Autumn's Dances On

Autumn has moods of changing hues. From bright summerlike suns to dark sweeping rains, this splendiferous season transforms her landscape. Here, in Northern Virginia, wisps of colorful sunsets often streak across the sky. 

Crisp and crunchy,

Russet and golden-orange leaves,

Pile in heaps,

Ready to adorn Autumn.

Then, on a windy day in fall,

With a jubilant sway

Autumn dances her way

into the sky's dancehall.

©CVarsalona, 2023, Virginia, draft

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While passing by holiday storefronts, I noticed a mannequin dressed in holiday green. It reminded me of a photo I shot years ago in a nursery on Long Island, NY. The image below sparked an idea for Poetry Friday's host, Anastasia Suen's #smallpoem challenge. 

Anastasia shares her delightful poem on a memorable first snow day for this week's Poetry Friday Roundup which will surely be filled with poetic goodness.  Below is my response to the writing challenge.

Hay(na)ku of Gratitude

Lately, I watch November winds shift chilling the air and tossing crumpled leaves into garden beds. Days grow shorter and the sky darker. These are task-filled, ordinary days, yet they are days of thanks for small accomplishments. 

During gratitude month, I join other writers who find time to recognize earth's beauty and praise small moments through writing. I use a simple, contemporary poetic format, hay(na)ku, created by Eileen Tabios in 2003, and a photo by my daughter to create a gratitude poem.      

november

pauser of life

shifting our perspective

©CV, 2021. photo by Devin Hartnett 

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” -William Arthur Ward

My little grandgirls turn any day into sunshine by their presence and joyful spirits. I am thankful for their smiles, their love, and how they change my perspective on life. 

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I join Two Writing Teachers for Slice of Life Tuesday.

November's Gratitude Gifts

This November morning, fresh with its frosty dew, marks the onset of autumn's transition time. Will the cinnamon and brown sugar landscape turn into gifts of gratitude? Yes it will if you seek gratitude each day to "welcome November, the season of senses..." (Gregory F. Lenz) 

Within the realm of everyday living, observing the ordinary is a slow-down, be-in-the-moment activity that heightens awareness of life. 

Creating digital art and gratitude poems this November is one way to 

appreciate life.

Aurora at Buckland Farm Market

One of Autumn's Memorable Days

I send out my gratitude in the form of a #gratiku to Linda Baie for gifting me with two poetry books and a poem, 24 Things to Always Remember...and One Thing Never -Anonymous just because she is full of kindness. 

act of kindness

sent across miles of friendship

poetry fills voids

©CV, 2021

"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."  -William Arthur Ward

You can read other gratikus and gratitude poems at my previous blog post,  

Gratitude Month at Spiritual Journey Thursday.

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REMINDER

You are invited to join my newest online, 

Global Gallery of Artistic Expressions

-Bedecked in Autumn!-

Share your image poems, gratikus, inspirational quotes, artwork, digital designs, and music

on or before November 19th at Poetry Friday when I host.

Send your offering to my Twitter feed, Facebook page, email: cvarsalona at gmail.com, or add to  the Sneak Preview that will be shared at the Poetry Friday Roundup

During the month of November, fill your heart with gratitude and poetic goodness and send it forward into the crisp, cool wind. For now, join Mary Lee Hahn, the host of the Poetry Friday Roundup at her blog, A(nother) Year of Reading, Savor her beautifully descriptive poem of autumn at its best during her road trip adventure. 

Gratitude Month at Spiritual Journey Thursday

November is here, wrapped in morning frost and universal thoughts on the importance of gratitude in our lives. National Gratitude Month with its mission of "encouraging us to embrace the power of gratitude" pops up on my screen. An email from Denise Krebs who resides in Bahrain pings. As the host of Spiritual Journey Thursday, Denise chooses gratitude as our monthly topic, shares her original small poems of gratitude, and encourages the community writers to write #gratikus and #gratitudepoems throughout the month.

I start with an inspirational quote that opens my month of writing with a positive touch.

November's shifting winds inspire me to create digital art and write a blackjack poem.

I turn to scripture to find a verse on thanks: 

"Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"  -2 Corinthians 9:15

and YouTube for an uplifting song of thanks:

I add my gratiku (gratitude + haiku) for each day of November 2021

during Gratitude Month.

 motherly love

memories of kitchen sweets

pass the cinnamon

©CV, 2021

(grateful for my Nonnie who taught my mother to bake who taught me to bake

and now, I teach my 4-year-old granddaughter

who also bakes at home with her mother, my daughter)

During the month of November, fill your heart with gratitude each day and send it forward into the crisp, cool wind. For now, join the Spiritual Journey Thursday community at Denise Krebs' blog as we fill the universe with gratitude and poetic goodness. 

April Showers

It is springtime in Virginia with flowing cherry and blossoming white pear trees lining highways to make a splashy debut. Nature is blooming with pride but sudden angry outbursts occur noting that April is full of surprises. 

Again the blackbirds sing;

the streams Wake,

laughing from their winter dreams

And tremble in the April showers.

The tassels of the maple flowers.

-John Greenleaf Whittier

Petunias after the rainstorm

I am in my new house among many unopened boxes and look out at this cold spring day. Springtime seems confused. Before Spring's official opening, the weather was springlike. Now, some days are warm, some are chilled by showers. The old saying, April showers bring May flowers, is appropriate for this season. Oddly enough, nurseries are filled with bright colors of springtime so with great delight, I add flowers to my patio. Will they last? Not sure. On Long Island the rule of thumb is, "Don't plant until Mother's Day".

☔

Taking the strike line, "And tremble in the April showers," from John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, I would like to share a golden shovel poem describing some nights and afternoons. 

Spring in Virginia has a penchant for mischief and

Enjoys its own merrymaking, causing me to tremble:

Quick, thunderous, nighttime sounds shout out in

Unison with shocks of light. Without warning, the

Rainwater splashes across patio pavement as April

Laughs, watching flowers tousle about amongst its showers.

©CV, 2021, draft

Today is another cool, cloudy day starting at 56 degrees. It is chilled enough for me to flip a switch for the dual fireplace to warm the house and my hands. Then, a sweet surprise happens. The sun shines and the rainwater disappears. 

spring chill

fireplace roars

plants thrive

©CV, 2021

This week I also created an equation poem, an anchored tercet, and a personification poem.

☔

Join me for today's Poetry Friday Roundup. It is hosted by the ever-gracious Jama Rattigan at her blog, Jama's Alphabet Soup. Jama shares a poem by the former UK Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. One line in her poem talking about the words of poems seems magical: 

They're sparklers

scrawling their silver loops and hoops

on the night...

On April 19th, I will join my poetry colleagues at the 2021 Progressive Poem where I will add my line choices to the poem that began on April 1st with Kat Apel. Check out the first day lines and a list of poets who are contributing this year at Kat's blog here.

Thanks to Irene Latham, I have another beautiful Live your poem postcard to display for National Poetry Month 2021 and a lovely welcome to my new home note.

March Musings: Day 1 of March SOLSC! #SOL21

 

Writing is a daily practice, an opening of my heart to the whispers of my soul. 

It just so happens that as I begin this ritual of daily writing with the Two Writing Teachers Community, I am in the process of leaving one life to create a new one. My one word 2021, begin, will be my guide as I pack my Long Island home of 39 years because a new adventure in Virginia awaits me. 

Why, Virginia?

I am moving with my husband and son to live closer to my daughter, son-in-law, and two delightful granddaughters, ages 3 1/2- and 1-years-old. My sister also decided to build a new home in the same community. Need I say more? Family First! But before I start a new chapter of my life story, I must cross one last hurdle as March chillingly marches in. Winter still lingers but time does not stand still. Packing continues. An estate sale commences. Movers arrive in one week. Then, off to Virginia and back to Long Island for the closing.

Today, with so much to do and so little time, I was able to pause for a brief moment this morning to listen to a sweet song.

During March SOLSC! #SOL21, I plan on documenting each day of my new beginning. Join me this month to reveal another page in the journal of life as I search to find meaning in a new life and gratitude in quiet corners.

Proud Member of Two Writing Teachers Community

since 2015

Winter Walk on a Day of Peace

Winter dresses in muted blue tones on this day of peace. A crispclean chill cuts across the park, awakening January animals to perform for wandering visitors. Time stands still in in this bubble of stilled beauty. World turbulence, COVID updatings, and sounds of swiftling passing cars do not disturb the tranquil setting.  It is in this quiet place that our soul whispers and finds stillness to withstand the strife of the outside world. 

winter morning chill

cloudshifts share sky with sunshine

winter walk welcomed

©CV, 2021

peaceful pace

daystroll at McDonald Pond

sunlight sparkles

©CV, 2021

During my midday winter walk, I soak in the peaceful feeling nature presents. Watching life moving slowly, slows down the pace. Water sparkles; I watch diamond-studded shapes bounce in the water. A dog frolics, sprinting across the expansive grounds while a squirrel poses for a picture or two. The crispclean air fills the park. Conversations take on a different tone. Tranquility moves from nature to a space within the heart. 

Please listen to a song, O Day of Peace, befitting of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. 

Josh Garrels's soothing song delivers a reflective close to a day honoring a man of peace.

within the stillness

we can dream of peace for all -

in God we trust

©CV, 2021

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I turn my Slice of Life thoughts over to Two Writing Teachers.

Welcome to Dead End-Poetry Friday Rises!

Have You Ever:

Faced a dead end?

Wondered where life will lead you?

Seen pathways as a bookend

squished between few alternatives?

Brushed away sticky cobwebs and

tangled knots of this and that?

Searched for waves that in sunlight ebb

that lessen the dread?

©CV, 2020

↓

a place where fears rise

as phobias spiral into

a nebulous light of fright

 on Hallow's Eve.

As phobias spiral into

mounting terror

on Hallow's Eve,

moonbeams dance in a spectral mist.

Mounting terror

rises while stars swirl on a broomstick ride.

Moonbeams dance in a spectral mist

and costumed characters ward off fiendish howls.

Rising while stars swirl on a broomstick ride,

crispcool ghouls flash their razor-sharp grins

and costumed characters ward off fiendish howls.

Who seeks refuge in garden graveyards?

   Chrispcool ghouls flash their razorsharp grins

and scare the bravest lad

who seeks refuge in garden graveyards,

a place where fears R I S E.

©CV, 2020, pantoum poem

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The following golden shovel takes the strike line, mischiefs that on moonbeams ride, from Hallowe'en by Joel Benton to create a spooky poem. 

Listen to Benton's reading here for a Halloween treat. 

Within the dimness of night, mischiefs

rise as childish pranks spiral into that

vast expanse of fright on

Halloween. In the fractured light, moonbeams

shimmer as witches ride.

©CV, 2020

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All of the above images of spooky scenes were shot while walking through my neighborhood, then digitized to create an eery effect.

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Join me for the Halloween version of the Poetry Friday Roundup. I can't wait to see what poetic goodness our Denver host, Linda Baie, is serving. Below you will see the digital inspiration, One Halloween wish from Denver, Linda sent me for the "Haunted House Poemtober Journey" collection of my Abundant Autumn Gallery.

October's Transition

Because nature has brought a sense of peace to troubled times this season, I am grateful. October, the high point of autumn, paves the golden path for November to usher in a slower pace with thankful thoughts. For this transition, I have created my first pantoum.

A pantoum is a poem of any length, composed of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. The last line of a pantoum is often the same as the first. 

October's Transition

October ends its stay with slipsliding stride.

Crunching rustling leaves.

Spreading multicolored layers thin.

Preparing a way for more crispcool times.

Crunching rustling leaves,

October's evening blush dims,

Spreading multicolored layers thin

as enchanted evening dreams begin

October's evening blush dims

into a speckled indigo sky.

As enchanted evening dreams begin,

nature golddusts earth with thankful sighs.

Into a speckled indigo sky

November sweeps through like a feather duster

as enchanted evening dreams begin

flowing through crispclean air.

November sweeps through like a feather duster

refreshing late autumn's terrain.

Flowing through crispclean air,

October ends its stay with slipsliding stride.

©CV, 2020

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turns into November thanks

Autumn walks in beauty on days

of lustrous hues, muted skies, and

earth bedecked in dazzling jewels.

©CV, 2020

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To add a more gratitude for a season of grandeur, I honor the work of fellow slicers who write alongside me for my Abundant Autumn Global Gallery of Artistic Expressions.

Pandemic Getaway

Fall

reflects

pensively

on pandemic

woes as it invites

travelers to peaceful

shores filled with wishwells of joy.

Pause to bask in nature's grandeur

during getaways that provide rest

from the stresses of a compromised world. 

©CV, 2020, etheree

May October's beauty transition joyfully

into November's crispcool settling time.

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I am sending this Slice of Life to Two Writing Teachers.

#SOL20

Thank you to the following slicers for offering your artistic expressions on the Abundant Autumn Gallery of Artistic Expressions, Slicers' Edition.

Terje Akke

Ramona Behnke

Fran Haley

Bob Hamera

Kevin Hodgson

Molly Hogan

Margaret Simon