Richard K. Kent

In the Woods at Dusk on Halloween

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This last day of October

I watch the stars rise in the sky,

the afternoon’s lavish light failing as dusk

slips into these woods I walk. Today

a new report has come out

about how fast the oceans are heating up.

Now, far more than ever, we read

the weather patterns, trying to divine what

lies in store for us—for our waywardness.

In nearby neighborhoods, it’s Halloween

and some children play at being mutant

creatures, unknowing of the unbalanced

world we’ve made for them. Overhead,

in the pale starlight, a flock of geese passes

across the sky—the first I’ve seen this fall.

The air fills with their honking as they keep

together in loose formation, while I go on

along the trail, darkness cloaking my feet.

Nothing to do but to feel one’s way.

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