Two poems, Fall Vespers and Winter Reverie, appear in the Fall/Winter 2019-2020 issue of the Aurorean. Fall Vespers has been revised here.
Fall Vespers
Because summertime leaves
us limp with languor, trees
who cast only shadows
heretofore,
now also cast doubt.
They loosen the noose
of certitude –
their showy displays
present a deciduous
analogue to television,
tablets and smart shit –
perhaps lead us even
to colors of leaves.
Winter Reverie
Weeks of cold days under granite skies
Trudging streets flanked by walls
Of drab snow, shaped by glacial snow plows,
Lead to a magical moment when I
Become John Muir, six thousand feet tall,
Striding across Yosemite.