You, the green leaves turned brown
brown and orange and red and yellow
anything but green, green is a sign
of summer and life, and fall doesn’t
mean death, but Halloween can mean
death and scary movies and haunted houses
but fall also means Thanksgiving
and Thanksgiving has more life
than summer, with more family than
you remembered you had, and
your uncle is home from California
and suddenly it’s Christmas and
your grandma has had too much eggnog
and she can’t remember your name
and you,
always longing for the next season like the
lady who scratches her life away
in the parking lot of the gas station
buying lottery tickets instead of groceries
hoping her life will change
with the weather.