A Rant

Some years when fall colors are spectacular, and streets lined with deep red maples display their grandeur, I despair. For I know the transience of nature's artistry.



A Rant


And another thing:
some years you are too
extravagant
with your glamour,
drowning the maples
in crimson,
using bottles
of coloring
instead of dollops
until they turn scarlet
as the lips
on streetwalkers,
brazenly lining
boulevards
until one morning
they stumble,
tawdry
in the dawn,
make-up faded,
limbs exposed,
leaves in a heap
at their feet,
and you unconcerned
as a madam,
knowing old man winter
(that icy-fisted
not-so-choosey regular)
waits around the corner.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

Always a Gamble

We have had a lot of rain this fall. It can be annoying, especially when the water finds a way inside. But as potentially damaging as leaks can be, the farmers have it worse. Acre upon acre of corn and soybeans remain unharvested because of frequent showers or water standing in the fields.



Alway a Gamble


Too many cornstalks hesitate
to swap summer's field-green foliage
for windbreakers of beige.

Behind this, lingering warmth
and a cosmic spigot stuck on open.

Decades ago, my own uncles, forced
indoors by wet weather, watched
a World Series feeling torn:

glued to the games but cursing the rain.

Even the flintiest of farmers pray
for stretches of goldenrod days
before wins become losses
and yields start to sink in muddy fields.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

Season's End

It's autumn, and that fact was driven home this past week with a foretaste of wintry weather. A dusting of snow, gusty winds, and icy rain swept through. Brief though it was, it was still a reminder that all things come to an end.



Season's End


I'm reluctant to take down
my leggy begonia.
Its leaves late summer green,
the blossoms scattered
like lipstick kisses.

Do I remove the basket now
and remember it wild
with flamenco blooms, or wait
for a hard frost to dance a black tango?

It seems only yesterday we chose
a closed casket
for my brother's funeral.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor  

Autumn Up North

The colors at our cabin in northern Wisconsin have almost reached their peak, and it has been an exceptional autumn. At times I find myself overwhelmed by the beauty, and start to take it for granted.



Autumn Up North


Canopies touched by Midas
and courts of Crimson King maples
sidle up to evergreens,
flood the color cones in my eyes.

Like gorging on chocolate truffles
the pleasure recedes the more I consume,
turns common as penny candy
or hum-drum as the trees back home.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

Oracles

Prose sometimes hides poetry, and if you look closely it can be discovered by rearranging the words. I found a series of poems hiding in a horoscope in the daily paper.



Oracles
             A Found Poem by Holiday
             Mathis, Star Tribune
             Horoscopes, 3/3/2019


I.   Essential Truth


The digital age accepts plots,
schemes, and naivety.

White lies grow, and with it,
responsibility for immunization
succumbs to social dynamics.

Unexpected disease exposes
the glaring flaw in this mentality.

Help yourself and others - immunize.

This message courtesy
of Leo and Scorpio and people
who adore you.


II.   On Dieting


Be fearless about cutting out takeaway.
Delve deeper into other cuisines.

Learn to exercise,
timing is everything.

Acceptance of other truths
furthers your interests.

You'll grow to appreciate yourself
and what you write on the moon.


III.   Naivety


A gift or a flaw?

Humbly listening to others
gains no sophistication points.

Some with worldly experience
view naifs as social jokes,

but wide-eyed people
let things unfold naturally.

Give the benefit of the doubt to all,
even Hydra of the many heads.


IV.   Pursuit


Leo and Libra chase each other
across the moon, travel the world
in a soul-aligned direction,
mesmerized on the way
with Virgo as their guide,
pursuing lucky numbers
6, 40, 22, and 18.



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor