Friday, November 6, 2015

NOVEMBER Poems

We have had some spectacular November weather up here in Massachusetts. Temperatures have reached into the seventies this week! That certainly isn't typical for this time of year. So happy that I have been able to take my granddaughters outside to enjoy the warm days and autumn foliage that still clings to some of the trees.


So often the poetry we hear/read about November focuses on Thanksgiving/giving thanks. I thought I'd post some November poems that include other aspects/thoughts about the month.


Here is a poem titled NOVEMBER RAIN by Maud E. Uschold. (NOTE: This poem is in the public domain.)



NOVEMBER RAIN

This autumn rainfall
Is no shower
That freshens grass
And brings the flower.

This rain is long

And cold and gray,

Yet sleeping roots

Are feed this way.



Trees and bushes,

Nearly bare

Of leaves, now chains

Of raindrops wear



Along each twig.

Some clear beads fall.

A tree could never

Hold them all.


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Here is an excerpt from a children's poem written by Dixie Willson about autumn and the month of November:


THE MIST AN ALL


I like the fall,
The mist and all.
I like the night owl's
Lonely call—
And wailing sound
Of wind around.

I like the gray
November day,
And bare, dead boughs
That coldly sway
Against my pane.

Click here to read the rest of the poem.


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Here is the first stanza of a poem about November written by Clyde Watson:

November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

Click here to read the rest of the poem. 

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Here is a cinquain written by Adelaide Crapsey, the woman who invented the poetic form:

NOVEMBER NIGHT

Listen. . .
With faint dry sound, 
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.

You can read about Crapsey here.


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Here is an excerpt from Rita Dove's poem NOVEMBER FOR BEGINNERS:

Snow would be the easy
way out—that softening
sky like a sigh of relief
at finally being allowed
to yield. No dice.
We stack twigs for burning
in glistening patches
but the rain won’t give.

Click here to read the rest of Dove's poem.

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And here is an excerpt from Helen Hunt Jackson's poem NOVEMBER:

This is the treacherous month when autumn days
With summer’s voice come bearing summer’s gifts.
Beguiled, the pale down-trodden aster lifts
Her head and blooms again. The soft, warm haze
Makes moist once more the sere and dusty ways,
And, creeping through where dead leaves lie in drifts,
The violet returns...

Click here to read the rest of the poem.


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Here are the first two stanzas of Lucy Maud Montgomery's poem NOVEMBER  EVENING:



Come, for the dusk is our own; let us fare forth together,
With a quiet delight in our hearts for the ripe, still, autumn weather,
Through the rustling valley and wood and over the crisping meadow,
Under a high-sprung sky, winnowed of mist and shadow.



Sharp is the frosty air, and through the far hill-gaps showing
Lucent sunset lakes of crocus and green are glowing;
Tis the hour to walk at will in a wayward, unfettered roaming,
 Caring for naught save the charm, elusive and swift, of the gloaming. 



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NOTE: I have had trouble formatting the poems in my post this morning. I'll try to fix if I can when I have some free time. Friday is always a really busy day for me.





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The POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP is at WRITE. SKETCH. REPEAT. this week.





8 comments:

jama said...

Wow! What a lovely bouquet of November poems, Elaine. So nice to have you join us for PF again. You are always missed!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Thanks, Jama! My grandgirls keep me busy...so I don't have as much time to blog. Still, I enjoy being part of the online kidlit and poetry lovers community. Your blog is the best! You must spend endless hours preparing your posts.

Unknown said...

Thank you for composing an online anthology of related poems, diverse and beautiful as the month itself. God bless you!

Doraine said...

A lovely collection for fall. We've been hot here today in Georgia. It doesn't feel like November, but it could change tomorrow! I love cinquains.

Linda B said...

Love each one, Elaine. So nice to see you here. I miss your lovely posts. I've been collecting autumn poems in a file, so will add yours to it, too. I do love the Adelaide Crapsey cinquain. What a gift she gave us. Hope all is going well with the grandchildren.

Mary Lee said...

Thanks for the November sampler!

Sally Murphy said...

Thanks for thse. I especially likt he first one which celebrates the kind of rain that can easily be described negatively.

Charles Waters said...

Hi Elaine:

Thanks for stopping by Poetry Friday. So happy you're enjoying time with your granddaughters in picturesque Massachusetts.

My best always,
Charles