Patricia Carragon | Early Autumn

“Brooklyn in Seasonal Transition”
Photo Credit: Patricia Carragon

Early Autumn

October at midpoint
Brooklyn in seasonal transition

summer trees wear highlights
of golden yellow    reddish orange     or russet brown
 
cool air tingles my fingers that snap photos
of ghouls & witches amid pumpkin patches

from a passing car
I hear Ella Fitzgerald sing Early Autumn

walk a few more blocks before rain’s return
& think of things best kept in the attic

like why my thoughts wear Code Orange

why you can’t touch me    hear me    or even see me

“Happy Halloween”
Photo Credit: Patricia Carragon

__________________________________

Patricia Carragon is the author of several books of poetry and fiction. Her most recent poetry collections are Meowku (Poets Wear Prada) and Innocence (Finishing Line Press). Her debut novel, Angel Fire, was just released by Alien Buddha Press. Patricia hosts the Brownstone Poets reading in Brooklyn and publishes an associated anthology annually. She is also an executive editor for Home Planet News Online.

Linda Lerner | Painting with Sun

Photo by Paul Frangipane, Brooklyn Paper

Painting with Sun

On watching people paint: Black Lives Matter. Joralemon Street, Downtown Brooklyn. Late June, 2020.

struck by the sight of people holding
long poles, rollers at the end,
dipped into what surely must have dripped
down from the sun into buckets,
wipe sweating foreheads, stare at
color too bright for just paint,
can’t see the words it overshadows,
people, so old they can barely manage
the poles, young kids struggling with
something bigger than themselves,
every color of the spectrum visible
to a crowd transfixed by this joyous scene
before the words, they won’t forget.


______________________________

Linda Lerner is the author of 17 poetry collections, including her most recent, When Death is a Red Balloon (Lummox Press, 2019, Takes Guts and Years Sometimes, and Yes, the Ducks Were Real (NYQ Books, 2011, 2015). Her poems currently appear or are forthcoming in Maintenant, Paterson Literary Review, Gargoyle, Home Planet News, Cape Rock, Piker Press, Chiron Review, Free State Review, and Rat’s Ass Review.

Photo by Paul Frangipane, Brooklyn Paper