.
With what perfection are the seasons spun;
When we grow tired of the opulent sun,
A wind from the north comes fanning our cheek
The trees turn riotous; the sky looks bleak.
As if to anticipate we may tire
Of autumn’s rushing Pentecostal fire,
The trees for a shocker cast off their clothes,
Standing stark naked; and then it snows.
They dress in sleek satin, polished and pearled
While winter’s white muffler hushes the world
When we are weary of the cold gray sky,
The clouds send down rain, and blue columbine.
And then the summer sets its course to run
Till we grow tired of the opulent sun.
.
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Erin J. Kahn is a writer and printmaker usually based in New York City. Her short stories have appeared in Fantasia Divinity Magazine and Epic Publishing’s fiction anthology Dead of Winter. She is also a theatre critic at StageBuddy.com and book reviewer at woodbtwntheworlds.blogspot.com.
Lovely.
It’s hard to choose a favorite–very apt.
Bravo Erin!
I love the brevity and circularity of your poem, and the fact that you manage to evoke so many great mental images with so few words. Your beautiful poem together with the picture of the awesome Walter Crane painting are a much appreciated treat on a very rainy day in south-east Tennessee, thank you.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it. I agree, that painting is stunning. (:
I really enjoyed the informality and tongue in cheek phraseology used in this poem, especially the personification of the trees going for a ‘shocker’.
Thanks for putting a smile on my face, Erin.
The changing seasons are one of my favorite things about this world, and you’ve captured the feeling of it beautifully.
My favorite season in this poem is “while winter’s white muffler hushes the world,” especially because “world” and “pearled” appear such a perfectly natural rhyme.
This is a rather apt meditation/discussion of the yearly cycle we all, in some way or another, must experience. I think you could use some punctuation after “cheek” in line 3 and after “world” in line 10. The columbine you mention sounds like the Rocky Mountain columbine, the state flower of Colorado, and, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful flowers the world has to offer. In line 12 the comma after “rain” is unnecessary, unless you deliberately intended to place a caesura there.
I like the way you use various literary devises to convey the dynamic way one season gives place to another. Numerous verbs and images create a sense of movement which engages the senses– the wind fanning the cheek, autumn´s Pentecostal fire “rushing” (I assume that you are describing the movement of the wind through bright red and gold leaves of fall), the trees “casting off” their clothing, the white muffler of snow “hushing” the world, clouds “sending down” rain. All these verbs which invoke in a vivid manner the sounds, the sights, and the changing temperatures of the seasons to create a sense of nature´s restless vibrancy. Well done!