FALL HAIKU

Again school begins.
I do not think I'm ready
for vacation's end.

For the cool weather,
apple cider and donuts--
my favorite treat.

The poplar leaves spin
yellow snowflakes in the wind--
leaves shaped like mittens.

My dad rakes the leaves
I help him make a big pile.
Then we run and jump.

Halloween costume
I will wear for trick-or-treat--
Cat, Princess, Rock Star.

Running very fast
I let out string while I fly
my kite in the air.

   Happy Sunday.  I hope you have a great day. 

Unchain the Wind

Wind blows in a whirl
making branches dip
making leaves flutter 
and twirl.

Blowing leaves skyward
before they dance down
like snowflakes twirling
toward the ground.

With leaves crunching
under my feet,
autumn is the season
I love to greet.

    It is definitely starting to feel like fall.  This morning I put a sweater on for my walk.  All day I've been watching the wind blow and the branches on my citrus trees bob up and down.  What is autumn like in your part of the world?  Can you write your own autumn poem today?  Have fun writing.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Leaves fly
Dark sky
Limbs bend
Screaming wind
Lightning flash
Thunder crash
Scary
Halloween night.

FIVE ACORNS

ONE acorn
called out, "Wheeeeee!"
as he fell
from the oak tree.

TWO acorns
bet the ranch
as they flipped
from a branch.

THREE acorns
called out, "Hark!"
as they jumped
from the bark.

FOUR acorns
rolled on their rims
as they landed
from tree limbs.

FIVE acorns
fell on their knees
as they landed
under the leaves.

They each broke open
a hard shell
and slept through winter
very well.

They set down roots
in the cold hard ground
and grew up leaves
when spring came around.


   I do enjoy writing counting poems, and this one lets you know a little bit about an oak tree and all its parts.  Would you like to try acting out this poem? Can you try writing your own counting poem today?  Have fun writing.

   The Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater today over at The Poetry Farm http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/   Thanks, Amy for your beautiful poem today.  The poem is a great hug.

TREE

Today I learned
something new
for me.
I learned that a tree
isn't always a tree.

Some trees
don't have leaves,
you see.

A wooden form
to fit inside
a leather shoe
is a shoe tree.

A wooden post 
to hold
lots of hats
is a hat tree.

And a tree
to hold 
my genealogy
is a family tree.

So you see
not all trees 
have leaves.


     My citrus tree has been blooming and the smell is delightful.  But  this morning when I looked out at the tree, I noticed someone had been eating all the leaves.  I felt like Baby Bear, "Someone has been eating at my citrus tree and they ate it all up."
    So when I started to write today's poem, I guess the word tree was stuck in my brain.  Your challenge for today is to pick a word and write a poem about the different meanings of the word.  I'm thinking spoon, or run,  might work well.  Let me know what word you chose and have fun writing your poem.

THIS MORNING

The wind sings
a happy song
around dancing leaves.

They flutter up
before flittering
to the ground
in a patchwork quilt.

Soon it will be time
for the lull
of winter sleeping.

But for now
there is wood to chop,
pumpkins to harvest,

apples to press,
and honking geese
to fly south.

There is much to do,
just ask the wind.

     In this free verse poem, I wanted the title to be the first line.  I thought about using a lower case letter to start "the," but I thought that would look like a mistake. So the English teacher in me, insisted that the first line of the poem begin with a capital letter.
        Have you ever thought what the world would be like if we didn't have wind? Can you write your own poem about the wind, or fall today?  Have fun writing.

THE PARK

I want to go out and play.
Can we go to the park today?
I want to pump in the swings.
To chase
and race
and do all sorts of things.
To roll in the leaves
and watch the fall breeze.
I want to fly a kite
and toss a Frisbee
to a friend.
And then tomorrow,
can we do it again?


     When was the last time you went to a park?  What did you do there?  Can you write a poem about that today?  Have fun writing your poem.
     When I was travelling in France, I saw lots of KEEP OFF THE GRASS signs in the parks.  Why do you think they had those signs?

     I also have a friend who scattered her mother's ashes in the local park.  She didn't know what to do with Mom's ashes and she thought her mother would like to be in the rose bushes by the children playing. Do you have a story about ashes?  Can you make it into a poem? 

I'm sitting in the garden
for hours and hours
watching the blooming
of the flowers.

Some have 3 petals
some have four,
five or seven
and even more.

Some have leaves
with a central spine.
Some do not
and that is fine.

Some need sunshine.
Some need showers.
I'm sitting, watching
for hours and hours.


      When was the last time  you looked closely at a flower?  When was the last time you looked closely at the flowers' leaves?  My mother learned how to paint china dishes when she retired from teaching school.  One of the first things she gave to me from her painting was a jam jar and butter dish with strawberries she had painted. The strawberries were big and red with tiny yellow seeds on the sides.  The stems and tops were perfect, but there was something that wasn't quite right about it, and it took me a long time to figure out.  Mom had painted raspberry leaves on the strawberry vine.  I still treasure my hand-painted strawberry set, but it has gotten me to closely examine leaves.  As we approach fall this month and the leaves start to change colors, you might enjoy collecting your own leaves to examine and write poems about.  Happy Labor Day, have fun kicking back and gathering data for writing your own poems.

Acorn

An acorn
dropped
from
the top
of a 
tall
oak
to spin
whirl
twirl
then
plop
into
the 
soft 
earth
to be
covered
in a
colorful
patch-
work
quilt
of fallen
leaves
to sleep           S  again.
until               E
spring          S
when          I 
it              R



      I've been playing with spine poems again.  This one reads down before you start up again as the acorn drops and then starts to grow at the end of the poem.  Was this one hard to read?  I've been having fun with thinking about things that drop.  It is Sunday, so have fun writing your own poem today.

Gravitational Force

Gravity
forces
birds
bees
leaves
and
me 
to 
float
drop
fall
toward
earth


     I've been working on some spine poems lately.  These are long slim poems with only one or two words on each line.  Can you write your own spine poem today?
You might have fun writing from the bottom up.

sky
the
into
bird
a
like
float
to
air
expanding
heats
balloon
air
hot
a


   Have a great weekend. Write some poems.  Have fun.

Poetry Friday is hosted by Sherry  at Semicolon this week. And Co-hosted by Matt Forest at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme.

Rain makes the road shine black.
I listen to the pitt-a-pat.
Dripping from the tree leaves,
falling off the edge of eaves.

On this day, I could feel gray
but the shine on the road
takes the blues away.


     Do you know the adage about, "Look for the Silver Lining?"  there was a movie in the 50's with that title.  It means to look for good things  even in bad situations.  Your challenge for today is to write a poem about something good that came out of something bad or difficult.  I Hope you have a great day.
  

WINTER COLD

Tonight it might freeze.
The citrus trees
Could loose their leaves.
Could lose the fruit too.
What to do?

To keep  the trees
Away from harm,
We put lights on
To make them warm.

Then for more heat
And lots more drama
We dressed the trees
In pink pyjamas.


     This was a fun poem to write because at first I had a hard time finding a rhyming word for pyjamas.  At first I thought about moving that word, so it wasn't my end word.  But, the pyjamas is the whole point of the poem and it really needed to be the final word.  So I went to my rhyming dictionary and there were several options.  Can you write a poem today about what you do to keep warm?  Have fun.

GOOD NIGHT

Fierce winds blow.
The wind chime sings loudly.
Leaves chatter on the trees
and I huddle 
in my warm blankets
listening to this night speak.

    Have you ever had nights when you couldn't sleep and you listened to all the sounds in the silent house?  Did you hear the clock ticking, a water faucet dripping, the heater click on? Could you hear someone snoring, or your dog wheezing?  Do you have a loud purring cat? Perhaps you heard crickets chirping.  Most houses make some creaking noises as the bones expand or contract.  Can you write your own poem today about what your house sounds like at night?


   Renee LaTulippe at NO WATER RIVER is hosting POETRY FRIDAY today.

Kicking Leaves

Walking to school

kicking the leaves

my feet make

a swishing breeze.

Look at the colors

so many hues

red, yellow, greens

orange, purple, blues.

The leaves swirl

in my breeze

making a rainbow

beneath my knees.

     Can you write your own poem about the leaves?  Have fun.  You might also want to read Donald Hall's famous poem Kicking the Leaves.