Autumn falls into winter
By Julian Clark
It felt like just less
than a month ago
it was warm
I feasted upon
the desert warm sun
and the occasional monsoon
but alas, it was
not the shortest of summers
and the longest of winters
all the same
but here were are again
back on top of autumns shelves
as if fed up
with some tiresome child
I say a lament
for an American prayer
that died somewhere
on I-25
the Jemez bore me down
and my hands still chill
from under the water
falling into my hands
one splash across the face
and I awaken to the
fall turning yellow winter
from the autumns green browns
and sense my time of suffering
is upon me
the winter has come
and it’s brought a little stank with it
but yet,
a speckle of sun
sprinkles its shine
down my spiraling spine
a reminder of winter’s promise
to spring that it can return, safely
when ready
“oh, when, oh lord can I return
to your baths of mana!”
but that is not this
this is not that time
now is the time
of death and shedding
one’s parasitic skin
all hail the god Loki
and the winter’s scathing frost
remember, the fire will only
burn the freezing cold
and with a crush of lavender
into my hand
hand me the flame
and follow me through
Who’s with me?
