Today Kim is prompting for dVerse Poetics: Autumn. I never get enough of autumn. Come join us and read. https://dversepoets.com/2017/10/17/poetics-the-smell-of-chrysanthemums/ This is also posted for Real Toads: http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-tuesday-platform_17.html
Silence of autumn
I sit on my back porch steps –
Autumn is silent this year –
insects are quiet at night –
The moon is a thin s(l)hiver
in the black sky.
I smell autumn coming –
I see autumn coming –
but this year
autumn is silent.
Golden leaves among the green
drop to the ground – dead
from a dry spring and summer.
Autumn is silent this year.
The first frost is not yet singing –
It waits in the clouds
for a cold dark night.
Autumn is silent.
Too many losses –
Too many tears.
The moon is a thin s(h)liver
in the black sky.
Autumn is silent this year.
My mother loved chrysanthemums.
kanzen sakura 
Oct 17, 2017 @ 10:52:42
Wow, Toni, your atmospheric poem and the view from my window were made for each other, except for the moon, which hasn’t appeared yet. I can definitely smell
autumn and there are already leaves in the grass. My favourite lines have to be:
‘The first frost is not yet singing –
It waits in the clouds
for a cold dark night’.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 10:54:24
We seem to be peeking into each other’s heads lately.
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Oct 17, 2017 @ 10:56:33
🙂
Oct 17, 2017 @ 10:59:05
I am touched by your poem, you brought tears to my eyes, I have so much loss in my life associated with autumn. My Mother also loved chrysanthemums, my Father, roses. I do not know what flower my Husband or my Son, loved? I wish I knew…but there is no one to ask. It is in that silence after when you realize there are so many questions you would like to ask.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 11:47:21
A beautiful poem Toni and I can feel the sadness of this first autumn without your mother. ‘The first frost is not yet singing – It waits in the clouds for a cold dark night’ is my favourite line too xxx
Oct 17, 2017 @ 15:19:21
Thank you Xenia. Hugs.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 12:41:23
Think of her in the chrysanthemums.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 15:15:17
I love it so much how you summed up the silence and sorrow in that last line.. the repetition worked so well
Oct 17, 2017 @ 15:18:38
Thank you Bjorn!
Oct 17, 2017 @ 16:08:28
The repetition works like a charm, enthralling us to feel what the speak feels… And your last line comes a the falling of the last leaf–shocking and heartbreaking.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 16:25:09
Thank you.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 16:10:54
Nicely done. Love the contrast between a silent autumn and the frost waiting to start its song.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 16:24:29
Thank you!
Oct 17, 2017 @ 17:07:39
Oh, a lovely and mournful poem. Graciously elegant.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 19:38:28
This is wonderful, a beautiful tribute poem.
My father died on November 28, 2017. He always loved the holidays. His death was a mercy. He’d been through a long period of decline. There weren’t a lot of tears on my part. I knew it was coming and I was numb. Still, that year I felt that the holiday lights were painfully beautiful. Seeing the lights and decorations will never again hold the same feeling of hope and wonder for me.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 19:41:30
Thank you. I am so sorry for your loss. My mother died a long, slow, painful death. She died this past june. I have shed many tears because I miss her so much.
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Oct 17, 2017 @ 19:50:40
Autumn is silent yet we can all feel its approaching footsteps and see all its colors in due time ~ The ending line just sums up the poignancy of the season with: My mother loved chrysanthemums.
Oct 17, 2017 @ 20:03:38
That last line is crushing in it poignancy… the silence, the smell…the remembrance…
Oct 17, 2017 @ 20:35:10
Beautiful remembrance of your mother in the silence of autumn.
Oct 18, 2017 @ 14:30:24
Thank you Frank
Oct 17, 2017 @ 23:40:23
Too many losses and too many tears….that is for certain. I love the last line which sets the reader off on yet another flight of poignant remembering.
Oct 18, 2017 @ 14:29:59
Thank you Sherry
Oct 18, 2017 @ 03:36:16
I am so sorry for your loss Toni 😦 this is a beautiful and poignant write.
Oct 18, 2017 @ 14:29:33
Thank you Sanaa
Oct 18, 2017 @ 08:42:42
I love chrysanthemums too.
Oct 18, 2017 @ 14:29:12
As do I. 🙂
Oct 19, 2017 @ 10:31:26
from a dry spring and summer.
Autumn is silent this year.
The impact of an adverse spring and summer months are telling!
Hank
Oct 19, 2017 @ 12:29:59
Masterfully written! I love it.
Oct 19, 2017 @ 15:47:37
This is beautiful and very sad. I am sorry for the silence. Much love to you. XX
Oct 22, 2017 @ 04:43:13
This is so beautiful and painfully silent. I felt the ominous chill.