how the beet red color of the leaves

catches the corner of peripheries…

never ceases to amaze

those who take time

seriously enough

to pay attention

after all the many autumns–

rolled together like a fat loose joint–

remembered through repetition…

still, this amazement — felt in chest,

third eye and crown…

each time any set of eyes

choose to gaze

above the hub bub of suburbia,

cutting through the ersatz of society

sifting out the shoulds, woulds,

and if-onlies..to sweep the deck

immaculately clean of debris

to gaze and wonder at pitch pine bark,

the shine of an October sun

on a bottle green pond,

the flight of geese

going south,

the opened mouth of the great blue heron–

catching fish close to dark

still the beet red leaves clinging–

as the minds of poets hope

their memories housed in limbic

chambers– stay vibrantly alive

for all their wind swept days

Kate Lamberg is the Beat Poet Laureate of Long Island ( 2019-2021). She is also a musician, a healing facilitator, and an avid hiker. Her poems can be found in several anthologies, as well as on her blog: katyajo@blogspot.com.