Helen Losse’s most recent poem to appear here was Facing One’s Weakness(November 2011).
In the fall
By Helen Losse
September’s saddle shoes
define our school days,
when it’s still too hot
to wear new clothes,
but before the month is over,
cool wind blows the leaves,
now red & golden.
2.
October’s Halloween
will surely bring rain.
Dried corn and scarecrows
join purple and brown mums.
Who will bob for apples?
Most of us covet bags
of gooey, chocolate candy.
3.
November’s nights–
a bonfire before a game,
a cookout with friends. We’l
vote for president this year,
and no matter who wins,
we’ll pray at Thanksgiving, when
one turkey literally gets lucky.
4.
December’s excitement
comes after the solstice. Exams
and semester’s end come first. A few
early snowflakes & three running deer
slip into the landscape. Four days into
winter, we hear, Peace on Earth. O,
that we would believe that message.