Verdure shifts into cranberry,
pumpkin, corn-colored sparks
and ascends into memory;
rain-soaked bark
glistens dark as Aaron’s rod
and dirt paths sink
beneath the dead-leaf carpet.
Sky not blue, not gray,
no sun, dry air carries
sweet decay and woodsmoke.
Everything is still except the colors.
Silence and absence
adorn this ending;
the advent of fog
mutes, suspends the fear
of passing time.
Sparseness and richness
wind into roots
that trail away from the surface:
all signs of life go hiding.
Valerie earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Brooklyn College, studying with John Ashbury and William Matthews. Her poems have appeared Typishly, Schuylkill River Journal, Door Is a Jar, Apricity, Avatar Review and The Steam Ticket. She enjoys being a part of the vibrant community of poets in Long Island, NY. Winner of the Performance Poets Association 2019 contest and the 2019 Nassau County Poet Laureate Society poetry contest. She currently works as a full-time writing consultant and adjunct English instructor at Molloy College. She taught English in China, and as a singer/songwriter, has recorded three original music CDs.
