Breath 

Wild wind claws at the 
Clapboard house 
Streaked with dormant ivy 
Swirled with autumn dervish leaves. 
This is Maine's September--
Weather shrill as sirens 
Warm breeze drowning in the bay. 

Your exit  brought the fall.
I gathered storm shutters like daisies 
Counting one-he-loves-me 
Two-for-none 
And hammered winter
Frame by frame.
And hammered winter
Frame by frame.

The salt air tastes like shipwrecks 
That have climbed a traitor's shore
With ragged nails and bloody palms. 
The ferrous tang competing with the dimming half-moon sky that arcs my door. 
I drink the rusty squall
I inhale moonlight, exhale stars... 
This picture you abandoned doesn't need you anymore.