Ode to Fall

In the words of Robert Frost: “Retard the sun with gentle mist; / Enchant the land with

amethyst.” Photo Credits: Kirsten Corbman

There are so many things to love about summer, like the air conditioning that will save

you from heat stroke and the daily debate of whether or not to conform to society’s

standards and shave the cacti that are your legs. But all good things must come to an end, friends. The Earth tilts on its axis and then the trees start to shrug their shoulders, forcing the weight of their leaves off of their long, outstretched arms. And boom—fall arrives.

Eventually you will be peer pressured into turning on the heat in your apartment as the

temperature dips, and you will smirk at your unused razor in your shower because the

weather has finally allowed you to wear jeans without forcing all of the sweat in your

body out of each of your pores. And suddenly, the pen and paper that you have been

neglecting over summer is finally in your hand and you are writing again.

Fall is the season for inspiration, what with its rich colors that enchant the eye and

the crisp scent of dried leaves in the air. The leaves turn from green to yellow to orange

and maroon, then finally make their descent to their final resting place, and we are given a month-long picture show, nature putting on its annual finale before retreating into winter’s hibernation. As writers, we come out of our cocoons just long enough to catch the changing colors and jot a line or two down about how beautiful change can be. We breathe in that dying air and incorporate a moral or two into our stories about how short life really is, about how beautiful the passage of time can be.

Autumn grasps us firmly, and we’re surrounded by rich flavors of pumpkin,

cinnamon, and nutmeg, and we can finally comfortably sip hot coffee while walking in

the chilled air. We cozy up in sweaters and blankets, scarves and mittens, and grab a

good book and fall into another world. When we’re ready to come back to this world, we pick up that pen again and create our own world, with our own rules, full of the richness of the season that encapsulates us.

The season’s inspiration hasn’t been lost on some of the writers we

idolize—Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Percy Shelley,

William Blake, and John Keats all wrote about the wonders of the season. The cold air

forces us inside and we inevitably end up back into our desk chair, back into our routine of writing down the little things that have captured our attention during the day. So what are you waiting for, exactly? Write.