Poem – “October”

Autumn arrives and life once sun-kissed,

once lithe and lush, lingers in the dust.

Fields of blonde grain and gold wilt when

the light falls; leaves crushed under wheels

litter the highway. The sun fades from

freshly-cut stems that bury their stomachs

and secrets in the sand that slips through

my fingers and settles as I sleep in stone

walls and red-brick rooms. Suddenly,

the whispering wind snaps back at my

soliloquies, sharp and ready to take a stand

against my screams. Early mornings have

edges and curves turn into corners;

evenings are eager to eat me alive.

The ethereal is now existential.

I shall parry it with newborn potential.