Tag Archives: chlorophyll

Autumn and Death (2 poems and a Conversation)

 

Autumn

The leaves have abandoned

that chlorophyll thing

and are leaking yellows and reds

like a paint store catalogue.

Death (a slimverse)

A God’s voice

roaring: You!

You are not

in control.

Conversation with Slim

Me: Slim, in a previous post “Slim’s Advice Part 2” you said and I quote:

“Avoid Autumn and Death

they’ve been done before

there’s little more to say

on either score.”

Are you being ironic here in a self referential way?

Slim: No.

Me: “Slim, the first poem here is an outtake or revision of a previous poem (Slim’s Advice Part 3), are poems ever really finished?”

Slim:

“Words can be ‘

rearranged

if you just

talk to them.”

Lately, Slim has taken to talking in these 12 syllable bites he calls “slimverse” and I find it irritating and more than a little disturbing. So, as gently as I can, I say to him:

“Slim, that makes absolutely no sense to me, do you not think you are being a tad cryptic, a tad gnomic, if you keep on like this, you are danger of turning into a fucking garden ornament”

We haven’t talked since.

Poet’s Corner 12 – Slim’s Advice Part 3

In which, Slim ignores his own advice. See Slim’s Advice Part 2.

A Clear Day in Late October

 A clear day in late October

is like a call from the Governor,

a stay of execution.

It is just such a day,

the leaves on the trees bordering the soccer field

have abandoned that chlorophyll thing

and are leaking yellows and reds

like a paint store catalogue;                                                         

on the side lines, the soccer dads

bark and pace like chain-linked hounds

like dogs locked in parked cars on a sunny day,

while in the bushes, Thwarted Ambition

waits to join them

on the long journey home.

Photo: Chlorophyll molecule (Chlorophyll-a-3D-vdw, licensed under public domain)