by Joseph Helminski
Pasted leaves and phony sorrow
should be enough
to frighten anyone in a month
that queues up day behind day
to take the sacrament of All Souls.
Until then, the little amusements
bide the time: color spotting,
fruit chewing, dress up games.
Should someone be lost over all this,
we won’t trouble ourselves looking,
since we keep faith that all will reappear
in November, saddest month of the year.