the gray
dissipated
as the
holiday ended
winter retreated
petulantly to
regroup for
a second assault
in the new year
as texas thaws
indifferent
or rather aloof

a no man’s land
in seasonal
differential
a false autumn
in between blustery
polar dissent
the trees as yet
to shed foliage
smugly stand tall
among nude neighbors
in a chloroplastic
display of arboreous
superiority

i wonder at
the new hell ahead
in an unsightly
formation of
incidental tortures
as i wander along
a steadily crushing
workload and
mounting deadlines
to flourish in
the endless
cyclical anxieties
electrified motes
hanging in the
stagnated silence
as winter lurks
in autumnal facade