Fred Aiken Writing

Category: Poetry

THE FALL WILL COME

autumn’s metamorphosis, a spectral dance, chlorophyll’s retreat,
in a verdant trance 
seeping, beneath the lens of scrutiny, abscisic whispers free, tease, float,
farewell to chloroplasts, green cells’ domain, carotenoids unmasked, pigments wane
a day’s decline, 
auxins’ flux, the soft design sketched into the horizon,
a rhythmic cascade, synapses fire, 
neurons ablaze in the cooling pyre 
while intricate as helixes catch fire,
shift profound, underground, 
biological clocks in whispers, unbound
deciduous syntax, leaves dissected, 
burning vernacular decay, not neglected
as microbes get to work, writing cellulase’s script,
temperatures plummet, enzymes cease, phenolic compounds bring autumn’s peace
fluorescence, gone, a reverie of pigment, 
a season’s song, waning,
fall’s chemistry caught in a beaker, 
decoded, polyphenols aflame in colors bestowed 
dendritic pathways, neural networks splay, 
unharmonious prose, caught in the seasons changing, fall, flat, 
nature’s data points, her cryptic call
a season’s wisdom, in every leaf’s sway

TO REACH OUT

tea on a hot day,
hot tea on a day,

tea leafs thrown at the wall
and told to stay, don’t move,

be right back,
or maybe not at all,

the simplest of pleasures made to look
too damn complex, rearranged, folded, carved up,

for viewing pleasure, 
or a pleasant view,

though not if they are avant-garde,
cause otherwise you’re expected to not like them,

throw them up,
hands up, lay on the ground, don’t look at me!

don’t you dare,
dare, to not look at me!

PASSTIME PASSING DIMES

exhibit the moment,
reach into a bag that was not there a second ago,
feel around,
it not your bag, it’s not anyone’s bag,
the material is odd, foreign, possibly non-existent,
which could mean that you’re non-existent,
but only on one dimension of reality,
and we’re on a different dimension,
so it’s all good,
so long as poptarts still exist and can be eaten
in less than 5 minutes, then we’ll you’ll be fine,
breathe, paddawon, or is it pat-tin-wont,
no, that doesn’t make any sense,
but keep exhibiting the moment,
take up yoga, or body building, though whichever one you do,
just stop looking at me like that