POEM: The First Day of Autumn

THE FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN

..came in cool and overcast.

Good for stopping the 20% controlled fire
at nearby Hagg Lake.

I like cool weather,
like being shielded by gray clouds
from harsh light.

I’m happy
that people can return
to still standing homes,
that livestock and wild animals
will live,

that the forest
stretching all the miles
from the lake
to my back pasture
will be safe
at least for now.

But
a very small part of me
is tired of the

repetitious consistency repetitious consistency repetitious
consistency repetitious consistency repetitious consistency
repetitious consistency repetitious consistency

of Monday to Sunday

and yearns
for a blaze
that burns everything away
and leaves me standing
phoenix like
amidst the ashes
of calendars and clocks.

Part of me
understands
the evangelical longing
for an apocalypse
now.

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This poem first appeared in Belleville Park Pages