Maureen Doallas is an honors graduate of Vassar College, and has been a features writer and editor for more than 35 years. One of her poems is included in the Gulf of Mexico charity anthology Oil and Water… and Other Things That Don’t Mix (LL-Publications, 2010); two poems appear at Poets for Living Waters; and a third was recorded for an episode at Red Lion Square. Maureen also owns a small business, Transformational Threads, which licenses images of original fine art reproduced in custom hand-embroidery in Vietnam. She and her husband Jim Burke live in Arlington, Virginia.

Her debut collection of poetry is Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems, published earlier this year. This poem is from that collection.

Gone to Seed

Fireweed done producing,
gone to seed,

brilliance cuts a swath
through green’s shallowing shelter.

Agitated Monet yellows
burnished Van Gogh reds:
two nods to nature’s talents.

Lips of leaves
crisp
curl
cascade.

I carry a palette that can’t compete
with summer’s last firing.

If I’m lucky,
my hand will find its way
before the final fall.

Giveaway:
For National Poetry Month, we’re giving away a copy of Neruda’s Memoirs. Simply leave a comment by midnight, April 20, 2011, and your name is automatically entered. The winner will be chosen by a random drawing, and the book will be shipped directly from Amazon.com.

Related:

Peggy Rosenthal’s Image Journal review of Neruda’s Memoirs.

Review of Neruda’s Memoirs here at TweetSpeak Poetry.

Interview here at TweetSpeak Poetry.

Interview with Maureen Doallas at Faith, Fiction, Friends.

Interview with Maureen at The High Calling.

Diane Walker, a friend of Maureen’s, reads the title poem in a video for YouTube.

The stunning artwork for the book’s cover, entitled the Assumption of the Virgin, is by Randall David Tipton.

Maureen blogs at Writing Without Paper.