autumn beauty from the dumpster

swooped by/behind local flower shop, picked up what I could reach, branches of bittersweet, dried oak leaves, bird of paradise(?), walked home with aching armful like demented fairytail babajaga carrying faggots to fuel the fire up in her house perched on chicken leg

autumn interrupted

with a furnace blast of summer, offspring complaining about too much sun driving them away from the park to the comic book store, to mc don't dolts, clothes hung up on the line drying way fast, watering containered plant with partially yellowed leaves, how long can they stay out, a few years ago the warmth lasted, the roses bloomed into mid November, a pot of dusty miller overwintered & bloomed yellow the second year, we may wear sandals yet again, may put our city feet into Lake Michigan on the Michigan side, how long before the layers of swaddling start again?