Written August 2023
Published in the 2023 Frisco Public Library Teen Writers Anthology
A blanket of leaves covers the lawn
On the horizon, the sunlight of dawn
In the air is a placid cold
A shivering breeze that whispers secrets foretold
A car pulls out of a driveway
“Where are they going?” the leaves seem to say
On many mornings, under many moons
The leaves would whisper
Their quiet tunes.
Inspirations and Comments
This is the first poem I wrote that was published or recognized in some way. In fact, it might be one of the first formal pieces of poetry that I’ve ever written. Following a simple AABB rhyme scheme in the first stanza, and then diverging into an AABCB format in the second stanza, this is not a very complicated poem in terms of technical. However, it uses some interesting metaphors and descriptive words that help to achieve its general purpose, which is actually quite surprising…
Yes, this is another Excursion-relevant poem. I wrote this in August 2023, or sometime around then, just before the late-summer 2023 Familiar Location 2 excursion. Since this was the first FL2 excursion in almost fifteen months, there was quite a lot of merriment and anticipation surrounding this two-week excursion, especially in the months leading up to it. As a result, I wrote this “anticipatory poem” as a means of describing the early-morning mood and atmosphere as individuals are getting ready for a trip somewhere by plane. Focusing on the ambient leaves and the placid cold of the young day, I added the detail about the “car pulling out of a driveway” as a prime indicator that yes, this is an Excursion-relevant poem. The car, in this case, was going to the airport, if you haven’t already guessed.
I always tend to write these sorts of poems or short stories if an exciting Excursion is fast approaching. For example, the short story Sacrificing Happiness, which I wrote just prior to the May 2025 Resort Location 200 Excursion, takes place at an upscale beach resort and has many anticipatory cues referencing that upcoming excursion. Such ideas can also be applied to completely unrelated things like BeamNG.drive sessions, where long, 80-minute airport trips in the ETK 800 series and Bruckell Bastion have been known to occur prior to FL2 excursions. In short, Leaves Whispering was one of my first-ever excursion-aware, published poems, utilizing a relatively simple structure but making good use of descriptive elements.