18 thoughts on “Poetry Friday: Peak Color”

  1. “… a musty, leaves-on-the-ground / smell spiced up …” I love these lines! Really evocative and lovely. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. To me, the scents of fall are more pronounced than any other season. Around here, it’s the harvesting of sugarcane. This morning the air was full of sweet-scented smoke from burning cane fields. Not good for the environment or my allergies, but I do love the smell.

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  3. Another gorgeous mandala! Love that your poem focuses on fall scents. We definitely have those damp smells here in our woods. Finally, the leaves are beginning to change.

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  4. As always, I love the mandala and am so amazed by how you consistently find the perfect inspiration. I also really love how you contrasted dry and damp fall with all those specific sensory details. It’s been a gorgeous fall here and I hope it has been your way as well!

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  5. Ours continues with that “dusty, hasn’t-rained-in-awhile” though it’s memorable every year, I wish we had some of the rain, too! I enjoyed the contrast, Mary Lee, and your new mandala!

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  6. I love that you focused on the smell of fall. For me, it’s all about color and light. But crisp air “spiced up/by crushed hickory nuts…” is wonderful, too. Your mandala is stunning, as always! Are you going to continue this project in 2023?

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  7. The scents of fall are usually overlooked — thank you for honing in on them! It made me stop to think about my local smells. I think they are similar to yours. Your mandala project is genius. xo

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  8. Mary Lee, your mandala is a beautiful arrangement of color, just like falling leaves. Your poem is filled with beautiful images and interesting smells. I love the scent of cinnamon and my kitchen will introduce the smells of autumn today as I bake and cook an autumn meal.

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  9. How wonderful! What a great sensory experience reading this–the damp spicy smells are my favorite. But, I reserve the right to enjoy the baked grass smell…until I sneeze. Ha! Embroidery as illustration. Wow!

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  10. Such a sensory poem, beautiful and a it tells of a change I have seen here, also. We went from terribly dry and HOT summer, to a damp and cool fall. The smells are different. I like your mandala, and the fabric you used reminds me of flying geese, another sign of fall. Thanks for this post. Loved it!

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  11. Oh my–I just want to lie down in the middle of this one and wallow, nose up! (Except maybe in the gingko berries). I do love the way your two stanzas mirror and echo each other.

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  12. If only there was smell-o-vision to accompany your poem, Mary Lee. I can’t get over your mandala exquisiteness.
    (On the other hand, when I write a poem about Smidgey I am glad smell-o-vision doesn’t exist! 😉 )

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  13. We focus on visual imagery so often — I love that this poem is all about smells. The crushed hickory nuts and pine needles are like a walk in an autumn forest.

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