Autumn
By Sinead Ballagh

We wear coats
made of melancholy,
my son and I.
Black and blue stripes
on cloth as shiny
as rain on a window,
or tears on a face.

(Trimmed in silver gray
silk
that ties us so tightly
to our gloom.)

We button ourselves
up with heavy black buttons
and contemplate
the gray outside,
though no grayer
than what is inside.

— Poet’s Showcase features work by area poets. Submit your poetry via e-mail with a subject line of Poet’s Showcase to mpaget@ljworld.com or send typewritten (not handwritten) submissions to Mindie Paget, 645 N.H., Lawrence 66044, attn: Poet’s Showcase. Teen writers should submit their work to the 18 & Under page at teens@ljworld.com.