November
Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:07 am
November
(Euonymus Alatus)
First frost, and they erupt into flames,
foliage lapping at streams of wind
that blends the bitterness of their orange berries
with the iced scent of November air.
Among my wilted cabbage roses they burn, taunting
from the place I plucked them
last spring. I thought I’d murdered them for sure,
holding each up like a scalped trophy,
but they sprout two and four where there was only one before.
Standing on my porch deck I ponder them,
the fire of their leaves crackles,
speaks the deistic vernacular of Gods.
I make a stubborn Moses, refuse to listen,
even when snows extinguish their flames
before they camouflage in the strewed greens of April.
They foretell of a time they’ll inherit my garden,
their planted seeds stir, inch up for breathe.
1st Draft
Charlotte, NC
11/7/2008
(Euonymus Alatus)
First frost, and they erupt into flames,
foliage lapping at streams of wind
that blends the bitterness of their orange berries
with the iced scent of November air.
Among my wilted cabbage roses they burn, taunting
from the place I plucked them
last spring. I thought I’d murdered them for sure,
holding each up like a scalped trophy,
but they sprout two and four where there was only one before.
Standing on my porch deck I ponder them,
the fire of their leaves crackles,
speaks the deistic vernacular of Gods.
I make a stubborn Moses, refuse to listen,
even when snows extinguish their flames
before they camouflage in the strewed greens of April.
They foretell of a time they’ll inherit my garden,
their planted seeds stir, inch up for breathe.
1st Draft
Charlotte, NC
11/7/2008