Sue,

this is great.
seriously paper-publishable
further comments in text

Terri

----- Original Message -----
From: Arthur
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2001 12:04 PM
Subject: New sub by proxy: It must have been in Autumn


1.
These are the last sweet pressings,             [excellent line]
the cider days, when wasps, sluggish and drunken,
hover above the windfalls,
and sulphur butterflies circle
on slow and lazy errands.
The morning air is piquant, spiced
with burning leaves, mulled
with woodsmoke and haze.
Cardinals, brighter than the dogwood's scarlet,
flash and dart,
and the last of the hummingbirds
sips from the trumpet vine     [like the way the stanza ends as it began]


 2.

 It must have been in autumn
when he tempted her,         [is this Dis & Persephone? Any case, I like the
allusion and mystery]
whispered her name through the mist.
The jeweled fruit
must have rivaled the maple's red
and the garden been on fire.
She stood there wavering
and watched the clear streams
carry the leaves, spinning
them away beyond the boundaries [I stumbled over 'them away' on first read]
far to the east,
felt the restlessness that autumn brings,
a subtle stirring like leaves in rain.
She twined ivy in her hair
and then once more
she heard her name.


3.

If I could hold all of autumn in my hand,
I would bite the world like an apple,
listen to it crackle,
savor the winesap.
Oh, I would bruise this earth with my mouth
if I could hold this clear hour,
this air,
turning, burning with dying life,
the burning, burnished air
in all its apple-seeded richness,     [passionate! the words begin to
tumble, faster and faster]
tart and sweet and cold;                     [and then punctuate as if
trying to capture the movement]
if I could hold one dust mote
of autumn's essence,
snatch one rounded molten moment
of this windfall day, this windfall light,
if I could hold all of autumn in my hand,
I would laugh and wipe the nectar from my chin,
then bite again.


Sue Scalf.