April

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Losing It
by Chloe Ryan

driving in my car
taking life in
bite-size to go
pieces
bone cold now
for the next
four months at least
all of our falls
raked away and
stored safely in
black drawstrings
alongside the unsavored
Thanksgiving scraps
never more to be seen
if only I could let go
of their echo (the falls)
thirty bark bare
trees line the
already frozen
chuck holed street
and
I am shocked to see
one insolent Maple
bearing
near full foliage defiance
with bright yellow
creeping through
the frost
I mean a full
head of hair
not receding
one leaf to
season's age
how is that possible?
I've driven by it
every day for
two weeks
expecting to see
the change
but it remains
unshaken
today, I am not
the tree
I've faced the cold
and weathered it
with less grace
losing parts of me
that cannot rejuvenate
in Spring
lucky bastard, tree