“Foretoken” by John Muro

Foretoken

The sun’s dragging the last
of its light like a tattered shawl
across the sky, brushing aside
day’s ash-blue air that’s nestled
in the spaces that sit between
the understory’s branches and
I can see how each leaf, for a
moment, is finely gilded, tail-
spun and lifted, displaying a
gift of color better suited to
a downfallen moon or paper
lanterns softly illuminated by
candlelight, at least until the
time of their fall and sweet
convulsion, as they settle back,
Pietà-still, into a fallacy of green
and then wondering, in their bright
stillness, just how much closer
we might be until the hour of their
decadent descent and breathless ruin.

John Muro

A resident of Connecticut and a lover of all things chocolate, John Muro has published two volumes of poems — In the Lilac Hour and Pastoral Suite — in 2020 and 2022, respectively. His third volume of poems, A Bountiful Silence, is planned for publication later this year. Since the release of his first book, John has received three nominations for the Pushcart Prize, a Best of the Net Award nomination, and, more recently, he was a 2023 Grantchester Award recipient. John's work has appeared in Acumen, Barnstorm, Connecticut River, Delmarva, MORIA, Sky Island, Valparaiso Review and elsewhere.

Headshot: John Muro

Photo Credit: Staff