The quiet rose unexpectedly,
distinct in the early fall of
less colorful autumn days,
it allowed the warm heat of summer passed
to fade into the deferring tasks.
Garden ends, leftovers of spring
wonders and magical beauty lost to newer things,
trees containing color shades
a palette of mysterious parades
in yellowed, peach and crimson reds
counting the days ahead.
An October of nature's wonders cleared
of bud and bloom left here,
in storm clouds that loomed near,
winds blowing restless and free
rains that brought us to our knees
beneath the shadows of the trees.
You can see it if you look
the stillness of the slowing brook,
it's pleasantries of which God speaks
the bounty for the calm gentleness of the meek,
holding onto the times that may yet be
this living within the want of universality.
Go to the forests, across the open seas
embrace the magic and mystery
of the blessings and gifts remembered
come in the Octobers and Novembers
of life living in every burnt ember.
November 1st in Mexico and South America
marigolds' pungent odor is used liberally
to guide spirits from cemetery to Day of the Dead celebration
homemade altars await the visiting soul
Photographs, candles and water have been assembled
their favorite foods and drinks are there
for dessert they may nibble on decorated sugar skulls
Day of the Dead, an important holiday,
represents cyclical nature of life and death
Autumn, the season of mellow mist
takes over the reins of summer,
washing August dust with September rains,
revealing a palette no other seasons match.
Leaves on trees riot from green to rich rusty hues,
Colour creeps into the garden once more.
Pink rose and blue clematis peek over walls at
the carpet of sedum, cyclamen, violets and pansies
with varied shades of red, white and blues.
In the garden of Wonderland, Alice’s gardeners
are busy painting the pretty peonies, poinsettias,
carnations and Hemerocallis Daylily Autumn Red.
Multicoloured hollyhocks, carnations and cosmos dance
with dahlias and weigelas with the melodious wind.
Red hot pokers, gladioli, and digitalis point
brightly manicured fingers at the celebration of
Chinese lanterns; whilst flowering forsythias and
moon-faced sun flowers look on with yellowed envy.
The garden is a riotous rhapsody of colour.
Thus, nature celebrates the season with buddleias
and feathery asters inviting bees and butterflies
with a feeling that warm days will never cease.
Until November creeps in and the disheartened flowers,
stripped of petals, wilt and shiver into winter’s lap.
Poignant grey stain hued,
bleak month spawns limp mood,
ashen mists dispatch,
gold, pink, purple gulf,
illusive bridge tween,
bright easel and gloom
spoiled harvest’s glum cue,
winter squash, squashed bloom,
staple fireside chat,
rank odour repast,
lurch to bland essence.
yet dewdrops shroud faith
Hush in the daylight,
Tranquil in the night,
Time colours the sky,
Different portraits,
Different seasons,
So is my journey.
October 1, 2026,
Nette Onclaud,
Color My World Poetry Contest.
pewter clouds hover
over the slate plate
of a lake strewn with
gold and crimson leaves -
all that remain of
autumn’s brighter days
Color My World - Sponsor - Nette Onclaud 9-29-26
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grey In November
When platinum winds howl
Red leaves turn silver
With their smoky breath
Dove grey clouds reign rain ~
Time for sweet cider
Next to a warm fire.
Silent and colder
November is grey
dying leaves fall down
summer shades fading
grey branches sharpen
mixed leaf mounds sparkle
Sun in its dunce cap
Halcyon gaze darts
Shadows increasing
Ambergris silence
As grief-laden clouds
Iron our shoulders
Will I, grey sky drear,
e'er see her again?
Blue skies disappear.
Blue eyes feel the pain
as they shed a tear
of November rain.
Grey November, sigh-
ashen, you'll soon lie
dead in Fall attire
decay dulls your fire-
wait again for light
as first snow spreads white
Grey, overcast sky,
autumn chill surrounds
a somber graveyard:
it's Remembrance Day;
I whisper a prayer
to my late Granddad.
An empty chair and the twilight,
Falling leaves adrift in the air,
Confetti for the coming night,
To doleful drizzle unaware.
The sun setting in wounded streaks,
A decadence in confinement,
Birds on leafless boughs, so weak,
How were those days of mine spent?
Please don't die on me yet,
Why don't you look and be near?
To a drooping silhouette,
I'm the one imprisoned here.
Surviving the penitence,
That's how to lose a stake,
It's me who passed the sentence,
For the king of mistake.
An empty chair and the twilight,
The early carols sound bleak,
For a heart alone in the night,
Like a fallen leaf that cannot speak.
November 14, 2004
The days are getting cooler
as summer starts to fade
Classes are beginning
and Jack-O-Lanterns made
The Autumn winds are whistling
a most familiar tune
They say they’re mailing ballots out
and we will get them soon
They say Trump lost his luster
his grifts have all grown stale
Every venture in his life
has been an epic fail
And now we’re in a pickle
in a war with no end nigh
Led there by a loser
who knows not the what or why
But people are resisting
refusing to back down
Protesting in cities
and in every little town
Because November’s coming
and judgment, many say
the Grand Old Party’s reckoning
will be Election Day
Election Time
The winters are long even when
Someone is singing a song without
A clock that goes bong regardless of
The temperatures anywhere in the country
Election time is seldom right on the dime
except for always being the same month
Every year which is when our spears
get stuck in frozen trees
If only there was a way to vote from boats
While boiling some oats as our coats hang
Above our fake goat but no matter where we
go or even vote we will forever be Americans
By nature
November Categories
Definition | What is November in Poetry?
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