Autumn Palimpsest

for Marina Nicolaev

another V of birds calligraph their flight
through the ideogram of the day
unraveling shadows across the sky
retouched with wintry moon grin

maples ignite insanely
and mesmerized crickets
drown in the liquefying amber
as if honey lurks from summer’s lingerie
and you tell me to keep cool?

autumn coagulates the hemorrhage of leaves
into smears on the earth’s palimpsest
abbreviating signs of passage
in glyphs for the winter’s evangel




Poem published in \"Agua Terra\" anthology
of Ascent Aspirations Magazine, Vancouver, 2006

French translation by Nicole Pottier