An early October tour of northern New England was predestined to include some inspiration amongst breathtaking fall foliage in the White and Green Mountains
Crystallization returns
absent since springtime
teepees on the Ammonoosuc
tourists departing
final glance at leaflife
ending
Boulderfield riverbed
floodplain spread
crowstalk cornstubble
shadow of summer shortsweet
Sunheat of October
fleeting and misleading
for those misreading
its meaning
Maplefire autumn
dancing tremblebranch
skipping down the mountain
spreadfast through the valley
and pulling soon the now dusktoned
deathleaves onto the land
beneath
birchtrunk light
and the certain snow
Silver fishsides gleam
flitting over waterstone
flashes in the current
below
vermilion leafboat landings
on a dun breeze
for the short sweep
to deep water
Connecticut
to the sea
All too soon the river
will bridge its shores
with icebreath
to greet the freezeframe rhythm
The antique and trinket vendors
saltboards bare
prepare for the sixmonth snow
"Closed for the Season"
and those other three together
still shorter
add up to less than
"Impassable
in Winter"