Burning leaves and crackle piles
for diving kids – a part of our past.
Now it’s black leaf bags with pumpkin
faces, lined up for trash collectors.
Still, a touch of autumn memories
remain. Aspen leaves clap rattled
songs. A forgotten drift of cast-off foliage
fills my desire to shuffle and crunch.
A different color paints the air,
lunch pails clank against small bodies,
school buses hold up traffic
and mothers do grateful dances.
Gail Denham