Gregory Gunn’s most recent poem to appear here was “The Transcendental Mariner” (September 2016) 

Onset of Autumn
By Gregory Gunn

There was a time when you
provided me with generally
everything a man could want.
Oh such conviction to fan
the flames! Until your fiery
imagination crackled and spat
between the arrangement
of the unobstructed and
the relative ease of desire,
and transformed love’s crib
into passion’s grave.

I gathered it to be a warmer
clime! Alarmed to see all
the bountiful crops fade into
mounds of today’s snow,
and that intangible something
slip between the fireplace
and heart to expedite
the wintry year and rip
the nuptial blossom from
the tree of life’s
precarious bough.

And so now I know
the existence of your
not being near, a vacated
chamber, surviving ivy,
a dilapidated gate.