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Image by Lukasz Szmigiel

The Fall
By Donna Pucciani

Light

gradually dims

in autumn’s veined

 

vision. The dew trembles

on the last pink sedum.

Grey squirrels

 

begin to gather

a hoard of acorns

in furred cheeks,

 

their human-like hands

digging for sustenance

as polar months loom

 

in a sky full of snow.

But the light is still with us

until the clocks change,

 

colluding with nature

to stave off the dark.

For now, the pines hold

 

a brightening air,

a pulse beating

the vanishing rhythm

 

of summer, children’s voices

chanting in schoolrooms,

the owls waiting for winter.

Image by Amelia Bartlett

Donna Pucciani’s poetry has been been published in diverse journals such as International Poetry Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, The Pedestal, Poetry Salzburg, Shichao Poetry, Istanbul Literary Review and Christianity and Literature. Her poetry has been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Italian, and has won awards from the Illinois Arts Council and The National Federation of State Poetry Societies, among others. She has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize and currently serves as Vice-President of the Poets’ Club of Chicago. She has authored several poetry collections such as Edges (2016), Ghost Garden (2016) A Light Dusting of Breath (2015), Hanging Like Hope on the Equinox (2013),To Sip Darjeeling at Dawn (2011) among others. 

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