October's Last Bursts

of flower are wild and wildly luxuriant.

Reminiscent of the passion flowers of mid-summer and prescient of crocus to come in late winter, late purple aster stuns, spinning its own heat, sparkling like sun-struck water in Lake Cheston.

October Silence

Early morning. Two deer rest on the grassy patch between my and my neighbor's house. When I part the curtain to take a grainy photo, the older doe looks at me, ears perked. I shoot, pour tea in the kitchen, return, and note they have disappeared as silently as they arrived.

October: the month of silent deer.

October Light

Morning silence
but for tapping keys,
whirring hard drive;
tea breathing
in stoneware cup,
screen glowing.

My doppelganger
appears projected,
umber shadow
shimmering:
October light.

October Worship

Lucy prostrates herself at the altar of Our Lady of Radiant Heat.
October has arrived.

October Rust

burnishes and dusts leaves gold and bronze.

The Month of Red, Too

The burning bush
burns on Tennessee Avenue.

October's Vault of Blue

Every flower still blooming lifts its face to the vault of blue.