Penny Wise, Pound Poor

    Fall was a tubercular cousin
    residing in the country
    sparse hair,
    rasping cough.

    2
    Night air was damaging
    stringing pumpkins
    around orange chains, the
    milkweed pod shivering
    in open shirtsleeves
    little noises sifting
    from burrows in her chest.

    3
    Fall was...
    reputedly from another country
    wore glaring cravats,
    gold leaf and Rubenesque chain;
    stalked the lark
    mocked the breeze.

    4
    Penny wise, pound poor
    leaves
    a shock of hair
    prematurely white
    degradingly picked from
    the comb
    flung out fireflies
    crisp bodies to singe
    fire-cold light.

    5
    Advancing stairs
    in poor light,
    the season became makeshift
    wallpaper
    hung by tedious hands.
    Little seep of plaster dirt
    escaping the touch,
    grass bristled by frost
    where occasional flower
    was torched with cold
    savaged bees
    stumbled from the weeds.