1.
Here is the novelty of cooler air,
at once fostered and ruined by rain.

2.
I am the inside of a garment
being tested for colorfastness;
my hands are folded like origami.

3.
I see things in other things,
and wonder about signs.

4.
Darkness advances
like shadows of water,
or clouds sleepwalking
across a firmament.

5.
I consider scattering ashes
into the wet wind,
and how raindrops might gather
fractions of my grief.

6.
The dead bury themselves,
but I am a fool suffered by life.

7.
This is an aubade
for the starlings
and the color green.

8.
What good is rain on dying leaves?
I review all the clichés about
tears, dormancy, and rebirth.

9.
The pavement shines,
channelling the sky;
I see my reflection.

Selected byRaymond Huffman
Image credit:Harli Marten

Hugh does not prefer to talk about himself in the third person, but if he did, he'd tell you he's in a self-imposed exile on the east coast of the USA, but still loves his former home in the Sonoran Desert. He is the author of Odd Numbers And Evensongs and Auditions For The Afterlife.