Bring out your dread.
Bring out your dread.
A Spooky Fall Poem
ByJohn HerrmanOct. 20, 2020
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 notthatweather, 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