November 17 - November 21 Week 42 /72
colors are dimming
the bird feeder is dominated by
visitors dressed only in black
white and a full slate of grays
a female cardinal magically dissolves
into a background of tree trunks
except for the reddish-orange wedge
of her beak pointing towards
white turtlehead and swamp milkweed
plants who have loosened their grip
on hundreds of gifts for the spring
lips of the seedpods once plump and full
have dried and split open sending flat
Chelone discs tumbling into the marshy soil
while the seeds of Asclepias steal away
sailing on silky white filaments as
Mercury and Venus play in the sky