Calendar Cuts

By Alfred Colo

This highly readable book will absorb, inform and entertain-nature and poetry lovers.
Here is an ideal guide to understanding the fascinating backgrounds to approaching celebrations in twelve months and Four Seasons of time-mapping poetry.
Without an understanding of the regularity of the motions of sun and moon to guide them, our remote ancestors could not plan ahead; their experience of time could have been no more than a succession of days and moons and seasons. Only after theyd learned to count and do simple arithmetic, and after many nights of careful observation of the heavens, did the calendar begin to take shape.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462896011

Alfred Colo

Alfred Colo, a former singer-songwriter, has immersed himself in full-blown poetry from creative love lyrics he honed his craft on when he realized that his passion for words lay beyond mere expressions of amour. His initial attempt at self-publishing with Xlibris Corporation in 2008 is a nature lover’s view in poetry through the four seasons, entitled Inside Looking Out. Reluctant at first, not offering too much material at once for reasons both pragmatic and artistic, he later ventured to expand his theme with residual material not included in his first book on four seasons alone. As his appetite grew, he knew that there was more he had to say in his accumulated poetry since 1984, which begged inclusion of more poems on the related twelve months of a year beyond the four seasons. After years of creative writing, learning and perfecting his art, he felt it was worthy enough and the right time to make public what eventually has become this collection. He trusts that his reading followers will concur that it was indeed worth the effort to have written a “companion book” to its predecessor, Inside Looking Out. Alfred lives in New Fairfield, Connecticut, after compelling circumstances led him here to exit the Big Apple. Including this one, he has authored twelve books pictured with others to follow. An active octogenarian, Alfred pursues his prolific outpourings on a variety of subjects at a still-going-like sixty white-heat rate. See if you can keep pace with a poet determined to make a mark and to leave a legacy to be proud of. He captures the spirit of his works by suggesting wholly or in part what the cover design will look like on both front and back. From his New Fairfield, Connecticut, home, author Alfred Colo finds inspiration in the abundant wild life he observes and includes in his writing. Other favorite creatures he depicts are angels, nativity scenes and yes, even Santa. Colo’s writings, are rich in detail and luminous in depth and like much of his work, it transcends its confines to achieve a dimensional reality infused with spiritual peace, whimsy, originality and creative imagination, singular cheer and good will. “I relish re-creating scenes of simple, uncomplicated faith,” Colo adds. Responding to an inner childhood calling, the author has created a succession of works as a diverse poet of impressive stature, rivaling his predecessors and role models. He is enabled to keep-fresh the approximately two-thousand-year gap from BC Bethlehem to the current beliefs in Christianity in his re-creation of this advent Christmas story of Jesus nativity.

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Copyright © 2011 by Alfred Colo.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4628-9600-4

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-9601-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

Suggested Cover Design, front and rear by the author.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

88962

Or Alfred Colo directly by phone at 1-(203)-746-2218

Contents

Introduction

The Calendar And Its History

Looking Back To Look Ahead

Month

Calendar Cuts

About The Author

Ring Out The Old

February

Snowless February

Even In February…

For Love’s Denying

Poet’s Corner

Another Drop Takes New Fairfield By Storm

But Not In March

I Remember The Wind

Lions In, Lambs Out

March Winds

A Weed’s Tenacity ––March––

In His Hands

April

Truth Or Consequence

April Rain

April Snow

A Lion’s Share Of April Snow

Image

Purple Rain

Sad Spring —April—

Snow-Flakes In April

Snowflakes In April

Still April

Nature’s Choice

In Nostalgia Time

Seven Month Itch

August… .

August

August In Paris

In August

School Days

For Love’s Denying

In September

In Sweet September

September Song

Sweet September Love

Fall Designs

The Ninth Month

All Hallows

Another Year’s Turning

Can This Be October?

October

October

October Flies

October Skies

Under October Skies

O November

Bittersweet November

Topaz

December’s Child

I’m Ready For Wintertime!

Busy Winter

Jack Frost

The Jacks Of Frost

Jewels Of Midnight

Lots More

Migrant

O Winter Warbler

Paths Of Winter

Snow

The Snowbird’s Song

Snow Flake Flurry Ball

Think Snow! (Just A Thought)

Through The Clearing

Unstrung

Where Are The Snows Of Yesteryear?

White Cargo

Winter Won’t Wait

Winter’s Night

Without A Trace

An Early Spring Show

And Dreamed It Were Spring

Birds Don’t

Bits And Pieces

Ecstatic Listening

The Garden Is Green

The Great Awakening

The Hope

In His Hands

Is It Spring Yet?

Jewels Of Spring

A Joyous Celebration Of Spring

Listen To The Green

The Mean Season

Ode To A Magnolia

Of Spring

Primavera

Sixty Shades Of Green

Spring And Fall

Spring Is

Spring Is There

Spring’s Mystery

Spring Time Reveille

Suddenly Spring

Sure Signs

Tenacity

Tweet! Tweet!

Welcome Sweet Spring

Welcome Sweet Spring!

Where’s That Bird?

Why Wait Until Spring?

Making The Most Of Summer,

The Summer Season

Birds And Blooms

Blackberries

Butterflies

Butterflys, Flowers And Bees

Come To The Fair

Endless Summer

Fly Balloon

Get-A-Way

Halcyon Days

Hummingbird Chimes

It’s Summertime

Kids Of Summer

Miraculous Migration

No Way Up Was Out

Real Relief?

Sixty Shades Of Green

Social Insects

Some Summers

Summer In The Wind

Summer May Have Gone

Summer Rain

Sunken Garden

A Time And A Place

War On Weeds

What’s Up

About Butterflies

All About Autumn

Another Day

An Autumn Recipe

Another Year’s Turning

Autumn Days

An Autumn Royal

Autumn Sonata

Autumn’s Art

Autumn’s Bride

Autumn’s In A Hurry

Autumn’s Praises

Autumn’s Song

Autumn’s Star

Can Fall Be Far Ahead?

Changes Ahead

A Concatenation Of Ephemera

Dancing In The Wind

Poets Corner

Last Chance

The Faces Of Fall

Fall Beauty

Fall For… . Fall

Poet’s Corner

Finally Fall

Finally Feels Like Fall

The Fires Of Fall

Follow The Fall

Free Fall Tree Fall

Great Pumpkin

Glorious Autumn Leaves

Halloween Tradition

Harvest Home

In Fall Bloom

It’s Over Under The Moon

The Last Leaves Of Autumn

The Leavings

Living Ornaments

Lord Of The Harvest

The Mill

The Other Side

Picture Perfect

In Celebration Of Arbor Day

A Place Of Pilgrimage

Renascence

Silent Fall

Sneak Peek

Some Other Autumn

Study For Autumn

Summer May Have Gone

That’s Fall, Folks!

This Fall

This Fall

Till Last Leaves Fall

To Last And Last

A Touch Of Fall

Traces

Trust

Watching

O What A Season!

When Autumn Comes

When Autumn Is Here

Windfall

Introduction

‘God made the days and nights

but man made the calendar’.

                         ANON.

This highly readable book will absorb,

inform and entertain-nature and poetry lovers.

Here is an ideal guide to understanding

the facinating backgrounds to approaching

celebrations in twelve months and

Four Seasons of time-mapping poetry.

Without an understanding of the regularity of

the motions of sun and moon to guide them,

our remote ancestors could not plan ahead;

their experience of time could have been no more

than a succession of days and moons and seasons.

Only after they’d learned to count and do simple

arithmetic, and after many nights of careful

observation of the heavens, did the calendar

begin to take shape.

The Calendar and its History

Did you know?

The Chinese year of the dragon starts in the spring of 2000 AD.

Every year in the ancient Egyptian year had exactly

365 days. This meant that the start of their year gradually

lagged more and more behind the seasons.

The Islamic year contains only 354 days, or 355

in a leap year.

The number of days in the Jewish year varies from

353 to 385. In some years there are 13 months instead of 12.

The Bahá’i calendar has 19 months, each of 19 days.

There are more than 30 calendars in use in India.

The Chinese calendar was reformed over 200 times.

The months in the Chinese, some of the Indian, the

Islamic and the Jewish calendars all keep in time with the

phases of the moon.

The mean length of the year is currently decreasing at a rate

of about half a second per century. The actual lengths of a series

of years vary by about 20 minutes in a periodic manner.

Looking Back to Look Ahead

Ancient Romans worshiped many gods. One of the more fascinating was Janus. Romans depicted Janus as having two faces, one looking ahead and the other behind. They realized the advantage of being able to look backward and forward at the same time.

It can also be an advantage for us. How much more clearly we can see where we are headed if we can see the pitfalls and mistakes of the past! And seeing and recalling how we have been guided and sheltered in the past can give us courage to face the future.

Looking ahead to year one in this new millennium, by recalling what was done in the past by us or for us by others, fosters hope. Hindsight breeds courage to begin something new, as something old ends. New promise may astound us by turning endings into beginnings: i.e., When a doors closed, a new window of opportunity opens, giving us faith to look to the future and to examine the richness of its endless possibilities. Assured that we will not be abandoned and are never alone, we must focus our eyes ahead to see where our next calling might be. For those fearful of what the future holds, take heart, remembering the past’s good and shining moments, while trusting in the grace of the present to sustain us in trouble.

Be sensitive and alert to the gentle prompting of the spirit in you to be agents of compassionate concern for others. Needing to act in confidence that our strength will more than compensate