Autumn Song
Lettuce has bolted
rhubarb has plumed
cabbage grown plump
the onions have bloomed
Apples hide stars
tomatoes mandalas
green pews hold peas
mushrooms umbrellas
Beets count their rings
like old hickories
cauliflowers
are albino trees
Turnips love purple
radishes red
carrots, potatoes
won’t get out of bed
Corn’s teeth are stained
peaches and cream
gherkins escape in a
dill pickle dream
Pumpkins grow fat
like full harvest moons
goose gang flies south
honking its tunes
© 2009 by Violet Nesdoly
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Happy October! This time of year begs for a seasonal poem. I dug this one out of my binder. I believe I wrote it in 2009. It makes me wish I had a garden to harvest. The next best thing is a Farmer’s Market. The photo is a collage from the amazing Kelowna Farmer’s Market. I took the photos when we visited in late September last year.
This post is linked to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe.
Violet Nesdoly 
What gorgeous photos and what a fun poem! It feels so bountiful, like a good harvest. I especially love the first line, and the apples hiding stars, and the tomatoes hiding mandalas, and the carrots and potatoes that won’t get out of bed!
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Thanks so much, Liz! Poems with lists can be a lot of fun, especially when the list concerns a favorite season and a garden. 😉
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Wonderful poem, Violet! Especially love those potatoes and carrots who won’t get out of bed. 🙂 Love how you’ve captured the spirit of the season, the wealth of harvest.
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Aw, thanks, Jama! Autumn is a gorgeous time isn’t it–both for color and for the foody harvest.
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Love this, Violet! Happy autumn!
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Thank you so much, Matt!
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Your poem made me visualize this rich market in a whole new way.
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Thanks, Margaret! I so enjoyed your class video this week. You do some fabulously creative things with your students.
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They’re marvelous images, that ‘stained corn’, & ‘mushroom umbrellas’, but I like this best: “gherkins escape in a/dill pickle dream”. I do make pickles, although sweet, & it’s something passed down from my husband’s aunt. Wonderful time, this autumn season.
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It sure is a wonderful time, Linda. I’ll never forget late summer/early fall in the farm and the kitchen smelling mouth-wateringly of vinegar and pickle brine–turmeric golden with mustard seed floaties. It almost makes me want to rush out and buy some pickle-making fixings. 😉
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What a fabulous poem full of wonderful imagery – and healthy food too! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you, Sally, for dropping by and your lovely words!
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I love so many lines/images in this poem, but my favorite has to be the pews for the peas!
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Aw thanks, Mary Lee. They are a most behaving and obedient vegetable, aren’t they?
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