LEAF TATTOO
Can you feel it
In my city
The changing air
as wind folds in
fall’s cool weather.
Orange leaves land on
the sidewalks of Holly Street.
No worms to dance them back to soil.
Cement laden, laid upon
the roadside in random patterns
leave a tattoo, imprint to the stone.
Five pointed star, a Tree Hand
pressed by feet and rain
bleed the orange ink for all to see.
By winter the marks wash away
By spring a bright green baby waves
at us from its mothers arm
born back into our memory.
shannon p. laws 