October
As we approach Halloween
everything outdoors
seems costumed, disguised from its
natural state
and the theme this year
not unlike the past
is stark.
Trees are giving up the ghost;
red, orange, yellow, brown
slip from lofty heights
to gather at the base
of gray, brown trunks.
A heap of sodden days gathered
in the rain.
The tamaracks grin along the ridges of the forest
like a yellowed smoker’s smile,
toothy in their defiance,
bordering the wetland marsh grasses.
The red bellied snakes have all disappeared
along with the red and blue salamanders
and skinks.
The ermine are half in, half out of late summer.
Their white coats overtaking weaselness.
The flowering crabapple tree we spent the pandemic under
has sacrificed another three limbs voluntarily
altogether.
©Timothy James Stouffer #elystreetpoet 10222023 All Rights Reserved
