"Another Autumn - Mountain Farm, 1890"

Another Autumn - Mountain Farm, 1890

  With protective shoulders, stained complexion
Humpback Mountain sweetly chirps, trills, rustles, and woos;
  Serenade so tranquil, I forget
          she's also
     a tempest possessed
of blustering, tumultuous song.  I listen
as sun-drenched basil waltzes, balmy breeze conducts.
     Observe stoic thyme
          still standing
  sentimental over yesteryear

  faintly blooming tints of simplicity.
Sacrificial herbs hanging upside down dying,
  drying in upper loft, children's beds,
          clapboard walls
     thin split shingles squint,
almost glare as I, judge and jury, heavily
question slits of sky blue, beautiful today, but
     bold January
        isn't known
  as a gracious, understanding host.

  Hand hewn, these old logs still standing, recall
voices raised in melodies I cannot quite hear.
  hands of tobacco, wool, apples, milk,
          eggs, walnuts
       chestnuts, clucking hens,
razorback pigs.  Minds of great ingenuity,
of necessity.  And I try hard to listen
     while grey squirrel wastes
          little time
  pondering a mountain people's past.

by Margaret Bednar, October 27, 2014

This is for "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Play it Again, Toads".  I chose to give a slight nod to  Dylan Thomas.  HERE.

I used the structure of "Poem in October" - paid close attention to his line count, but I do not even suggest I come close to his AWESOME inventiveness with image and emotion.  I also HAD to punctuate and just couldn't begin every line with a capital letter.  I'm sure it has to do with being unable to "flow" as beautifully as Dylan Thomas - for that is what his poetry seems to me - to just flow.  Do yourself a favor and google him if you have never read him.

Humpback Rocks Mountain Farm is a preserved part of Virginia's history along the Blue Ridge Parkway (Appalachian Mountains).