Molly Frederick’s most recent poem to appear here was “Two, Together” (August 2016) 

October’s Smooth
By Molly Frederick

Sunlight flickers through dry, curled leaves
under gentle prickings of the wind.
Autumn’s round, ripe blandishments
have arrived, and  how easily
they persuade.
An afternoon, inseparable from air,
gives shiny beaks hard proof
of what has been, and why
it was intended.
Savoring a day’s warmth,
the tripping songs travel by
like flickering flames
passed through too quickly
to cause harm.
And so the softly dazzled day reclines.
Until it seems too content to care.
Too transfixed.
Then too drowsy to lift a head,
and move on.