Hello, friends.
I’ve just been up north, visiting the kind of fall we don’t usually get in central Texas.
You know the drill — red, rustley leaves, a growing chill, flocks of migratory birds.
(Actually, we do get the migratory birds, but at the other end of their journey.)
It’s exquisite and, also, a harbinger of the dark and cold to come.

All that by way of introducing my poem this month.

The prompt was to write a terzanelle, which is a poetic mash-up of a villanelle and a terza rima. More specifically, it’s a 19-line poem with both a rhyme scheme and several repeated lines, although our sources offered differing rules on where and when those should occur. (I followed this template.) We also, as a group, agreed to using one pair of rhyming words (might and slight) somewhere in the poem.

I have to admit, I thought this was a tricky form, and my first go at it was forced, clunky and pretty boring. I think where I’ve landed is only incrementally better than that, and overuses both the em dash and the parenthetical, but it will do for now. Think of it as evolving, just like fall!

The Kingfisher’s Call
Liz Garton Scanlon

Belted kingfisher rattles with alarm
(as if today’s the day, the final call)
and then she freezes, plunges, inflicts harm.

Each yellowed leaf lets go and takes its fall,
the autumn sun sinks heavy in the west,
as if today’s the day, the final call.

We’ve overstayed ourselves – embarrassed guests –
bearing awestruck witness to this time.
The autumn sun sinks heavy in the west

amidst a bruisey pool of pink. Sublime.
If I’m afraid of missing it, I might.
Bearing awestruck witness to this time –

the daily deaths (magnificent and slight) –
I catch my breath, wings beating in my throat.
If I’m afraid of missing it, I might.

The ease of August already remote,
belted kingfisher rattles with alarm
(I catch my breath, wings beating in my throat)
and then she freezes, plunges, inflicts harm.

To read my pals’ poems, go here:
Tanita
Tricia
Laura
Sara
Mary Lee

And thanks to Jone for hosting Poetry Friday, HERE!

Want to write with us next month? We’re looking forward to writing “The Year As A __________” poems. See Tabatha’s post for our inspiration! See you then and, in the meantime, VOTE and be well!