October light
            I open my ribs
      to pray

migrating birds
my father sends the next son
on his way

autumn night —
a stranger paints her lips
before the next stop

billowing skirts
by a soldier’s grave
autumn deepens

carillon bells
a wedge of cranes
flying south

amber light
the time it takes
a leaf to fall

autumn deepens —
the corn maze open
to the cows

All Saints’ Day —
under the sheets
a ghost hides her stash

Remembrance Day
traffic sounds crisscross
the bagpipes

that grassy knoll
pigeons explode
into flight