Autumn by Sarah Russell

Sugar maples are the first to turn,
mottled orange and scarlet with the green,
trying on the season. I need a sweater
now for morning walks.

The geese abandon summer ponds
in keening, migrant skeins to follow
shorelines south.

In twilight, remnant fireflies
glint urgent calls to mate, hopeful,
as we are, for one last tryst
before winter.



Sarah Russell’s poetry has been published in Rattle, Misfit Magazine, Red Eft Review, and Third Wednesday. She is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She has two poetry collections, I lost summer somewhere and Today and Other Seasons (Kelsay Books). She blogs at https://SarahRussellPoetry.net