POEM: Hardening Season

warm coffee
squirms
on my tongue
presses its nose against anorexic trees
skeletal remains
liquorice crows stapled to pale blue window dressing
of a cream cheese sky &
evening stars hold court and sway

everything balanced / everything at rest -
dusky bedroom light
the "i loved you" croaked voce sotto
this gravesite

bloom spring empathy for flower bulbs turned
below gray surfaces of the hardening season.