LEONARD GONTAREK

Study/Leaves

If I follow & I think I'm starting to, the world is a plaza,



large, marble, littered with yellow leaves, bright against the overcast



& I am King of Autumn. Beyond the door is hell, where the leaves burn.



Beyond that birds tossing as in a dryer. Two women trail their hair over me.



Star barrettes. Sticks, leaves. Petals. Swept neat as campsite.



Ah, the sweeping, the blessed sweeping. Heart knocks like radiator pipe.