NOVEMBER BETWEEN

                                                          

Spring drama and summer booty, now cached,

once again Mother Nature changes hats

and Gaudy October yields

to muted November’s aging fields.

Their many shades of browns and grays

underscore our shortening days.

At the fence, long rows

of brown corn stubble lead

to a spray of empty trees.

         Fans framing space

with limbs,

once lost in summer’s earnest greenery,                  

now, chilled,

reveal the interstitial beauty

of their gray twigged filigree.

Come inside.

Let’s toast nature’s annual evening time;

         Let fall your leaves,

         and sag your sap.

Enjoy Mother Nature’s windy music in the cracks.

We’ll light her logs and pour her wine.

Anticipate.

         She’ll soon unpack

         her stunning winter wardrobe wrap.                        

Dennis R. Keefe

November, 2008

 

LIGHTING VETERANS’ DAY

Our oldest light,

long in dim,

leaped,

recharged,

         Our star shooting through the night,

on veterans’ day

         to a site

         unknowable

         but boldly measured.

“Woke up this mornin’ with my Lord

Hang on, Jesus”

– her Lord of the living and now living with  the Lord –

“Woke up this mornin’ with my Lord . . . “

. . . in that lovely dwelling place

where the Son,

withholding no favors

bestows honor

on mothers
among others.

Another light to magnify the Lord.

Another light illuminating ancient words

that bookmark our lives.                                                                     

Inside, we greet,

view what’s left

and ponder the rest.

Outside, in the night,

Christmas parade lights form,

and stretch the street

back up the hill –

glowing lights

blinking, milling,

building

momentum –

some running mini laps

around girl scouts’ caps                                                                                             

then,

illuminating our holiday choices,

move away

         trailing

                  their

                           effects

                                             through

                                                               town.

Christmas will have its due.

Dennis R. Keefe

Oct. 29, 2019

November 17, 2007

 

ON TRACK        

I meet her occasionally;

we touch, talk,

remain briefly side by side.        

Then, unique in stride,

we separate,

a step at a time –

she, jogging, doing,             

not pressing me;                      

I, walking, composing,

not slowing her.  

          

Amazing grace and gravity

maintain the orbit                                                     

circling our commonality.

                                                     

Dennis R. Keefe,                          

2/11/09

        

 PLANET CWK

Not yet a star
But orbiting

Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg

A celebrity overload
Milling at the Broad
Zaha Hadid’s art museum

    Contemporary    
        Dramatic

Now hosting Lex Luthor's party  
A benefit for the library
    It's Metropolis, of course

Carole’s Cocktail dress
    Urban chic

Whoa!  Get this pic!
In one room
Batman!  Superman!  Lois Lane!

Did you see the invitation?   Did you RSVP?
An open call in the paper
Applications, head shots,
Notices for fitting and two nights of shooting

300 extras at check-in . . . waiting
Paperwork, wardrobe, makeup, hair
Shuttle buses, security

Standing, lots of standing, . . . , behind the magic

Cameras trailing multiple techs
Makeup crews circling, refreshing that special look

Catered food — Movie scene? 
Or are we being served?

A senator’s cameo for Debbie Stabenow
Carole stands in to prep the show

“Ladder!  Adjust that light!”

Good position by the door
Party guests arriving in style
Maserati, Rolls, Alfa Romeo
    All made the cut

Two guys hose the street

Bruce Wayne rushes through
Wonder Woman, his quest
The paparazzi press
And point
    Cameras, microphones

The whole bit

Hollywood in East Lansing

And on our movie extra
Shining stars

Happy birthday

From one of your many moons

DRK
11/4/14

 MY WIFE

multiplies life.

    Beware her fertile ground
    or grow.

Children top
but don’t exhaust
her list.

In need,
the one they call.

Indeed,
anticipates,
calls.

The rest of us know

God’s good deal.

    The two, in league,
    unwritten,
    nods, winks.
 
    Warm rains
    freshen her gardens. 

Tend-er.

DRK
6/18/13

 

PEACHTREE

It's time to acknowledge the end of the show
The last yellow leaves
On our backyard birch
Flutter in the cold
Hanging on for dear life and
Their one chance
To experience snow

Autumn began with my favorite tree
A maple, but to me, a peach
Not the one you stand beneath
But the one you strain to reach
Young, light green with fuzz
And a tinge of red

A tinge that used to lead the way

My autumn omen 
For an evolving color blast

New every year

But not this time

A summer storm wrenched that tree

Not even a stump remains

Its early coloring, a sign it seems
Of disease

Across the street

Favorite number two

Taller

With a magnificent spray of orange

which segue's to black branches
And dead dangling leaves
To spook Halloween

The usual progression did occur

A hard freeze whooshed us through
Brilliant reds

And gorgeous oranges and yellows

On the trees 

 

And underneath for a day or two

Then, browned, piled and kicked around

They traveled with the wind from yard to yard

DRK

11/9/19

  WATCHING THE FROST MELT ON MY NEIGHBOR’S ROOF


Sunshine lights our morning room,
enhancing colors, muted
after noon.

Across the street, facing west,
her house, next in line, for the October sun
to warm its roof.
By eight a toe-hold gained,
then a northward march
across the expanse of flat
frosted white.

One cup of coffee
and today’s work is done.
Her roof, returned to shingle tint.
Our room, again in shade.
The sun, arcing on,
risks being less
without one man’s regard.

DRK
Oct. 26, 2012

  OCTOBER BLIZZARD

Lacy locust leaves
Yellow October blizzard
Expectations swirl

DRK 10/19/15

  OCTOBER LITANY

October’s winds, blowing in
Another winter

Practice now with leaves
Challenge the snow later

Stir me up and get me out

Snow blower and shovels ready?
    Lord help me prepare
Lawnmower?
    Lord, stow it where?
Paint or caulk?
    Lord, help me prepare
Windows, doors, weather stripping?
    Lord, help me secure
Snow tires?
    Lord, help me prepare

Gutters checked?
    Lord, keep them clear
Plants to bring in
     Lord, they’ll need some care

Windshield scraper, I left where?
    Lord, help me remember
The heated bird bath?
    Lord, it will soon be December
Firewood ordered?
    Lord, help me remember
Hoses put away?
    Lord, I could have done that in September



DRK
5/2/16

 

 

 

WE CALL IT FALL

 

From our porch’s three seasons venue

The usual autumn views

But Erato prods

What’s new?

Wind rifling our trees

Being neighborly with our colors

The gravity of this situation

Does make me wonder

Is this why we call it “fall?”

 

Up the hill

Sunlight highlights the kill

Tall trees' rotting leaves

Obit

A color blast to remember

The end of October

And early November

 

Many songbirds will disappear

They sensed what looms

And will, as snowbirds do, warm their cheer

 

We do welcome

The hardy juncos

And other up-north visitors

With heated water

And stable food supplies

 

Their winter presence

We celebrate

 

With one caveat

Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

It can be dangerous

Inside our house

 

DRK

10/4/23

 

THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING

THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING

    Remembering Chicken Little

Are you struggling to remain small?

Or negotiate old distances?

Physicists have answered the call

There is a movement outward

 

Big Bang!

Have you noticed it? 

When I return to campus, as a retiree

I struggle to get from A to B

For thirty years I traversed this campus

Corner to corner, place to place

From office to classroom

And every imaginable meeting space

It never took this long

Students have always been challenged

To get from one end to the other

But, hats off, their generation is adapting

Through some evolutionary mechanism

Parking lots, our neighborhood

         Insert your own experience here

Everything takes more time

And energy to negotiate

When the universe expands

Everything does

Yonder, people must speak louder to communicate

And I do the same for them

Ladders extend higher

My girth and weight

But the future looks good

When I call upon the young 

They respond with such aplomb

Son, please take this stool 

That light bulb needs to be replaced

That one way up there

DRK

8/28/20

 

SOCIAL DISTANCING

 

Thinning air up here

Hair, too

 

Is that you over there?

No need to ask

In a younger year

 

Rare birds, we

Can barely see the herd down there

 

Check out that ladder

Sturdy

Been given some care

“Hey, stranger

May I ask?

Anchored where?”

 

Hope to see you soon

Climb a few more of those annual rungs

 

DRK

4/23/21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER SENSE

 

High summer inches toward dog days

And low autumn

The breeze coming through the screens

Rattles the dried up leaves still clinging to the maple tree 

October, a few days away

Warns, take this opportunity

To enjoy light

Laced through walnut and locust leaves

 

I imagine them counting down the weeks

Maybe days

'Til colder winds

Move only conifers and limbs

A different sound, indeed

Frost is next

My heated birdbath's first test

 

DRK

9/23/20

 

 

 

SEDUM RED

 

Sedum red

Sedum red

Put to bed

Mosquitoes

And this muggy-

Ness

 

If you please

Turn the leaves

We’ll chill

Six months or so

No less

 

 

DRK

9/10/21

 

 

SIDES

 

Did you appreciate the shade?

I did my part today

Any good walnut tree would

The sun, then high in arc, has passed on

Now, low, near done

It highlights my undersides

 

Look up

Try a different angle

I have colors to show

Should you notice

 

 

DRK

10/11/20

7/21/23