October Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPK QRQSTUVHWKXY TGZA2UUTTB2C2D2E2UF2 A2G2H2I2J2G2KK2L2M2N 2O2 P2Q2R2HR2S2FB2T2U2V2 UW2GTA2QTX2Y2 OZ2B2UA3B3C3ND3E3TZ2 F3 G3H3TG3I3KJ3K3DQ2L3J 2M3C3N3YO3P3Q3TKHO3H CTTBTKR3M3TR2Q2TH HTTTTS3T3U3TG2V3U3BT W3HBX3TTY3TZ3| A | |
| A smudge for the horizon | B |
| that on a clear day shows | C |
| the hard edge of hills and | D |
| buildings on the other coast | E |
| Anchored boats all head one way | F |
| north where the wind comes from | G |
| You can see the storm inflating | H |
| out of the west A dark hole | I |
| in gray cloud twirls widens | J |
| while white rips multiply | K |
| on the water far out | L |
| Wet tousled yellow leaves | M |
| thick on the slate terrace | N |
| The jay s hoarse cry He s | O |
| stumbling in the air | P |
| too soaked to fly | K |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Knuckles of the rain | Q |
| on the roof | R |
| chuckles into the drain | Q |
| pipe spatters on | S |
| the leaves that litter | T |
| the grass Melancholy | U |
| morning the tide full | V |
| in the bay an overflowing | H |
| bowl At least no wind | W |
| no roughness in the sky | K |
| its gray face bedraggled | X |
| by its tears | Y |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Peeling a pear I remember | T |
| my daddy s hand His thumb | G |
| the one that got nipped by the saw | Z |
| lacked a nail fit into | A2 |
| the cored hollow of the slippery | U |
| half his knife skinned so neatly | U |
| Dad would pare the fruit from our | T |
| orchard in the fall while Mother | T |
| boiled the jars prepared for | B2 |
| putting up Dad used to darn | C2 |
| our socks when we were small | D2 |
| and cut our hair and toenails | E2 |
| Sunday mornings in pajamas we d | U |
| take turns in his lap He d help | F2 |
| bathe us sometimes Dad could do | A2 |
| anything He built our dining table | G2 |
| chairs the buffet the bay window | H2 |
| seat my little desk of cherry wood | I2 |
| where I wrote my first poems That | J2 |
| day at the shop splitting panel | G2 |
| boards on the electric saw oh I | K |
| can hear the screech of it now | K2 |
| the whirling blade that sliced | L2 |
| my daddy s thum he received the mar | M2 |
| that long after in his coffin | N2 |
| distinguished his skilled hand | O2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| I sit with braided fingers | P2 |
| and closed eyes | Q2 |
| in a span of late sunlight | R2 |
| The spokes are closing | H |
| It is fall warm milk of light | R2 |
| though from an aging breast | S2 |
| I do not mean to pray | F |
| The posture for thanks or | B2 |
| supplication is the same | T2 |
| as for weariness or relief | U2 |
| But I am glad for the luck | V2 |
| of light Surely it is godly | U |
| that it makes all things | W2 |
| begin and appear and become | G |
| actual to each other | T |
| Light that s sucked into | A2 |
| the eye warming the brain | Q |
| with wires of color | T |
| Light that hatched life | X2 |
| out of the cold egg of earth | Y2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Dark wild honey the lion s | O |
| eye color you brought home | Z2 |
| from a country store | B2 |
| Tastes of the work of shaggy | U |
| bees on strong weeds | A3 |
| their midsummer bloom | B3 |
| My brain s electric circuit | C3 |
| glows like the lion s iris | N |
| that concentrated vibrates | D3 |
| while seeming not to move | E3 |
| Thick transparent amber | T |
| you brought home | Z2 |
| the sweet that burns | F3 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| The very hairs of your head | G3 |
| are numbered said the words | H3 |
| in my head as the haircutter | T |
| snipped and cut my round head | G3 |
| a newel poked out of the tent | I3 |
| top s slippery sheet while my | K |
| hairs straight rays rained | J3 |
| down making pattern on the neat | K3 |
| vacant cosmos of my lap And | D |
| maybe it was those tiny flies | Q2 |
| phantoms of my aging eyes seen | L3 |
| out of the sides floating that | J2 |
| when you turn to find them | M3 |
| full face always dissolve but | C3 |
| I saw I think minuscule | N3 |
| marked in clearest ink Hairs | Y |
| and fall the cut off | O3 |
| ends streaking little comets | P3 |
| till they tumbled to confuse | Q3 |
| with all the others in their | T |
| fizzled heaps in canyons of my | K |
| lap And what keeps asking | H |
| in my head now that brushed off | O3 |
| and finished I m walking | H |
| in the street is how can those | C |
| numbers remain all the way through | T |
| and all along the length of every | T |
| hair and even before each one | B |
| is grown apparently through | T |
| my scalp For if the hairs of my | K |
| head are numbered it means | R3 |
| no more and no less of them | M3 |
| have ever or will ever be | T |
| In my head now cool and light | R2 |
| thoughts phantom white flies | Q2 |
| take a fling This discovery | T |
| can apply to everything | H |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Now and then a red leaf riding | H |
| the slow flow of gray water | T |
| From the bridge see far into | T |
| the woods now that limbs are bare | T |
| ground thick littered See | T |
| along the scarcely gliding stream | S3 |
| the blanched diminished ragged | T3 |
| swamp and woods the sun still | U3 |
| spills into Stand still stare | T |
| hard into bramble and tangle | G2 |
| past leaning broken trunks | V3 |
| sprawled roots exposed Will | U3 |
| something move some vision | B |
| come to outline Yes there | T |
| deep in a dark bird hangs | W3 |
| in the thicket stretches a wing | H |
| Reversing his perch he says one | B |
| Chuck His shoulder patch | X3 |
| that should be red looks gray | T |
| This old redwing has decided to | T |
| stay this year not join the | Y3 |
| strenuous migration Better here | T |
| in the familiar to fade | Z3 |
May Swenson
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About October
October is a poem by May Swenson. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about October poem by May Swenson
Best Poems of May Swenson