Good Look Back

It is easy to fall in love with autumn --
to fall for fall
When verdant trees morph into palettes
and it smells different
and your heart reacts to this.

Some of us fear what such thoughts can do
As if nostalgia was an illness to be avoided.

Not I.

For as soon as the first ribbon of leaf smoke enters my nose
I am happily transported back to Teppert street in 1966
where street lights flickered to start
and mothers and fathers tended leaf fires while some of us roasted marshmallows

and kids' voices were the ipod music of the moment.

The city in the fall of 1966 was different, 

marshmallows cooked
on an autumn night as it was, 

as it was,

leaf smoke on the streets
Bellowed nostalgia.