On Columbia St, One Autumn Morning On Columbia St., one autumn morning, Leaves paint, pointilistic, tuft grass orange Dabbling in landscape artistry Tom Sawyer wind with a bucket of whitewash Inviting the neighborhood boys To play at painting fences. Jousting with windmills, In the pale light of morning, Cartoon men and satirical sisters Hold mock dances with skeletons And the trees twist and crack In time to rattling chains Hollow against pumpkin draped entrances. Traffic lights stopped working Like a goblin at dawn A snarl of traffic, taking turns, A cop scratching his head At the remains of a fallen tree Memorializing with the electrical repair crew. A sip of tea, Darting through the maze of parked cars, I dance with the wind My dog jumping against his line Autumn came after days of rain Wood smoke in the air. On a Night Warmer than Usual a night warmer than the season a night darker than reason sickle moon and evening star dancing alone since twilight when wind sprints grabbing yellow leaves like rain across blacktop -- bums in doorways grabbing a smoke sprawled like the stairs were their spine half lit shades the shadows of trees and streetlamps on the corner hanging out on a night warmer than usual. Only After October Rain Only after October rain, sun a dull memory of lifted clouds in late afternoon, is the age of a city shown in sidewalk cracks, repainted brick, rusted fences, red vines engulfing the buildings - even new things look old here everything closer together universities and libraries the seeds of a city's germination - Sunday after church, forefathers remembered in plaques on pews, the street quickly empties as we return to our rest. Main Page This site sponsered by