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I have left
our red wheelbarrow
standing out in
the rain

which you
are thinking probably
will be rusted now
before long

Forgive me
I was distracted by
sweet cool rain
this first day of spring

— March 21, 2021

So it’s officially fall this morning as I fire up the ol’ laptop
but take a moment to step out on the deck to see my breath
and notice several small flies clinging to the house siding
I presume trying to keep from freezing in the chill while

out across the grass in a vague patch of early sun
a rabbit’s hunched and still with sharp antennae cocked
to listen for what I presume would be the latest predator news
then darts away suddenly seemingly inexplicably until I too see

a woman clad all in black tracksuit except for the white cap
and blonde ponytail coming up the street with a strange gait
like a film of someone running slowed down to two-thirds speed
with every step almost pausing like it will leave her suspended

crazily in the cold, mid-
air

I’m going to insist it’s still mid-September though the equinox is, what
only two days away, and the temperatures are now plummeting
either because the fires burning up the west coast forests
have left a fine layer of sun-filtering soot nearly invisibly above us
or because generally the climate, the fronts, the jet stream, are all
royally screwed and we both know it’s anyone’s guess what the highs
next week are going to be.
                                                       So I get up and slip on the slip-on shoes
as darkness settles, an old jacket, grab the weird flashlight light bar
thingy, and haul one-two-three-four big pots of deck tomatoes over
to nestle alongside of the house siding under the weary eaves, then
one-two smaller jalapeno pepper plants in their smaller pots,
and finally carry, staggering a bit, the three now overgrown houseplants
that have spent the whole summer outside glorying in the stupid heat
around the house to the garage. Where they will be safe, from frost at
      least.