Happy Poetry Friday!
Lately I’ve been waking to the poetry of Barbara Crooker, thanks to Poetry Friday friend, Karen Edmiston, who happens to be hosting today. Karen posted a poem by Barbara Crooker a few months ago, and I immediately wanted more. I connect with so many of Crooker’s themes, her use of metaphor is exquisite, and she’s a fellow Pennsylvanian. Here are a few lines from “October Light” which inspired my poem for today:
October Light
where the air turns to honey, thickens, earth’s ochre hour.
Here is the map of perfect weather, the brief sweet
return of sun before the short gray days at year’s end…
Barbara Crooker, from The White Poems, 2001
We have a porch/sun room at the back of our house where the sun streams in during the late afternoon. When the trees are glowing and the air is clear, that room is filled with such warmth it almost takes my breath away. I wasn’t sitting in that room when I read “October Light,” but it’s all I could think of.
Sometimes In Fall
when the sky is turquoise
and the maples glazed with a ruddy glow,
the porch fills with the warmth of a thousand suns
the memories of growing children
sharing secrets
shouts of joy, tears of sorrow,
family, past and present.
Caught in the memory of a life well lived,
the late afternoon light
hugs my heart.
Draft, RoseCappelli2023
Be sure to stop by Karen’s blog today for the roundup, a lovely tribute to the wonder of Autumn, and lots more poetry goodness.
Imagine the Possibilities 
Rose this is exquisite! The maples glazed, light hugging heart! I want to sit in your sun room and let it wash me in memories. Thank you!
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Thanks, Patricia!
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I love this, Rose! … a life well lived.
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Thanks, Joyce.
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Ah, the hug of late afternoon light. I can see those leaves glazed with a ruddy glow–beautiful description!
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Thank you, Buffy!
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How beautiful that the light crystalizes with your memories and hugs your heart!
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Thank you, Mary Lee. I will miss seeing you at NCTE. Maybe next year I’ll get back. Have fun!
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Love your poem — I can just picture that warm sunlight streaming into the room. And Barbara Crooker is one of my favorite contemporary poets!!
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“hugs my heart” is such a lovely line. I am also inspired by Barbara Crooker. One of the first times I read her was a poem in Georgia Heard’s anthology of women’s poetry. “Ordinary Life” https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=2166
I wrote a companion poem: https://reflectionsontheteche.com/2016/01/15/nothing-happened/
Don’t you love when a poem inspires a poem inspires a poem…?
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I love Barbara Crooker, too, Rose. What beautiful words from her & now you’ve made me want to sit in your sun room, pulling “the warmth of a thousand suns” close. And I love the perfect ending, “hugs my heart”.
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Absolutely beautiful, Rose! I went and looked up a few Barbara Crooker poems, and her writing reminds me of your writing. Both so lovely!
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Thanks for the high compliment!
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This is really beautiful and captures the season and feelings so well. I really love the line “maples glazed with a ruddy glow.”
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Beautiful images, Rose. I can see the sunlit filled porch once trampled by children. I don’t know Barbara Crooker, but I’m going to find her and introduced myself to her. Thank you!
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Oh, that “late afternoon light” warms my heart as well, Rose. This is the first fall we’ve been in our upstate SC house full time, and the yard is a rolling substrate for oaks, maples, and hickories. I’ve been snapping so many phone pictures of the sunlight illuminating the colorful leaves during the “golden hour.” Thanks for sharing all!
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Love “the golden hour”
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Oh, Rose, my heart! This is such a beautiful snippet of the love in your family and heart, with the golden touches of sunshine and autumn. Your poem is exquisite.
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Thank you, Denise.
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Rose, those first three lines! They are astonishingly beautiful and make me feel like I’ve just been dropped in the middle of a fall afternoon that makes me know life will be all right…
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Thank you, Laura. I’m a bit overwhelmed by the responses to this poem. Like the afternoon light, they hug my heart.
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Rose, this is gorgeous! I love everything about it. The turquoise sky, the maples glazed with a ruddy glow, the memories, the heart hug … just beautiful. ❤️❤️ And I’m so happy you’re enjoying Barbara Crooker. She’s a treasure, and so are you!
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Thank you , Karen.
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“Caught in the memory of a life well lived,” Oh, I love this line, Rose!
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Rose, I am circling back to add a comment. The last two lines of your poem is touchy. Happy End-of-Fall! See you at PF tomorrow.
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Thanks, Carol.
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