Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Hunting Season



The leaves in silent fire
are mellowing,
a cool, crisp blaze
before the frost—
the last cracKle, pOp
before Old Man Winter
grays us with his beard.

We watch
as orange and white
petals of autumn suns
l           i           n          g                      e                                  r
like paper lanterns,
and then
the current
rolls them on—

I snuggle in
close beside you,
sip roasted dandelion tea
dripped with honey in the cup,
and on my tongue—

hoping you
track the scent
and catch me

mid-fall.


© 2014 Jennifer Wagner



Friday, September 19, 2014

Friday, August 29, 2014

On Dead Dragonfly and Giant Mushroom Trail



It’s on our lips,
we’re whispering the change of time
while the ear tips of trees
are burning orange.

Seven and I
pick and eat blackberries,
just a few, though—
as the bulk have not yet turned
from green,
to red,
to purplish-black.

Not far away
charcoal is smoldering
and the scent of
grilling hot dogs
keeps summer alive—

we pause,
as much to watch
a rabbit watching us
and then bounce away,

as to hold on
to the end
and the beginning.



© 2014 Jennifer Wagner


“Seven” refers to my seven-year-old.  There is a trail near our house we often walk on where he found a beautiful dead dragonfly and where a giant mushroom grows sideways out of the trunk of a fallen tree, therefore, the title.  Happy changing of seasons!

For OLN at dVerse

Monday, November 11, 2013

Simply Jesus




your blood blooms still 
© 2013 Jennifer Wagner





When there’s not enough hyssop
to cleanse me of all these flaws—
I think I must live with them,
make slow improvements
with the
tick tick tick
of time’s cruel elements.

I know too well this unruly thing
inside me is me,
but there, too,
is the me that hungers for her first love

somewhere buried beneath
bruising, hardening, scarring
it throbs,
however disjointedly.

I am not a girl of
ritual, rules or religion.
I only know that at fifteen
I just wanted
to hold Your hand.

And now,
beyond church
and the things they add to it all,
and bitter politics
and the things they take away from it all,
and morality,
and all these rules I break—

I stand here today
wondering
when did I ever get the idea
You were not enough?

In dark,
in cloud,
in lightless days,
Your blood blooms still.

And I remember
I never needed
anything else anyway.



© 2013 Jennifer Wagner






1 Corinthians 2:2-5.  And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony[a] of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human[b] wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.


Monday, September 23, 2013

September Wish



photo © 2013 Jennifer Wagner



i know we’ll all
have our winters to face,
and for some, dark skies
may be just down the road—

but today, my hope is for light,
for rest on the journey,
and a place to sip sweet cider
with hints of cinnamon and clove

and autumn’s smile
to come and sit with us,
like a covering of colorful snow,
staying as long as it likes                    



© 2013 Jennifer Wagner



Saturday, November 3, 2012

Settling Upon November


The artistry of SueAnn.  Used with permission.

Damp yellow leaves
and a hanging gray

settled upon November

with sharp scents of burning wood
and smoke encircling chimneys.

Head down, she trudged ‘home’

rain splattering her jacket
and hiding bright tears.

November, the month

she knew more than leaves
were dying.



Copyright 2012 Jennifer Wagner


Thursday, October 25, 2012

Gloom



cobwebs thick upon your hands
dirt underneath your nails
embedded deep

buried
            alive

you feel the crust
of tears and dirt
stuck to your lashes
            your nostrils

choking
you make shallow breaths
repeat your name

you are

not                   dead                 yet

remind yourself
to come back
to the living

keep scratching and clawing

out
of
the
dark

someone will need

your survival story one day



Copyright 2012 Jennifer Wagner

Friday, October 19, 2012

Friday, October 12, 2012

Troll Bridge




facing the winter
of a hearse driven life
you soldier on
with skeletons in the closet
clacking along

the last frost covered leaf
curled and brown, laced with silver,
blows away in the wind

the wind,
there to bite you
sting you,
 remind you

of regrets and demons without, within—cackling
in the still-deadness
where your still-living questions
ask if you have left
them behind

they pick lustily
at your flesh, with tempting,
at your mind, with amoebic doubts—
troll-like, in a present-day quagmire
on one side of the bridge; whereupon crossing
you hear a voice
which says to Call This

The Bridge Where You Rename Yourself



                                                    And Forgiven, And Worth

                       Overcomer                                                                        Being

Names like                                                                                                                  Loved




Copyright 2012 Jennifer Wagner

Inspiration: Isaiah 62, Revelation 2, and a dream that woke me up

For the prompt at Poetry Jam and for  Poets United Poetry Pantry

*Note: this piece doesn't read right on most hand-held devices.  For accuracy read on a larger screen.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Falling - A Set of Haiku



old country road
blanket of pine needles
your cheeks ruddy


-------------------


my cold hand
in yours
warm


-------------------


smoke rising
flames bursting
scent of leaves


-------------------


sweeping over
shades of dusk
black crow moon


-------------------


cattle lowing
a song
for autumn


-------------------


cider
cinnamon swizzle stick
hints on my lips


-------------------


crème brûlée,
and the salt in your kiss
delicious


-------------------



Copyright 2012 Jennifer Wagner

recuerda mi corazon and Poetry Pantry

Friday, September 7, 2012

Russet and Gold


russet dreams
in flax and gold
spun through my fingers



crisp and cool
and bright
the mornings of disappearing mist



crunch of apples
sliced and sprinkled
cinnamon and sugar



little fingers
licked clean
i kiss their cowlicked heads


 
Copyright 2012 Jennifer Wagner

Autumn Series Haiku