be crushed
I go silently about my business in my mind till interruption pushed
Awareness of a futile world becomes my strain as I lie on the cusp
Heaven and hell is a place on earth but tired of both I mistrust
Rotting leaves on the muddy ground cover the dead like a crust
Skeletons below us reminds me that love once had was that so just
Believe me when I say not one sunrise I will awake encouraged with trust
If hell is a place in the mind then I have been there and scarred and crossed
My theory is that once given you have for eternity but be careful of pretty paintings that you brushed
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