and green and green and green …

II.
Late October
and the Norway maple hasn’t turned
red or orange or whatever color
Norway maples turn.

Today
and tomorrow:
an endless cycle of green
and green and green
and green and green.

Through the window
the masochists
slit their wrists,
crying but with bliss.

—

Author’s note: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come” [Luke 17:1a]. If only they weren’t.

October 22, 2010