A Toast to Autumn Drinkers

The shades and tones of changing 
foliage remind me of bottles 
displayed behind a bar:

the honeypot tint of mottled
leaves; the richness of wild cherry 
and dogwood dyed in aubergine;

maples softly glowing crimson;
hawthorn and blackthorn flaming
fervently among the beery browns.

Raise a glass to autumn drinkers
huddled around the open fire
in the public bar, and to the thinkers

alone in a corner, nursing their wine
until winter hastens closing time.

Kim M. Russell, 22nd November 2022

Today is my daughter’s birthday; she was born after a night I remember as frosty and cold, with a full moon. How fortuitous that over at the dVerse Poets Pub it’s Tuesday Poetics and Punam is saying cheers. I would like to raise a glass to my daughter, and to a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson: “Wine is bottled poetry.”

Punam asks us to raise our glasses/cups/mugs to the intoxicating power of poetry and try to distill its essence in our words. She has shared some interesting thoughts and quotes on wine and poetry, as well as poetry by Ron Butlin, Basho and Amy Lowell.

Our challenge is to write about our favourite drinks (alcoholic/non-alcoholic) or getting drunk, or use drinking as a metaphor, in poems in a form of our choice with a drinking connection.

32 thoughts on “A Toast to Autumn Drinkers”

  2. This is absolutely exquisite, Kim 😍 I especially admire; “maples softly glowing crimson; hawthorn and blackthorn flaming fervently among the beery browns.” ❤❤

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  4. Those varied browns and golds on the shelf to match the falling leaves, never thought about that before. Beautiful poem with a forgiving nature for the drunks and loners ❤ Happy Birthday to Your Daughter.

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  6. I love this, Kim. And you’re exactly right when I think about all the bottles on the shelves behind the bar. And if the shelves are glass and there’s a mirror at the back of the shelves, they even are more colorful as you look at them. What a great comparison to the leaves of fall and then the jump to autumnal drinkers! Love it. Most especially these words:
    “hawthorn and blackthorn flaming
    fervently among the beery browns.” Perfect imagery!

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    1. Thank you , Lill! It’s been a long time since I went to a bar. The pretty colours of the bottles always looked attractive, but I’m not keen on what’s inside them.

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