by Kate Snider

So let me
tell you again,
while there
is still time
together, of that
late autumn
afternoon
when you,
standing
in the Japanese Garden,
professed
your love
for the aging trees
quietly steeling
themselves
for winter.
And of
The Maples
and Ginkgos
we circled,
approaching
cautiously, as if
what little
remained
of their flaming
leaves
might burn
our bodies.

Kate Snider is a baker living in the Hudson Valley. When she is not working with wild yeast, the world of seemingly invisible microorganisms that populate the air and make bread baking possible, she turns to another form of everyday wonder: poetry. She is currently an adult student at Bard College, studying written arts.