WRITING IN AUTUMN: a poem by Irene Latham

A while back I accidentally wrote a poem titled "Writing in Winter." It's about the moment before you begin, when the white space is waiting for you. 

That led to other writing poems for the other seasons, each attempting to capture a moment in the writing life. 

The "autumn" one, which I offer you today, is about that moment when you make a breakthrough and discover something about your story or characters after struggling along. Perhaps some of you can relate!

Writing in Autumn

We play hide-n-seek

on lawn dressed in red

and yellow, shuffle paths

the wind soon rearranges.

No matter how often we rake

or blow the grass bare

there is always more:

pile turns mountainous,

our intentions buried,

hidden. We close our lids,

weave between the maples,

count from one to ten.

Beside us, dog sniffs,

plunders, until finally

we see it: blue sleeve,

freckled nose, the point of it all

grinning like a jack-o-lantern,

voice clear as sky:

took you long enough

copyright 2013, Irene Latham

If anyone is interested, I happen to have some lovely postcards of "Writing in Summer" and "Writing in Spring." If you'd like one mailed to you, email me with your address: irene (at) irenelatham (dot) com. Happy writing, and thanks for reading!