Whirling with Jane Kenyon

 
The first line of each haiku or senryu is gleaned from poems in Collected Poems by Jane Kenyon.
 
This week’s whirling words are: bare, last, gear, final, evidence, refresh, gassed, smooth, number, white, shift, nine
 
 

so heavy with fruit
soon the plum will be laid bare—
lashing autumn winds
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
Up and down the field
every last stalk of corn bows—
Master Wind whips by.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
A bright confusion—
gear engages gear and grinds
apples into wine.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
Cross the little bridge—
final stretch of your journey
into unmapped realms.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
Under every leaf—
evidence of visitors
skulking through the night.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
We each took a pear
with which to refresh ourselves
before moving on.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
The joy that trembles
even after being gassed—
fragile little wren.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
To distract myself
I smooth all the wrinkled pleats
on my fading skirt.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
We sit in the yard
and number the stars, one by
one hundred million.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
We left the suitcase,
the white one with no handle—
it was full of plums.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
The sound of weeping—
nervously they cough and shift,
plotting quick escapes.
 
~~ ~~ ~~
 
Around the pear tree
nine druids gather at dusk—
poteen stains their breath.
 

 
© 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
 
 
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 72
 
More The Poetry Pantry #113