november

by

John J. Dunphy

image from Stephanie/Pinterest

drizzling rain

near freeze

gray earth

moldering leaves

empty fields

harvest done

muddy quagmire

beckoning none

bare forest

stark trees

withered wildflowers

vanished bees

dying grasses

brown reeds

fallen acorns

squirrel feeds

burst pods

migrating birds

scarlet bittersweet

unspoken words

smoking chimney

rounding bend

blazing hearth

journey’s end

(published in the November 1988 issue of Springhouse magazine)

John J. Dunphy’s poetry collections include Old Soldiers Fading Away, Zen Koanhead, Touching Each Tree, pagan rites, Bullet Cluster, Stellar Possibilities and Dark Nebulae. He is also the author of non-fiction works such as Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947. He owns the The Second Reading Book Shop in Alton, IL, USA