i.)

The soft, scentless hues
of autumn, held fast in ready-
made arrangements, barely
bleached by the unforgiving sun

ii.)

Poetry, immortalized and
put to frame, unsullied by the
cruel grip of time; its breath
marred by age, laden with dust

iii.)

The promise of penny candy
imparted to a giddy inner child;
sweet tooth born of nostalgia,
innocent palate flirting with
a hardened connoisseur

iv.)

Holidays, strewn about in
vestigial ribbons, store shelves
stripped clean like desert corpses
robbed of their living dignity before
returning to the shifting earth

v.)

Memories; detached, drifting free,
spurning gravity’s oppression
and departing for Heaven