Dying [autumn] 

we tilt-a-whirl away 

in blue-veined shadows 

all street-grid, 

jet-black hair, cool air 

rushing from the slash 

of a sudden blade. 

forget flowers. the soft-skinned 

petals that once drank 

you to ecstasy now sleep 

in the arms of nights 

unspooling cool and long. 

forget leaves all flat-top,

traffic-stop, leaves all 

can’t-you-guess, in-a-mess, 

leaves let go in your breath, 

go carousel, kiss-and-tell, 

go one last time, go your last 

dime, no time, no time to lose. 

forget the damn-fool sun 

the wind-up pitch, trailer-hitch, 

roadside ditch, first kiss, 

near miss, skin-and-bones, 

delivery drones, in your face, 

pick up the pace, look at this place. 

go ahead, pretend you’re not 

dying, bite your own tail 

and sink the talons of your will 

into your blood-cracked flesh, and kill it, 

like some beautiful piece of prey, 

to keep it young.