the winter flames

the wind's nip catches my chest
and i pull the protection
of a long black overcoat, inside my woolen bubble
my heart shakes my throat

dry crumpled leaves of tempera autumns
rattle within my ribcage

the leaves are quickly gathed in neat little
piles near my armpits
and lit with consternation

they float off as cinders from gracile birds wings
catching in the geared wind
they sweep past the cooing coeds, past

the kaw river divider, into the winter
flames of december


1987 Lawrence, Kansas