It’s Poetry Friday!
Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme
is celebrating several new books and poetry anthologies!
Join us!
Is there anything
more gorgeous
than a vineyard
in fall?
Well – perhaps
if its rows hold
a sweet, curious
2-year-old
in an oversized
blue sweatshirt…
National Write Out is underway! I cheated and began inhaling the beauty of the outdoors last week. The Rocky Mountains, Healdsburg, CA, and home to our own corner of the Sierras.
photos ©2024 Patricia J. Franz
No shortage of poetic inspiration! I’ll share a few written this week –from my back deck and on a morning hike with one rambunctious pup (who was very happy to see us).
maple blush
ere the frost cometh
ere the wind lash
trunk and root recall green home
let light caress
let maple blush
her leaf glissade underway
she practices plies
and port de bras
her lithe limbs in graceful sway
hush of sun-spun October
ere the frost cometh
poems & photos
©2024 Patricia J. Franz
wolf lichen
hidden between ridges of old bark,
at home in pine and fir snags,
bare branches in decay, waiting
light spills from a spring sky
as a forest thaws, or
golden rays of autumn days,
the last vestiges of warmth
–you emerge
a fuzzy coat thrown over
shoulders of a Jeffrey pine,
a pop of color for tired woods,
nestled at trunk’s base, companion
to a sheaf of shredded bark
mischievous tempter to fox and wolf
your cunning yellow-green tufts
reveal fragile fingers clinging to its host
silently, you do the hard work
of carbon cleanse
Patricia Franz writes picture books and poetry. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
I love your beautiful words.
“let maple blush
her leaf glissade underway”
Just beautiful, Patricia, both poems and photos!
As Jama said, this is beautiful all the way around, Patricia – that’s some incredible inspiration you have there!
I’m a huge fan of personification, Patricia, and your wolf lichen poem nailed it…it’s BEAUTIFUL. (As are your photos–what a different fall you have from those of us on the west coast!)
Patricia, Your two poems and the photos compliment each other. The wording flows beautifully. The cold has started to move in to the season but the sun keeps shining.
What beauty lies in your photos and your words, Patricia! It is no contest with the two-year-old in the vineyard, the winner! I enjoyed your poetic voice, speaking out in a celebration of the “goings on” of autumn. That thought of “tired woods” sets me wondering. Is it thinking it’s high time for sleep? Thanks for all and have a wonderful weekend!
I love ‘sun-spun October.’ That’s it! That’s the perfect description of gold. And that two year old…how wonderfully precious. Enjoy every moment.
You had me from the start with the photos in the vineyard (especially your grandson), but “hush of sun-spun October” made me swoon.
Beautiful photos, beautiful language. What made you go for the old words in “maple blush?” Your “wolf lichen” inspires me to write about the reindeer lichen we saw on Harris.
I agree that of all the seasons, the one that pushes me towards “archaic” language is fall. Your choices in “Maple Blush” seems perfectly fitting, not tired or old-fashioned, but suitably muted, nostalgic, even as sun spins its glow. And your carbon-cleansing “coat thrown over the shoulders of a Jeffrey pine” is pretty good too! ; )
I am loving “sun-spun October” too 🙂 Thank you for telling us about the National Write Out!