FALL POEMS by Valerie Worth

Hello, and happy Poetry Friday. Be sure to visit the ever-delightful Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids for Roundup.

I'm back with one more post of Valerie Worth poems, all celebrating fall. More Valerie Worth can be found on the left sidebar.

I've always loved fall. And I love these poems!

pumpkin

After its lid

is cut, the slick

Seeds and stuck

Wet strings

Scooped out,

walls scraped

Dry and white,

Face carved, candle

Fixed and lit,

Light creeps

into the thick

Rind: giving

That dead orange

Vegetable skull

Warm skin, making

A live head

To hold its

Sharp gold grin.

- Valerie Worth

autumn geese

One long

Ragged

Thread

Unravels

The whole

World.

- Valerie Worth

skeletons

Is it the

Curve of their

Breezy ribs, the

Crook of their

Elegant fingers,

Their eyeless

Eyes, so wide

And wise,

Their silent

Ivory laughter,

The frisk and

Prance of their

Skittering dance

With never a

Pause for breath,

That fills us

With such

Delicious delight,

While scaring us

Half to death?

- Valerie Worth

haunted house

Its echoes,

Its aching stairs,

Its doors gone stiff

At the hinges,

Remind us of its

Owners, who

Grew old, who

Died, but

Who are still

Here: leaning

In the closet like

That curtain rod,

Sleeping on the cellar

Shelf like this

Empty

Jelly jar.

- Valerie Worth

I'll be back next week with a report from the Southern Book Festival in Nashville, TN, where I am presenting a panel entitled "Budding Resilience: Navigating Adult Issues in a Young Adult World" with authors Laura Golden (EVERY DAY AFTER) and Andrea Beaty (DORKO THE MAGNIFICENT). To make things extra-fun, I am traveling with my better-than-ice cream friend Pat. Yippee!!!