Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by the amazing Amy Ludwig Vanderwater Here at The Poem Farm. Thank you, Amy, for hosting! I look forward to what you are sharing this week.
School starting in September is a time when children learn about change, learn to look forward to it. New friends, new books. But as I wrote this short poem, the one below, about change, I realized that I’ve imbued it with my current adult feelings about change, about current change all around us that isn’t normal. Leaves turning took on a deeper meaning. So maybe my poem is a little melodramatic. I can’t tell.
The RICTAMETER, a form that I heard about on Poetry Friday. It is a poem of nine lines with the syllable pattern:2-4-6-8-10-8-6-4-2. The first and the last lines are the same.
TO MY SUMMER FRIEND
Leaves turned.
From green to red,
rattled in the blue sky,
broadcasted: fall is on the way.
I shiver and run to catch the school bus,
thinking of our summer hide out,
sharing books under trees,
laughing before
leaves turned.
© Janice Scully 2025
A tree painting exercise I recently did. I have a great respect for those who paint trees that are realistic. That will definitely take a while.
Real trees at Green Lakes State Park in Upstate New York. There are scattered benches and it might be a nice place to read on a summer day.
Have a happy Poetry Friday,