A Spooky Fall Poem

A Spooky Fall Poem

By John Herrman

Photographs by Molly Matalon

oh what incredible weather

what incredible weather is this

would you please like to talk about weather

no not that weather, thanks, just this

the diners are sheathed now in sweaters

they’re thinking of booking some flights

the waiter is pulling her mask up

the cook started coughing last night

a breeze chills a girl on the playground

her first day of school halfway done

she can’t recognize half of her classmates

they never do Zoom one-on-one

your mother would please like to see you

her father’s been gone for six months

like you he’s now trapped between seasons

not ready to see what comes next

with embers of summer still burning

the year will soon come to a head

in an indirect national tally

of who wishes whom to be dead

then

you’ll converge for a holiday dinner

at a house that you found in between

you’ll FaceTime the rest of the family

you last saw in 2019

you’ll ask how each other is doing

they’ll tell you truth after all

the last time they felt truly happy

was betwixt two waves in the fall

the wind whips the paint-stuck smudged window

through which autumn and AC shake hands

this year they’ll stop at the threshold

to touch fingers through double-paned glass

now

the sidewalks are full of masked people

collecting the light while they can

their bags overflowing with normal

what’s gathered outside will come in