poetpotter

I wrote this poem for fun one day, imagining how it would be to live a day backwards from dusk to dawn. Backwards What if instead of rising morn we peel the day backwards from dusk to dawn yawning to wakefulness finish the day before it’s begun Our stomachs full, without a bite of food the empty plate before us dessert before potatoes tasks done before we ever start hair combed as though there’d been no tangles clothing wrinkled after the iron What if we started the day at dusk peeled it backwards then tomorrow might be a fine day © Carolyn Wilker Published by Tower Poetry Society Summer 2017, Volume 66, No. 1

Some years ago when my great niece was about 10 or 11, my husband and I took her along on our trip to Tottenham to ride on the steam train. I wrote this poem much later, thinking back on that day. Now that she's in her 20s, she likely appreciates this poem a little more. Riding the rails - for Arikka We ride the rails in modern train’s ancient cousin the engine billows black smoke dusting our laps with soot the conductor tells tales of a phantom train as the countryside rolls by you sit with arms crossed      why don’t we go faster? Someday you’ll want to get off the fast train Carolyn Wilker Published in Good Times Magazine September 2015

Are you enjoying summer? Eating fresh fruits and vegetables and getting enough sun. Just not too much to get a burn. That's good, since autumn follows and not far behind either. Let's enjoy the sunshine. My poem for today is about the season that follows. Read it and I hope you'll recognize how it starts to show up. Autumn Autumn weaves itself into summer nights ushers in cool air the first chance it gets           changes greens to splendid reds and yellows          nips the roses still in bud          steals kisses from the sun Autumn whispers to migrating birds encourages squirrels to fill their homes with food Autumn slips in so skillfully that it’s hard to tell just when summer ends and autumn begins