Becoming November

Stark trees,
slate blue background
of sky and mist,
grey lake, waved,

green banks and brown underbrush,
a single car on the bridge
going north towards the hill,
a group of gulls

harsh white in the bay
perched on stumps
exposed now that the lake is low,
a single figure

standing on the bridge
observing, becoming
these sensations at the bridge,
obeying his sensations,

becoming wet with mist,
becoming cold in the wind,
becoming stark and grey,
becoming November.

(Published in the Wayne Review, Winter 1987)