On My Corner,
November 1st, 2020 

My next door neighbor set three boxes out
between the sidewalk and her lawn,
boxes of apples from her backyard orchard,
one of something like delicious
one of a rosy-cheeked yellow kind
— redolent of sweetness and of Fall —
a third of tart, green keepers
good for winter pies

A man with a backpack and knotted locks
stops by and gently picks out three delicious ones,
we smile,

then I take two rosies, knowing these apples well
and how they lust for ripened cheese

This morning, the old lady on the corner
has set her box out, too;
it holds a head of tired cabbage,
a bag of rice, one package of exotic teas and
all the trick-or-treats that
not a single costumed child had come to claim

Carolyn Lehman