Indeterminate in Autumn, a Poem

“Indeterminate in Autumn” is a poem I wrote in response to the visual prompt of an alien head sitting on E.T.’s head placed atop a Chewbacca mug. “Indeterminate in Autumn” was shortlisted for Autumn Writing Prize on Visual Verse.

Read it on Visual Verse here or below:

Indeterminate in Autumn

She changed her mind, the arcane autumn, like maidens
change their mood. Green leaves to aureate she painted
painstaking art that deters young at heart. The book
of life has turned another leaf for me. Chewbacca went to war.

More reds to follow, quiver of crimson stains from strange
lost flags that never were more than a fight, forgotten
now, tucked postcards in between the leaves of book. Then brown,
not dead, but whisper-ready, rustle of home, E.T.-like,

come alive with every step. “Go home!’ Lonesome,
defiant autumn shakes her elysian mane and leaves fly, eviscerated,
her tome still thick while mine has changed a chapter. Kismet.
An alien, where life once held a meaning and path was straight amid lush greens.

I’m lonely now and sit disconsolate with cup by heart
and from the eaves the beldam winter, black claws
for fingers, watches me with greed. A chimera
for now. Behind, blue sky. My heart, laden in black.

Copyright © Patricia Furstenberg. All Rights Reserved.

Thank you for reading.

Our shortlist is out 📢 We are pleased to release the full list of writers who made it through to our shortlist for the Visual Verse Autumn Writing Prize. These 20 writers were selected, through an anonymised judging process, from a total of 141 submissions.

— Visual Verse: An Anthology of Art and Words (@visual_verse) October 15, 2022

Enjoy Indeterminate in Autumn by Patricia Furstenberg @PatFurstenberg, shortlisted for the Visual Verse Autumn Writing Prizehttps://t.co/P3CEyA4sxh

— Visual Verse: An Anthology of Art and Words (@visual_verse) October 15, 2022