Artist of the Week

Fall Writing Contest

In this writing contest, students were asked to compose a poem in response to the painting Reflections of Autumn created by Connie Tom. The rules stated that the “poems could be about the picture or about anything the picture directly inspires you to write and should focus on or at least mention the season of autumn.”

This year’s winners:
1st: Benton Bair ’10, “Every Leaf Falls Twice”
2nd: Glynis Coyne ‘12, “Autumn Flames”
3rd: Allison Harvey ’10, “Last day with Grandpa”

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
Julie Bengis ’12, Jonna Gazzola ’13, and Edward Tillinghast ’12 for their respective poems “An Autumn of Change,” “The Shifting Weather,” and “A Fall Affray.”

Barbara Stout ’66, English teacher and contest coordinator, noted “The students’ poems are especially beautiful this year, perhaps because of the beauty of the painting that they wrote in response to.”

Please visit Poetry Alley in Foley Hall to read these other student poems.

Every Leaf Falls Twice
Benton Bair  ’10

Gaze up at the sky—an autumn leaf falls.
Peer down at the pond to see its reflection.
Every leaf falls twice
Summer love, a single entity, shared.
Two hearts are broken at summer’s end.
Every leaf falls twice.
Bitter cold squalls strip the trees bare,
Then felled by axe for winter’s warmth.
Every leaf falls twice
Humans flock to shelter’s guard.
Wings of feather journey afar.
Every leaf falls twice.
Scintillating light decays, nights grow long.
Daytime rays are bullied by drifting clouds.
Every leaf falls twice.
I spread the ashes of my father.
They sink away into the water.
And every leaf falls twice, as every fall leaves twice,
Through my mind and body like winter snow and ice.

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Autumn Flames
Glynis Coyne ’12

Grey candles, these trees,
which spend the summer in green wrapping paper
and slowly ignite as the seasons change.
Ablaze in leafy flames.
I admire their dying blaze of glory
in the watery mirror below
while winter waits nearby
holding her crystal candle-snuffer.

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Last Day with Grandpa
Alison Harvey ’10

A small canoe in a sea of golden leaves—
Where does the water start?
The leaves that once fluttered in a passing breeze are dead now,
but they have only grown more beautiful.

I watch his tired eyes as they concentrate on the golden water.
I fear this outing has become a somber event—
The wrinkles across his tired face turn down with realization—
Only so many seasons come and go in a lifetime.

---

An Autumn of Change
Julie Bengis ’12

My autumn awaits me
 Sitting in the mountains
Of transforming leaves.
I want everything to be different,
Nothing to be the same.
Yet I miss the things
That have already been altered.
This want, this desire, is something that can’t be described.
It’s a need for a new beginning.
A restart, do over,
Just a plain old change.
I want my autumn to flourish.

---

The Shifting Weather
Jonna Gazzola ’13

Descended from the chaparral
Soaring above the quilted colored pasture
Landing on the off white corral
Oh, how I remember when this happened last year

The swiftly swerving and slewing zephyr
Blots the world in the colors of rotten Malus Pumila skin
Blowing piles of dead chlorophyll at once, as if they all planned to concur
Oh, how I waited for the day that autumn would begin

Seated comfortably along the Canadian Maple roots
I stare at the dropping foliage
Keeping my eyes focused on a resplendent hunter green leaf, which is about to begin a new route        
Oh, how it quickly disappears under the Greywacke stone bridge

Diving smoothly against the water’s surface
The leaf falls flat and rests
Crowded among the other leaves, this hunter green dead chlorophyll object does not take up to much space
Oh, how it surfs diligently on top of each waves crest

Suddenly a boat appears to be racing in from the west
Its motor fan churning the lake
Quickly ending the Hunter Green dead chlorophyll leaf’s rest
Oh how I watched as each section of the maple leaf broke

A surge of sadness instantly pumped through me
How foolish it was for me to become attached
I shall try not to make this same mistake again….
Oh, wait what is that!

---

A Fall Affray
Edward Tillinghast ’12

The fall winds howl at the high branches.
Leaves drift away along with the season.
Reasons why, always reasons for the season.
Why not just marvel the passing of the fire ,
Fiery passion cast away with the last bass.
Away, away the season is an array of fire
 Encircled in fire, we circle, watching the trees.
Free, alas, from the watery sea of memories,
Upon each petal we find remorse for that left undone
Among the summer fun.
As the leaves afloat away,
Grasp them I do as they become a fray.
Never can you stop the fight as the leaves take flight.
Though you may try, you will never stop a fall.