Ashes are for Remembrance

K.Hartless,

Strike of match
leaf departing tree
fall of flint and ash
sizzling flags set free.
Skittering bones, we
trudge the season’s catacombs.

Woods exchange blows
their yellowing begins
but before branches thin
winds lift a finger, referee,
points our focus
to the cackling within.

© khartless 2021, All Rights Reserved

Artwork: Melanie Daniel, Still Falling 4 U (2021)

d’Verse’s Monday Quadrille: Ashes to Ashes asks us to write a 44 word poem using the word ash. Join us.

Published by K.Hartless

K.Hartless is a persistent poet and eclectic fiction writer. She’s been recently published in Luna Station Quarterly, The Last Girls Club, Edge of Humanity Magazine, Pure Haiku, and Spillwords. Her blog, Yardsale of Thoughts, blends fiction, poetry, music, and art to create new experiences for readers.

40 Comments

    1. Thank you kindly, Dwight. Yes, these fires seem to be changing so much, and yet we continue on in the same ways. No, the artwork is by Melanie Daniel, Still Falling 4 U (2021). Just checking now to make sure I left a link to her gallery in the comments. I saw her artwork recently. Breathtaking.

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  3. I like the layers here – and the different point of view – both as witness to these events, as well as the shift – the idea of the wind being a referee after the woods exchange blows, and begin yellow bruising – the particular way you’ve phrased it is really exquisite – definitely fresh and imaginative – lovely quadrille!

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    1. Thank you kindly, WildChild. Actually composed quite a bit of this walking the woods near our home this evening. Just jotted down all that came to me and let it simmer down a bit. So glad you enjoyed it.

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      1. it’s very rich and for a “jumble” of thoughts gathered, you’ve carefully crafted, resulting in something very wonderful – cheers!

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  4. It feels like autumn forests and the leaves changing colors and falling but there is a subtext of a struggle as well. It’s a pleasant mix of images, and I also like the image you chose. Will check out the link for more of the artist’s works.

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  6. This is autumn right on the edge of winter – the violence of leaf-loss, the proximity of the crone. it’s getting dark out there, and those leaves are the last flags of the light. Such an atmospheric write. Thank you for sharing.

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  10. I love the sense of life in change here, of activity and also of letting go as trees do, to meet the latest factor. I especially like the last two lines of the first stanza–sums the season up in a nutshell–or a skittering leaf.

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  14. I love these lines, K.
    “Skittering bones, we
    trudge the season’s catacombs.” So beautifully done and a great complement to the art.
    pax,
    dora

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    1. So kind, and thank you, Björn. I am most in my element in the fall. Always find the smells and sights to be most appealing to my muse. Love Dylan, will be much bolstered by comparison. Cheers!

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  16. “Woods exchange blows their yellowing begins but before branches thin winds lift a finger,”.. This is absolutely stunning! You have portrayed Autumn and the transition that it brings along with it so well! 💝💝

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