Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Beauty of Autumn

Here are some poems about Autumn to go along with the bright leaves. We're having glorious Fall color here in central Kentucky!

Autumn Daybreak

Cold wind of autumn, blowing loud
At dawn, a fortnight overdue,
Jostling the doors, and tearing through
My bedroom to rejoin the cloud,
I know—for I can hear the hiss
And scrape of leaves along the floor—
How may boughs, lashed bare by this,
Will rake the cluttered sky once more.
Tardy, and somewhat south of east,
The sun will rise at length, made known
More by the meagre light increased
Than by a disk in splendour shown;
When, having but to turn my head,
Through the stripped maple I shall see,
Bleak and remembered, patched with red,
The hill all summer hid from me.

--Edna St. Vincent Millay


October

AY, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath!
When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf,
And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief
And the year smiles as it draws near its death.
Wind of the sunny south! oh, still delay
In the gay woods and in the golden air,
Like to a good old age released from care,
Journeying, in long serenity, away.
In such a bright, late quiet, would that I
Might wear out life like thee, 'mid bowers and brooks
And dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks,
And music of kind voices ever nigh;
And when my last sand twinkled in the glass,
Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass.

--William Cullen Bryant

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Trees as Old Neighbors

The Old Elm Tree by the River
Wendell Berry

Shrugging in the flight of its leaves
it is dying. Death is slowly
standing up in its trunk and branches
like a camouflaged hunter. In the night
I am awakened by one of its branches
crashing down, heavy as a wall, and then
lie sleepless, the world changed.
That is a life I know the country by.
Mine is a life I know the country by.
Willing to live and die, we stand here,
timely and at home, neighborly as two men.
Our place is changing in us as we stand,
and we hold up the weight that will bring us down.
In us the land enacts its history.
When we stood it was beneath us, and was
the strength by which we held to it
and stood, the daylight over it
a mighty blessing we cannot bear for long.


From Wendell Berry's Collected Poems 1957-1982

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Running the Race with Christ

Running to win the prize of the high calling of Christ is a theme developed by St. Paul in his letters to the churches. John Nichols (Asbury College freshman) has developed this theme into a lovely poem.


The Pursuit
By John Nichols

I feel the wind rush my face
as my feet pound hard pavement;
and as the time ticks away
my lungs burn, a straining effort
to suck air in and blow it out.
Ten seconds left,
nine, eight, seven.

Can I catch the man?
Can I touch his back,
this runner leading me?
Or will he cross the finish line
with a last wrenching gasp
and a powerful sprint
before I can end this Pursuit?

This is a race of life.
I must flee what pursues me:
the crushing weight of sin,
that I must in turn destroy.
So I pursue the leading runner:
Christ and the love and life He gives,
the Savior’s call to holiness.

I run the race to win the prize
for which God has called me
heavenward
in Christ Jesus,
and I will catch Him
who races before me.
Will you dare to catch me?

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Glimmer Train Winners and Deadlines

The Family Matters competition closes on October 31. Glimmer Train is looking for original, unpublished stories on family, word count range: 500 – 12,000. First place wins $1,200 and publication in Issue 78 of Glimmer Train Stories. Second- and third-place winners receive $500/$300 (or, if chosen for publication, $700).

Winners and finalists of the July Very Short Fiction competition have been notified, and the Top-25 list is posted. Our thanks to all of you for letting us read your stories!

1st place: "Farmers' Market" by J.P. Lacrampe
2nd place: "The Indefinite Article Is a Different Story" by Stephanie Reents
3rd place: "To Cook an Egg Gently" by James Scoles