Here is the latest installment of Poet’s Corner, presented by the Edmonds Poetry Group.

Her Name is “Autumn”

She’s a world traveler, prodigy of opportunity, visiting us
yearly, disseminating inspiration, hope and satiric humor!
Like a floating vision, she arrives joyfully singing,
sauntering up the garden path to embrace us.
Her bowed mouth blows kisses to us through the sunlight.
Her auburn hair dances like golden Colorado aspens swaying
in a Rocky Mountain breeze. Caramel-colored eyes framed by
bronze brows, illuminate smiles from her cherubic face,
freckles twinkle across the borders of her cheeks.

An unplanned legacy, she arrived one September afternoon,
completely rerouting our destiny into the personas of parenthood.
Gifting us with unexpected challenges and adventures,
we welcomed our new roles as mentors and guardians of her Spirit.

Now forty autumns have traversed our days,
magnifying her heart and presence in our lives.
She’s a reminder of places we’ve traveled,
a reflection of people we’ve loved,
a living expression of favorite song lyrics, book quotes,
late night chats and our desire to be uniquely loved.
As the catalyst for teaching us to embrace uncertainty,
she brought fresh water to the dry well of our souls.
We press on…our cups overflowing with her gentle goodness!

For some, the autumn season initiates emotional defoliation and metamorphosis. Aging alters us in ways unknowable in youth.
Later decades of life incite regrets concerning unmet goals,
unwritten stories and poems, unfulfilled dreams….
perhaps part of another wrinkle in time.
Imprinted with wounds from those we’ve nurtured along the way,
we hold letters written but never sent, photos taken but never shared.
What once was, may not be desirable or achievable at this juncture.

The road not taken no longer beckons us!

Presently, we pursue another path divinely ordained by Greater Good. Everything we’ve experienced redefined us as heroes!
She’s preparing for another journey, traveling abroad next year.
And I’m reticently reminded once again…..

”Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone,
it’s not warm when she’s away, and
this house just ain’t no home,
anytime she goes away!”

Bill Withers: “Ain’t No Sunshine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CICIOJqEb5c

Donna M. Rudiger

~ ~ ~ ~

Best of Times? Worst of Times?

“Oh, to be alive in such an age, when miracles are everywhere, and every inch of common air throbs a tremendous prophecy, of greater marvels yet to be.”

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, p.14 (1855) 

 We now inhabit days that demand exceptional 

forbearance, 

forgiveness, 

fortitude, 

leaving no space for tears or regrets. 

And these may be days of 

forgotten promises finally kept! 

Another opportunity to learn about 

living on the precipice of unavoidable change, 

in the winds of accelerated awakening. 

Enlightenment triggers 

denied emotions and illogical paradoxes 

demanding we become 

catalysts for change. 

Creativity flowers, thriving in the 

fertile compost of adversity. 

My pet belief systems reveal the 

caverns of my soul still protecting 

sacred parts of my childlike essence. 

I will stand for truth and justice… 

I will not surrender to the debacles 

of the dark lords of this day! 

Donna M. Rudiger

~ ~ ~ ~

 “dreams for now” 

 “I am not who I was……in my darkest night, when the moon was covered and I roamed through wreckage, 

a nimbus-clouded voice directed me: ‘Live in the layers, not on the litter’. Though I lack the art to decipher it, 

no doubt the next chapter in my book of transformations is already written. I am not done with my changes.” 

The Layers, from The Poems of Stanley Kunitz, 1978 

Somedays, I think about you all the time – 

Other days, I don’t think about you at all! 

Somedays, my Cedar Sanctuary is too quiet – 

Other days, it’s not peaceful enough! 

 

Somedays, I contemplate my life, the dreams that 

birthed unexpected nightmares – 

Other days, I ponder the results and discover 

blessings and gifts in the failures! 

 

Somedays are saturated with tears and unspoken prayers – 

Other days are pregnant with hope and possibility! 

All these “somedays” and “other days” have initiated a 

season of decision making, an unexpected fork in the road. 

It is time to – 

remove myself from the ‘hell in the hallway’, 

persistently pursue hope and unknown possibilities, and 

relinquish dreams which no longer serve the 

highest good of my calling as a Poet and Messenger. 

 

Now I will live my own true story and watch the testament of it bring 

the Balm of Gilead to the anxieties and traumas of humanity in this 

world of broken souls. The stories and dreams I cherished in 

childhood are not lost. They became the foundations of passion and 

purpose to quest after what I’ve been sent here to do – 

plant the seed, deliver the message! 

And so…..I’m leaping off the precipice of uncertainty, reaching for 

a spiritually guided self-actualized dream for now. I am… 

D ecidedly 

R eleasing 

E verything 

A nd 

M oving 

Forward! 

Donna M. Rudiger

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Donna began writing poetry and prose during her adolescent years growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania. An active participant of several writing groups in the Puget Sound area, she’s an award-winning published poet, a member of the Academy of American Poets and teaches poetry workshops. Her work has been published in Soundings from the Salish Sea in 2018, the Skagit River Anthology in 2021 and 2022, previous issues of the Edmonds News Poetry Corner, and most recently in Bards West in December 2024. She’s a retired technical writer and enjoys filming the wildlife in the Cascade foothills of Arlington. You may contact her at dmrudigerauthor@gmail.com.