Chrysanthemums--By Alice Couch--United States

Chrysanthemums

Flaming red mums fall over the flower-box edge,
reflected glory repeated in raindrops.
Copper mums in a kettle near the mailbox,
look like coins to pay the Autumn Harvester.

Pumpkin size football mums draw my eyes,
I gather blanket, seat for football game.
Surely autumn mums are enough,
all by themselves.

Alice Couch is a retired nurse’s aide who spends her days playing with her dogs, Nibby and Squeakie, while writing poetry for her three children, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and four great great-grandchildren.  One of her stories published in Living with Children. She studied yoga and Buddhism and has a gift for blending the rational approach of the Western mind with the deep spiritual wisdom of the east in her poetry. She was named Noblesville’s Senior Poet Laureate in 2012.